Sani Resort and Jazz Festival

Because I was so exhausted from canyoning yesterday, I was able to sleep in until 10:30am this morning!  It felt so good. to finally get some quality sleep in.  Got ready, packed up, and was at the bus stop by noon waiting to be picked up to head to the Sani Resort in Halkidiki!  If you haven't noticed a pattern, I've been to that beach a lot during the past month; 3 separate trips, to be exact.  No complaints, though :)

The resort was amazing!  It was a swanky, 5-star place that was spotted with yachts and lavish house-boats, gorgeous landscaping and crystal chandeliers.  Because it is a more touristy destination, most people spoke English, which was a nice change.  (If you're curious, here's a link to their website:  http://www.sani-resort.com/en_GB)  When we arrived, we headed straight for the beach.  Like the other areas on the beach we had been to, there were umbrellas set up with cushioned lounge chairs underneath them.  However, those were for reserved for paying guests of the resort, which we were not, so we had to use cheaper chairs to lay on and no umbrellas.  If you can't already guess, this lead to a sunburn, but fortunately it was only on my arms.  There was a pretty strong breeze all day, which was amazing and was probably why I didn't feel my skin burning.  The water was crystal clear, the perfect temperature, and shallow until quite a ways out into the sea, which was perfect to relax in.  I spent most of the day in and out of the water, and reading while laying out (I've started The Lucky One by Nicolas Sparks on a friend's Kindle).  It made for the most relaxing day on the beach here so far, despite the fact that the beach was packed- not only because it was a Saturday, but also because it is such a large tourist destination and because of the festival later that evening.

Around 5:30pm, a few of us packed up and headed to the only public restroom to change and attempt to look presentable for dinner and the concert.  You'd think with it being such a fancy place, they'd not only have multiple restrooms, but would at least keep their single one clean.  If you know my issue with public restrooms, you can only assume how well I dealt with that.  Anyways, about half of the group headed to dinner around 6:15pm, because they couldn't fit our entire group of 50+ students and chaperones in the restaurant all at once.  We had to walk quite a ways across the resort, emphasizing just how large the property was.  We passed a bunch of little cafes and restaurants and some tourist shops before arriving at the Sani Beach Hotel (there are 4 hotels on the property!).  There, we went inside and downstairs to the Poseidon Restaurant, where we enjoyed a fabulous buffet filled with nearly everything you can imagine.  For starters, there was a cheese and deli meat section, and a salad bar.  There were tons of main course options, a bread area set up to look like a bakery display, and last but certainly not least, the dessert station.  I tried a little bit of everything and it was fabulous.  I probably ate too much, but it was already paid for, so why not?

After dinner, we headed downstairs to the gorgeous pool area where we were all supposed to meet before heading to the concert.  While waiting, I read some more of this addicting book.  At 9pm, our very large group headed to the top of a hill next to the hotel where concerts and this year's jazz festival was held.  Besides the humidity from being by the sea, it was a lovely time to sit outside and enjoy the night.  I'm not the biggest fan of jazz, but it was interesting for a change.  Don't know if it was part of the show, but there were fireworks over the sea!  It almost made up for missing some on the 4th of July... almost.

By the time the concert ended around 11:30pm, our entire group was dead on our feet.  The bus picked us up in front of the hotel, and nearly everyone put in headphones to listen to music and immediately passed out.  As exhausted as I was, I stayed awake for the majority of the ride home and reflected on my time here.  It's been amazing so far, and I can't believe it's coming to an end!  Got home, took a shower, and was in bed by about 1:30am.

Waking up bright and early tomorrow to head to church!