Canaves Hotel
We splurged for a sea view room in ultra-expensive Oia. If you want to spend the money there is elegance to this town, despite the tourists, that warrants the extra cost. That said, after walking the length of the caldera from Oia to Fira, there are tons of options with fantastic views along the entire length. Sunset views will vary greatly depending on the time of year.
Canaves is a luxury spa property and not our normal hotel preference. We are not fans of high-end service places, preferring instead a more casual option where we are free to do more things for ourselves, especially when the establishment has slow service. We waited a half hour for ice, called again, waited another 20 minutes before Don just went to the bar to get the ice himself.
They upgraded our standard room to a junior suite – a large two room suite with a small sea-view terrace with a Jacuzzi pool. You had to cross past another suite’s terrace to get to ours, but wasn’t a big deal for us. Someone wanting privacy might not like this setup.
The room in all white and dark wood was lovely and had nice amenities. Nespresso café machine, a bottle of wine and fruit tray, plush towels and robes, and a strong wifi signal, but the bed sheets were a little worn and not as soft as they should have been for this class of spa hotel.
They do an orientation tour upon arrival including the spa facilities, pool area and restaurant and let you lounge with a welcome drink in the pool area. I would have preferred to go directly to the room and return to the pool area when ready, especially after a long travel day.
An extensive breakfast is included in the price with a generous buffet selection of just about everything – fruits, cheeses, yogurt muesli, etc. They also serve a pastry basket and fresh squeezed orange juice to your table. An a la cart menu is also available at no additional charge.
Dinner at 1800-Floga
This is a popular eatery with nice sea views but I don’t think it has sunset views at any time of the year. The food is quite good, prepared to order and served piping hot. Service is a tad aggressive, trying to push their expensive special entrees and pricey wines. However, once we settled on the wine and dishes we wanted to order we were quite pleased.
We started with the tomato dumplings, not really a dumpling. We’ve also heard it called a tomato croquette – a breaded tomato mixture that is fried and served crispy.
For mains we tried the lamb shank and the baby goat. Both were luscious, the lamb more tender than the goat, but I loved the flavor of the goat. Both were served with potatoes.
With the check they serve a smoking, dry ice, sweet digestive. But be careful. You need to wait for the dry ice to melt before you can drink it.
Neptune Restaurant
A very forgettable food experience on a covered roof top terrace with good views.
We enjoyed the Santorini salad – fresh vegies and a different, milder goat cheese instead of the usual feta, but the spaghetti Napolitana and the moussaka were just OK – too sweet tomato pasta sauce and a bland moussaka. Service is friendly and not as aggressive as the evening before at Floga.
Santorini Airport
This small airport about 30 minutes from Oia is crowded and undersized for the volume of passengers it services. Check-in lines were long. You may want to leave a little extra time, at least an hour and half. Longer than you would think at a small airport.
May 29-31, 2016
For links to all the posts in this series see the Greece page.