Goodbye, Santorini
Well we didn’t end up quite as tan as the Greeks… But it wasn’t for a lack of trying! What a great time on the island of Santorini.
The name, Santorini, has Italian origins from Santo Irene (Saint Irene) and historical significance back to the 9th century BC. The island has a population of about 4,000 people during the offseason, swelling to over 20,000 during the summer to help accommodate the 500k tourists that visit each season. We traveled late in the high season during some of the windiest time of the year, making our way via Blue Star Ferry from Athens and arriving early Thursday afternoon.
Our first three nights were spent at an Airbnb in Megalachori, which was about 15 minutes from the main town of Fira. We liked that it was a little off the beaten path and much less touristy, though transportation proved to be somewhat difficult. This area is known for its art and wine and has easy access to some of the island’s unique beaches. In fact, our Airbnb was a tiny apartment right above a studio specializing in hand made replicas of Ancient Greek artifacts!
We spent our first afternoon getting acclimated to the area and made our way over to Red Beach in the early evening. This beach, near Akrotiri, is pretty difficult to access since there is some climbing involved but it is definitely a local favorite. Below are some of the splendid views overlooking the beach. Then we followed-up with a delicious seafood dinner in the town.
The next day, our adventure started with a hike into Megalachori proper which took about 30 minutes. Roads here were definitely uncomfortable to walk on since often there was no shoulder to protect pedestrians from the near-constant stream of busses, scooters, and ATVs. We were meeting our wine tasting tour at a local bakery for pickup. Hot and cranky, we grabbed a few snacks and coffee and hopped in the tour van which drove us LITERALLY right back to our Airbnb. The wine tour started next door!
Even after that face-palming start, this tour turned out to be FANTASTIC. Not only did we learn and taste many different varietals of award-winning wine, we learned how to properly identify the tasting notes and then pair them with salamis, chocolate, local cherry tomato paste, and all the cheese you could eat! Our group of fast-made drinking buddies consisted of a couple from Guatamala on their honeymoon and another couple from New Jersey. Major props to our guide, Angelo, whose deep knowledge of wine and playful banter kept us on our toes during the trip to the three wineries.
After giddily making our way back to the Airbnb, we decided to spend the afternoon at Black Beach near Perissa. The coarse black sand seemed to be volcanic in nature and lended itself to crisp, clear blue water, with a cool calming breeze. There’s definitely something special about the friendly Grecian sun. With Perissa just spitting distance from the beach, we landed at a restaurant for dinner and spent some time wandering the shops and admiring the night life until attempting to catch a bus home. This turned into an adventure in itself when we walked in circles to find the not-so-clearly marked bus stop and ended up on a bus that took us to the wrong stop!
The next morning, we got an early start to make our way into Fira for the first time! We had booked another tour that would boat us to the famous volcano and nearby hot springs. Our first stop was in the square to pick up our tickets and then we made our way to the old port down many stairs and past many well-behaved donkeys. There’s a saying here that “there are more donkeys than men, more churches than houses, and more wine than water” in Fira. It certainly rang true!
So imagine ~100 people crammed into a boat sailing around the ocean. It was certainly a tight fit as we motored to the volcano for a brisk, yet strenuous, hike right up to the craters. This volcano is still active but dormant (for now) and had some pretty amazing views of the Caldera. After about an hour on the volcano, we made our way to the hot springs area full of warm, mineral-rich water that generates from the volcano. At some point we were all told to jump off the boat and swim to the area, so we did! The water was freezing! After about half an hour in the water, we climbed back on board (with 50 people jockeying for the boat ladder) and finished the trip back to the port. We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets of Fira and stopped for some much-needed ice cream.
We decided to take it somewhat easy the next day since we needed to transfer from our Airbnb in Megalachori to another Airbnb in the small town of Karterados. This stay was in an old wine cave complex that the owners turned into a hostel/Airbnb. It was a very relaxing location complete with a pool, several courtyards, and some friendly (yet strange pets). There was this one cat that would playfully attack anything that walked by! Some photos of our stay below:
Besides finally enabling some good old-fashioned Greek pool time, this location opened up another day trip to the most northern town of Oia. While the town consisted of your typical restaurants and shops, it is most known for having the best views of which to take photos. We had the most fun here exploring passageways and rooftops to take some great pictures while killing time before dinner. Take a step inside our gallery!
Then on Monday, just as quickly as we arrived on the island, we were whisked away by plane to ROMA. A long day awaited us after our 4:00 AM start time. Details to be delivered soon!
-GP