Santorini, or Thira as it’s known locally (the island has gone through many name changes but either name is accepted), is considered to be the most beautiful and romantic islands in the world. The sunsets are not the only thing that brings people to the island. There’s a certain magic in the air that is difficult to describe. There’s a reason people keep coming back.
Seeing as this was the last leg of my trip, I decided to slow things down and just enjoy the island. No planning ahead (or in advance more than the day before if necessary), just go with the flow. The island has so much to offer, and it makes sense that it’s such a top destination.
Day 1
It was a short ferry ride from Naxos to Santorini, and the ride went by pretty quickly. I got to the port in the mid-afternoon and was able to grab a spot on the bus heading to Fira before it filled up entirely. The buses were pretty nice, they had AC and the ride only took about a half hour to reach the depot. From the port to Fira cost €2.30 which is pretty good for an air conditioned coach bus. I decided on staying in Fira as it was so centrally located and easy to take buses from, even though I was tempted by Perissa’s rock bottom hostel prices. While looking through different hostels, I saw that unless I wanted to rent a car/ATV it made more sense to stay in Fira. All the buses on the island start or end there and all those bus fares really add up when you’re trying to explore the island. I stayed at Fira Backpackers, which was alright. It wasn’t anything special but it wasn’t terrible either. My room was with 5 other girls and we had our own bathroom and balcony for laundry. The hostel also had a small pool and was within walking distance of the bus station. There weren’t really events like they had at my hostel in Athens so I didn’t really get to meet as many people. However, I didn’t feel lonely for a second on the island, there were always new people to meet.
Day 2
I woke up refreshed for my first full day in Santorini and booked myself a spot on a free walking tour of Fira, the only one on the island as its claim to fame. The tour was almost all people my age and I met some really cool people, some I still talk to and stalk their trips on Instagram.
Something new that I learned was that Santorini has over 1,000 churches scattered among the island according to our guide. For a population of around 15,000 people, that’s about one church for every 15 people. Feels like Oprah giving out churches. You get a church! And you get a church! Everyone gets a church!!!
After the walking tour was over one of the girls I met and I decided to check out Oia (pronounced Ee-ya). We took the bus up to the tip of the island and began our afternoon in the blue and white city.
Of course I needed to find the door from Lena’s family’s house from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in Oia. It took a little bit of time to find it, but eventually after walking too far down the stairs and my skirt blowing up past an accordion player playing Zorbas, we found it. It is now the location of Kastro Oia House. If you walk towards the castle it should be on your right. Opposite the house on the wall it should say Helios. Ammoudi Bay, where the girls go cliff jumping, is also pretty close by and I planned on going but didn’t get the chance to make it back to Oia during this trip.
Most of Oia is definitely very touristy and almost everything is Instagram ready so you have tons of people hanging around just taking photos. It is a beautiful city, and I’m so glad I got to experience it.
We decided to stay in Oia to watch the famous sunset, so we had a few hours to kill before then. After walking around and taking photos, it was time for a break so we popped into Oia Vineyart, a small boutique . We ordered some wine and a Santorini cheese plate which was absolutely delicious. I tried a glass of Vinsanto wine, a local dessert wine made on the island that our tour guide recommended. I love sweet wines, and this one was pretty good, it had a distinct taste of raisins, which was nice. Santorini actually has a large variety of vineyards, and the local wine is really something to try. The cheeses we tried were also delicious, but how can you go wrong with cheese?
To get a good view of the sunset our tour guide mentioned grabbing a table at Deilino and having a drink. We got there a bit early and had some iced coffees and chatted while we waited for he sun to go down. Just our luck though, it was a cloudy evening so most of the sunset was covered up. Thankfully, every other night I got to witness the most beautiful sunsets I’d ever seen.
Day 3
The island of Santorini is said to have been inhabited by humans for millennia, but around 1600 BC a volcanic eruption occurred covering the surrounding area. Akrotiri is the excavated town in the southwestern part of the island that was destroyed during the eruption. It’s very well preserved and is compared to Pompeii. Note that Prehistoric Akrotiri is a different area than the modern town of Akrotiri which is a bit north of the museum. In the museum you can walk through the 3,500 year old city that once was a small fishing town.
The Akrotiri archaeological site is definitely bigger than I thought it would be. Everything can be seen in about an hour though, maybe longer if you walk slowly. You can also join a guided tour, which costs around €10 per person. There’s so much to see, and it’s interesting to see how advanced this civilization was. There are ruins of buildings that were three stories tall from over 4,000 years ago, and also pieces of jewelry and artwork found in great condition.
Near the Akrotiri archaeological site there are the three main beaches: Red Beach, White Beach, and Black Beach (Mesa Pigadia). The beaches in Santorini are rocky due to the volcanic activity, not at all like beaches on the other islands. I trekked out to the Red Beach, which is about a kilometer and a half away from the archaeological site, and after climbing down the rocks it was so nice to just jump into the water. There was a water taxi that would take you to the other beaches for €10 round trip, but I was pretty content at the Red Beach. For mid-September the beach had a pretty good crowd. I got to do a bit of snorkeling, and my legs got bit up by some fish thinking they were a good snack.
If you have a private vehicle you can continue down the coast to the western tip where you can visit the Akrotiri Lighthouse for a nice place to watch the sunset. The lighthouse is still functional so you can’t go inside, but it’s still a very pretty area. On the road towards the lighthouse there’s a taverna named Giorgaros which has a swing that gives the perfect view of the caldera.
Day 4
Scuba Diving in Santorini
I love the water. I grew up going to the beach or the pool almost every weekend and practically lived in the water. 6 year old Melissa had high hopes of getting into the mermaid profession when she got older. Things don’t always pan out like we hope, but we make do. The first time…
Day 5
My last day on the island was an exhausting one. Originally I was supposed to take the 3 pm ferry back to Athens and then take the bus to the airport, but I checked out Skyscanner and saw flights back were €35. I saw that price on the ferry to Santorini but I had spotty service so I wasn’t able to book it til I got to the island and at that point it had jumped up to €50. Not a huge difference, but still was worth it to fly instead of spending 8 hours on a boat.
Now that I was flying straight to the airport home, I had an extra 10 hours on the island. I wandered around Fira a bit, did some last-minute souvenir shopping, and tried to soak up as much Greece as I could before I got on the plane. I ended up finding a “hidden” spot to do an impromptu photo shoot with an “authentic” Greek dress I got in Athens. I walked down a covered drive and stumbled upon a courtyard with beautiful flowers and trees, and no one around to walk right in front of my photo.
When it got to be late afternoon, I still had a good 6 hours before I had to leave for the airport, and my phone battery was dying, so I found a cafe to camp out at for a while. They had good WiFi and coffee, and it wasn’t crowded at all for where it was located. I ended up staying til dinnertime, and got a nice Greek Caesar Salad. I tipped well since I had stayed there a while, and they were really nice about letting me stay so long. At one point while watching the sunset I started talking to the couple at the table next to me who were traveling from the States. The husband accidentally knocked over his drink and it spilled a bit on my shoes but nothing got ruined. The waiters then brought over desserts on the house. Greek yogurt with honey, strawberries, and Oreos – yum!
As the sun went down, as did my time in Greece. These two weeks had flown by so quickly, and I can’t wait to come back. Hopefully next time it won’t take me six years. This country has so much to offer, and each city and island is so different from the next. I’ll never forget this trip, as it really was the beginning of a new chapter in my life.
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International Itinerary 