Santorini Sunsets [Greece]
After touring around the landlocked parts of Greece, it was time to head to the islands!
The second half of our Greek adventure involved the following places: Santorini, Naxos, Mykonos, and Zakynthos, before heading back to Athens to actually see the sights (and not just get skeeved out in Omonoia for half an evening). If I were to do it all again, I might skip Naxos or Mykonos (shocker, I know!) and head to Milos instead. This is purely because we weren't looking to party (so Mykonos was a bit of a waste), and there wasn't that much to do in Naxos (although it surprisingly had the best sunsets). Meanwhile, the pictures I saw of Milos from a friendly stranger on the plane home made it look cool and different, with shockingly white rocky cliffsides and stunningly turquoise water.
If I were to rate the islands we visited, it would definitely be:
- Santorini
- Zakynthos
- Naxos <> Mykonos (polar opposites - Naxos is much less touristy but less exciting, Mykonos is overcrowded but has a lot of variety)
- Athens
Our first stop? None other than the most famous, romantic Greek Island of them all: Santorini! We were there from April 28 to May 2.
I was a huge fan of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants growing up, so I had high expectations for Santorini. Thankfully, the island delivered in spades. There is a LOT to do in Santorini! However, if possible, try to avoid May 1, which is Labour Day in Greece (and in much of Europe in general, which I realized when day-tripping to Geneva during my exchange semester in 2017). There also seemed to be limited power at some point?? The place was quite a ghost town and all the transport was out of commission, so we ended up having to shift our plans and stay an extra day in Santorini. Of all places to get stuck for an extra day though, Santorini would have been my top pick.
The yummy complimentary breakfast @ Fileria Suites.
Luckily, my mom and I were staying in Oia, which is the most picturesque part of Santorini — although famously touristy. Since we were going in the off-season still, Oia was absolutely beautiful and I would definitely recommend staying here. It honestly looks like it came out of a storybook or postcard; it's the exact image of Greece that comes to people's minds. To be a bit more budget-conscious, we also stayed in a landlocked hotel called Fileria Suites rather than one right by a cliffside. I honestly have no idea how it's classified as a 3-star hotel — it is definitely nicer than some copy-paste chain hotels that are rated higher, plus came with a nice complimentary breakfast (the fresh fruit was a highlight!) and great hospitality from the staff. Even though everything was closed on that first day, the hotel staff gave us a cute paper map to help us get situated. Fear not, we still managed to witness the infamous "Santorini sunsets" every night.
Day 1
My beautiful mother!
After arriving at 6 am, we got going right away. It was a beautiful day and super quiet! We took a bunch of pictures overlooking the caldera and ate a light breakfast at a place called Mezzo Cafe. I had a refreshing ginger lemonade. We strolled around the shops — getting called "Ni hao" and "Konnichiwa" as shopkeepers tend to do across Europe — and eventually found our way to Lolita's Gelato. This was one of my FAVOURITE places in all of Santorini. I think I might have ended up getting it every single day?! It is also conveniently located right by the bus depot, so you might as well grab a chocolate, pistachio, and strawberry cone while waiting for the bus. Speaking of buses, ugh. Santorini might be in contention for one of the most inefficient bus systems in the world. The city buses were coach buses that came very infrequently (at least in the off-season). As a result, they got absolutely filled to the brim. And rather than paying upon entry, or even say, at the bus depot while waiting for the bus to arrive, they instead had sweaty workers tread through huge hordes of people to collect fare. I say "tread" because it legitimately looked like these workers were swimming through people. This fare collector certainly missed a few people too.
We headed to a black-sand beach called Kamari Beach. The sand was SUPER hot (molten? Haha). While I was there, surprise surprise... turns out my friend Evan Goldman from Queen's was at the same beach! We had known we were going to be in Santorini around the same time, but had made vague plans to meet up without anything concrete. I had been snapping this set of Asian tourists on some floaty unicorns in the water, and he noticed the same people. It was serendipitious. We met up and I proceeded to spend the afternoon hanging out with Evan and his exchange friends (my mom was totally cool with reading on the beach, left to her own devices). The crew included Brittany, Sydney, Ryan (also from Queen's, but the year below me) and their other new pals from USC. We had a good time chatting and hanging out on the beach — it's always fun to make new friends. Some of their crew also went off to go cliff diving, which had always been a bucket list item for me but in hindsight also could've been pretty dangerous.
After Kamari Beach, my mom and I went to a rooftop restaurant called Strogili for sunset views. Unfortunately, it was pricey and didn't have THAT great a view of the sunset. The squid ink pasta was tasty though. Afterwards, we checked out more of the shops around Oia and stumbled upon a cute bookstore called Atlantis. I could spend years in that little book cave, probably.
Day 2
For day two in Santorini, we had booked a bus tour to other parts of the island for the day (thanks Dad for all the help planning!). We first stopped at Akrotiri, which is a set of old ruins. It is insane to think how advanced they were 4000 years ago — these Ancient Greeks already had bathtubs, beds, and toilets on upper floors. Even 60-70 years ago, bathrooms in western society was ALWAYS on the first floor (apparently). How did that knowledge get lost over the years?
