In short, WE LOVE SANTORINI!
Subtle enough? We’d heard of the sapphire-blue waters, cute white villages, and breathtaking cliffs along the crescent of the caldera, and it all lived up to the promise (and then some!) Easily one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been.
On our first day, we just laid low and poked around Fira a bit. Though Fira is the hub of the island, it’s still really small and only takes a few minutes to walk around.
We were blown away with both the views and all the cute houses, walkways, and almost everything else. It really does ooze charm and romance!
First impression: holy crap, this is gorgeous!!
The volcano rising from the sea in the middle of the caldera
Sunset our first day was really killer!
Fira is gorgeous with the afternoon sun!
On our second day, we hiked a couple miles to the nearby villages of Firostefani and Imerovigli. Beautiful views of buildings and ocean. We loved it so much we decided to add 2 extra days to our trip.
Most of the walk was along a path like this.
Looking back towards Firostefani in the foreground and Fira down below
Cool little stone houses like this are all around.
Mara wanted to pose and I’m not sure if Beckett is mocking or playing along.
More ocean awesomeness
Looking up at Imerovigli
After some rest back at the room, we took the bus out to Oia at the Northern tip, which is famous for it’s sunsets. There were a few clouds on the horizon, so it wasn’t as spectactular as the day before (though still very nice!), but the village is really cute and worth a visit just to look around.
Cool view of the moon after sunset
On our last day, we rented ATVs and went around the Southern part of the island. They were in kind of rough shape and it felt like we were taking our lives into our hands at times, but we all had fun and saw some cool stuff!
Loving their trip around the island
A view of Fira, Firostefani, and Imerovigli from the South.
I had been wishing for a break from Greek food, and while we were driving along, we found a Mexican place (amusing name – Senor Zorba). After a little more exploring, we doubled back and ate there for lunch. Good food and a great view!
Red sand beach
Cool house we saw while exploring Emporio
Donkeys really are used by the locals, not just for tourism and rides up the cliffs.
Some of these paths are pretty narrow!
Yep, narrow!
Finally, that’s not a sunset, it’s a moonrise over a nearby island, just a few hours before we left.
A final note – if you go to Santorini, I heavily recommend Costa Marina Villas. The rooms are really cool, a short walk from the Fira town square and Marina provided us with such a friendly, helpful experience. She helped us with several recommendations, printed out travel documents for us, and even arranged a little room for us after we’d checked out where we could rest while waiting for the ferry. If you contact her through their website, you can get a better deal than from the booking engines.
Comments on this entry are closed.
What a great way to live life while you are still young and healthy!
Joan B