It has been 3 months since I got back from Greece. Yet to this day, I cannot stop reminiscing about Santorini.
We flew to Santorini really early in the morning. Among all the Greek islands, we chose to stay in Santorini and Mykonos for 2 nights each. Even before going, I know Santorini was going to be the highlight of our trip.
The flight from Athens to Santorini is a little over an hour. From the plane windows, Santorini was covered in the clouds. After landing, we got our luggage and got the taxi. After driving for about 10 mins, the driver left us off at a sidewalk. From the reviews, I know that there are a lot of walking and climbing involved in Santorini. But what I didn't expect was that the difficulty of finding our lodging. I saw the sign of our hotel at the sidewalk, so I know that the hotel is there. But all the buildings are so tightly nested with each other and all of them have similar paints, so it was very hard to spot our hotel. It was 7am in the morning. Everyone was still sleeping and resting. And all the shops were still close. So, there was no one I could really turn around and ask. Luckily, someone came out of nowhere and he led me straight to the lodging. But as soon as I started climbing down the stairs to our hotel, that was the moment I knew that I have already fallen in love with it.
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| Santorini |
We stayed at Firostefani, which is nested between Imerovigli and the Fira port. The famous Oia is the northernmost end of the island. When making reservation, I had a very hard time deciding whether to stay at Oia or Firostefani. The only reason I think people would prefer Oia would be that some of the views are better. But for me, I think the best part about this vacation is enjoying the view right outside from our room with a glass of wine. Also, I feel like Oia is more crowded with tourists.
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| Map of Santorini Island |
Our stay in Efterpi hotel was perfect. We stayed in the traditional cave suite, which has 3 double beds, and 2 long wooden sofa, which can easily be used as 2 additional beds. The room itself has 2 bathrooms, kitchen, plates and glasses. The room can easily accommodate up to 6 adults and maybe additional 1 or 2 person. For 2 nights, we paid 660 euros, which came out 132 euro per person for the entire stay. The room itself is very cold and they provided with additional blankets in the room.
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| View from the personal balcony in front of our room, where we have breakfast everyday |
For the first day, we decided that we wanted to get a boat to go out into the sea. Fortunately, there are a couple of agencies right outside the hotel and we booked a private speedboat. The rate was 150 euro per hour with a maximum of 3 hours. There are other sailing options such as half day boat trips which goes to the Volcano and the Hot Spring s for about 15 euros. Also, there is a sunset dinner, volcano and hot springs cruise on a traditional wooden sailing boats four 55 euro per person. I am sure that there are other agencies out there as well, but Sun Marine is the one we ended up booking with, and we were really impressed with the service and the tour.
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| Getting to our boat for the cruise |
The tour picked us up from the hotel around 4.30pm and drove us to the famous Amoudi Bay. From Amoudi Bay, we cruises along the caldera and stop at Hot Springs for a swim. Then after that we went to Thirasia island where we snorkled and had dinner. The dinner was seafood pasta with greek salad and wines. After the dinner, we came back to Amoudi Bay where our boat anchors with other boats and enjoy the famous Oia sunset.
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| Amoudi Bay - there are a few seafood restaurants there, but we didn't try any |
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| Volcano and Hot Springs |
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| Dad and the Captain |
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| The Famous Oia Sunset |
For the second day in Santorini, we rented a car. I've asked Kostas, our hotel owner, to arrange a car for us. Ideally, I would have loved to try an ATV, as it is plenty on the island. But we are a group of 5, so it does not make sense. Our car rental place is called Atlantic Car Rental, and it is actually located in the town of Imerovigli. For one day rental, the rate is 50 euro including insurance. There is a public parking space right outside of our hotel, so parking was not really a problem. But I have read reviews somewhere that if you stay in Fira or Oia, parking space is not that easy to find.
From he southernmost part where the lighthouse is to the northernmost part of the island, Oia, the drive took about 45 mins. Our first stop on this adventure was the famous Red Beach. I find Red Beach to be a bit overrated. First off, getting to the beach itself was a little bit challenging as it involves one to climb through the rocks. The beach got its name due to the fact that its sand is red.
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| Red Beach |
Since we are in Santorini, not going Oia will be huge mistake. I find that Oia seems to be more famous because there are more buildings with blue domes. And it is one of the most photographed places on earth.
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| Oia - Cathedral View |
In terms of food in Santorini, there are a lot of restaurants, but most of them are catered to tourists. During our stay, we tried 2 restaurants near the hotel and we are not impressed with either. There seems to be more food options in the town of Fira. My most favorite meal during the stay will be ordering take out from nearby Gyro place and buying two bottles of wines and just sitting and eating in front of the room. If your lodging have a nice view, I definitely recommend ordering a take-out and just enjoying the view right in front of your room.
Itineraries:
Day 1 - Arrival, Sunset Cruise or Hike to Oia and enjoy sunset from Oia
Day 2 - Rent a car and drive along the island. Sites to see includes: lighthouse, Red Beach, White Beach. There is also an ancient excavation site in Akrotiri.
If you are looking for a true Greek island life, Santorini might not be the best place to experience it. The island is really really beautiful. Yet, at the same time, I feel like everyone on the island is working to serve the tourists. The island's main source of income is tourism. There are other greek island nearby where I'm sure that it's much less crowded with tourists. But this Catherdral view with all those white washed houses..., that's a view you can get only in Santorini.
I really really hope that I get to visit Santorini soon again..
