crete

as you can expect, crete is beautiful... imagine waking up to that view every morning. not bad! we've spent most of our days just lounging by the pool. although we did manage to visit the local village, take a boat tour of the island & pay a visit to the spa. every treatment in the spa uses olive oil, which makes your skin so incredibly soft! who knew that olive oil had so many possibilities?

life's a beach!

we've spent the last couple of days hanging out at the beach. (too bad i finished harry potter, i could really use something to read.) the beaches here are incredible... we went to a "black beach." instead of sand, the shore is just tiny black pebbles. up and down the entire beach were hundreds of beach clubs. umbrellas & lounge chairs all lined up for you and restaurants with waiters standing nearby waiting to fill every request! i wish the beaches back home were like this!

we also took a boat tour around the island & the surrounding islands. we got the opportunity to see the beauty from an entirely different angle. we swam in hot springs & visited several of the other beaches. everything was so beautiful... from the ocean, the town of santorini looked like snow on top of the mountains!

yesterday we took a ferry over to crete... can't wait to explore the island!

honk. honk. beep! beep!

jeffy & russy LOVE their scooters!

a day at the beach.

yesterday we hit the beaches. we started the day at akrotiri's red beach. it's incredible! you have to hike a little ways to get to the shore, but it's absolutely amazing. you are walking along, and then suddenly you just see these beautiful red lava cliffs emerging from the black sandy shore which leads you to clear blue water. wow! what a sight.

world famous...

the tiny town of oia is famous for its amazing sunsets and breath-taking views of the caldera & volcano. it truly was beautiful... very romantic, if you weren't surrounded by your two kids, a large extended family and about zillion strangers.

island life.

the greek islands are everything i've imagined it would be... i've seen the play mama mia so many times that i was well prepared. we've spent the last couple of days on the island of santorini, which some believe is part of the legendary lost city of atlantis! 3,500 years ago a volcano erupted here causing the entire center of the island to sink, what remains here today is a crescent shaped island. almost the entire island is built upon these incredible cliffs that overlook the ocean.

watch out greece, here we come!

we spent the day touring athens, hitting all the local hot spots... and i mean HOT! that's a shot of the acropolis.

tomorrow we are off to enjoy the islands!