Then we stopped by Perissa Beach (another black sand beach) for a zesty fried calamari lunch. Afterwards, we went to Megalochori Village. And guys — if you're looking for that iconic "Santorini" look, THIS IS IT. Why do I say that? BECAUSE OF ALL THE WHITE WALLS AND BLUE DOMES. Turns out blue domes are only on churches, and this little village had tons of them. Mom and I might have held up the group a bit snapping pictures. When in Greece though, right?
The next stop was a lookout point, where we bumped into... none other than Evan and his crew again! They were ATVing across the island. Finally, we stopped by Santo Winery for a tasting and a picturesque view. It was a bit chilly and windy, but we persevered!
In the evening, we went to Byzantine Castle in Oia for sunset, as pictured at the top of this section. I mean, it was okay — but SO CROWDED. Maybe we just didn't luck out with the weather, since every Santorini sunset was somewhat muted instead of brilliantly vivid. Since we went sunset chasing before dinner, we ended up going for tapas right beside our hotel. The meal was surprisingly small (I mean... just look at that tentacle), and since we were on the rooftop at night, it was really cold too.
Day 3
The third day was probably my favourite day in Santorini, as we went to explore Ammoudi Bay with its picturesque views and fresh seafood. Unfortunately, to get there, we had to cobble our way down a million steps while evading tons of donkey dung. I can imagine how all the donkey poop could drive people mad, but once again... we persevered! And we were greatly rewarded when we arrived at Dimitri's Seafood, which was truly spectacular. We could even see the fishing boats and traps(??) right beside our dining area, alongside crystal clear blue water lapping gently against the ledge.
After lunch, we walked along the red cliffsides to an (apparently) famous cliff diving point. We weren't in bathing suits, and cliff diving is out of the question with sensible parents in tow. But we did see a few other brave souls jump in! Our server at Dimitri's also suggested we go to Katharos Beach, which was EXTREMELY EMPTY. We walked through a seemingly deserted dusty field to get there, and I couldn't help but feel like it would have been perfect for a car commercial. This is probably where the locals go, but that also meant it didn't have the touristy amenities we were used to. The trek back was also along paved roads fit for cars, but we found our way without an issue.
Tell me this car doesn't look straight out of a commercial!
From a Snap series; sorry if you weren't on the distribution list.
When we made our way back to Oia, we found a cute frou-frou store called Eden Gift Shop. Think the type of place that might sell hat boxes. There, I found a pair of super comfortable waterproof black flats that I have made GREAT use of in the years since 2018. They have pretty much been run to the ground at this point. We capped off the evening with some legit-tasting carbonara at a place called Flora. As was quite common across Greece, the service was great.
The last thing we did that evening was find some cute white arches and take a ton of photos (including my long-time Instagram profile pic). My mother is an excellent photographer. It was also super comical to see this Asian bride make her way up this giant arch in a wedding dress. Anything for the perfect wedding shots, I suppose!
Day 4
As mentioned at the top of this post, we ended up staying for an extra day because of a ferry strike on May 1 aka Greece's Labour Day. I'm not sure whether to be grateful or distraught that no one in Canada uses Labour Day to exercise their civic duty and instead uses it to squeeze in one last cottage weekend. The silver lining here was that it gave us the opportunity to explore Fira, aka the other "hub" where a lot of tourists opt to stay. Visiting Fira also reaffirmed our accommodation choice... Oia is so much nicer (or at least, much closer to the idea of Santorini in our minds).
Many people like to do a whole round-trip hike between Fira and Oia, but we only went one-way from Imerovigli to Skala Rock. To be honest, there is not a lot to see along the way between Fira and Oia. There was one well-placed café along the way, which allowed them to charge highway robbery. Water was €4! I felt like I was back in Switzerland (haha just kidding — water in Switzerland would either be double that price or free from a fountain. There was no in-between). As the saying goes: location, location, location.
Once we arrived in Fira, we went to check out the town but were largely unimpressed. Everything felt a bit... dirtier? There were more chains and fewer cute boutiques. Outside a McDonald's, we saw a worker repainting the ground white. Which like, rationally makes sense to get everything tourist-ready and to preserve the ~ aesthetic ~ against the elements. But it ruined the illusion a bit!
At least the gyros and souvlaki sticks were slightly more affordable than the dining fare in Oia, so we made sure to scarf down dinner before taking the bus back.
Next stop: Naxos! We made our way over there by boat, and I was quite nervous because I heard infamous tales of boats near Santorini proving to be true vomit-comets. But it turned out to be mostly okay. In fact, the biggest grievance was from the sudden onslaught of tourists in Santorini once May rolled around. ESPECIALLY near the ferry — wow, those people made it seem like there wasn't enough room on the boat from the way they were all jostling to get to the front of the line. To be clear, the boat was huge and there were plenty of free seats. Also, we all pre-purchased tickets. But I know this is a battle I can't win. The world will always line up for planes, boats, and trains, and I can't blame anyone for being SO excited to travel.