For those of you who do not know, Santorini Greece is a volcanic Island over in the Aegean Sea with only two main cities Oia and Fira. And yes the volcano is still active. Santorini is mainly seeked for a romantic vacation with your love one. Ismael and I are not the type to get enchanted by "fake" romanticism so I feel our personalities played part in our experience.
How we got there?
We booked our flight from Paris/ORY - Santorini/JTR via Transavia. The cost ran to be 537 euros for both of us, that is roughly 593 USD or like $300 USD/person. Our experience with the airline was as expected; its a money saving airline so make sure you know baggage sizes, # of luggages/carry on's you can take with you etc is all in accordance to their policies. They were making people with small crossbody purse place it in their carry on. As always check baggage details!! can not stress this enough otherwise you will be spending money to check bags, waste time, and potentially miss your flight so do your homework.Where we stayed?
Once we arrived we actually had the hotel shuttle pick us up as per their booking notes it was included in the reservations. This is were it all started bad lol. I contacted them ahead of time to let them know our date and time of arrival. They send me the charge then acted surprised when I send them a copy of the fine print; I am sure they had no idea but hey not my fault, I read the small print on everything lol.I was not going to name the Hotel we stayed at because we mainly chose it due to one, EVERYTHING being booked and second the only available good options were for suites with ridiculous prices like 5K a night; yea no gracias. If you are visiting booking needs to be done in advance (10 + months in advance); please please do not wait last minute. We stayed at the Suits of The Gods; I will not go in further detail but we do not recommend it.
How to get around?
We rented a ATV since renting a car was not an option. We would go in rocky roads and we wanted to explore the Island. I felt like I was in Mexico the whole time with the Greek culture in place. Donkeys here and there, dry bushes, hot af sun, traffic and the usual rude person encounter lol. Since we did not stay in a main city we would get dressed up then ride the ATV to Oia or where ever (short distances). The longest ride was about 30 minutes to Oia. The ATV was both good and bad (no AC, but fast transportation and breathtaking scenery).
( As you can see we pretty much covered all the Island in 3 days)
Day 1
We chilled at the hotel, went to the pool, rented the ATV then headed to Oia for dinner at this amazing place I had found on Pinterest. Its called Sunset, and quite "hidden" as to get there you park on a heel then walk down to like the underpart/cave of the Caldera. I was so fascinated I kept stopping to take photos mid running late for our reservation (Our Hotel arranged it for us: 1 point to them).
The food was quite good but the view with a glass of wine was everything! All the staff was nice and friendly despite it being quite busy. Ismael got himself a whole fish; he was asked to pick one himself and then they would cook it for him. It was definitely worth the visit and yes its pricey as almost everything in Santorini.
After dinner we headed to Oia for the night, it was Sunday night so local families and children were playing in front of a beautiful white church while we all sat eating ice cream; one of my favorite memories. I also did some shopping and bought some ceramic, some cushion covers and postcard. I almost wished I shopped more but I felt so tired this day.
We headed to Oia and the surrounded cities to explore, eat and whatever else we could find. We took many photos, we did the fish pedi (felt f*cking weird) laughed so much, ate some giros (yummy and affordable). I also tried the famous greek coffee, Freddo and it was hmm ok. lol
Afterwards visited Perissa Black Sand Beach, took our ATV and spend the day here. It was about a 45 min drive. It was so relaxing to get away from the crowds. We ordered cocktails and some fish. Ismael bought a corn on the cob and we had a beer at a beach front restaurant. This beach is super chill, nothing "sophisticated" or high class feel; we loved it. & yes the sand is actually black.
After much swimming, we headed back to our hotel got freshen up and headed to dinner into the city. Ismael picked the restaurant (I can't recall the name) however they were all pricey! the food was ok. I find the restaurants are over hyped in Santorini and charge and arm and leg but the food is just ok. Once back in the hotel we headed to our mini private pool and chilled.
( I hope Maye didn't accidentally eat one of this señor's pelos.)
( After dinner where all you hear around was "despacito" being played everywhere. No greek traditional music to be heard. )
Day 3
I wanted my blogger style photo so I got all cute and we headed out. It was a nightmare guys! haha it was so HOT! not a single could in the sky (I felt like in the movie Holes). Here is where we both got seriously skin burn/tan and just dark AF!
After realizing Instagram vs. Reality we decided to have a cold beer another giro and head back to the hotel. Ismael had booked a sail ship adventure for the afternoon but once we arrived we were sadly told the lady from the hotel forgot to arrange our pick up and so we missed the activity; we were actually so stoked to do it. After the bummer news we headed to the pool, ate more and then took a nap.
We woke up in perfect time to head to Oia and see our last sunset in Santorini. Sunsets here are very famous and with all reason they are like no other I have ever seen before. Tip: everyone kept asking where was the perfect place to go see the sunset. We found it to be...anywhere beside your love one in the middle of the road in an abandon "house" away from crowds with donkeys passing by. We created our perfect sunset. (Our exact Sunset location: HERE)
After we headed to dinner at a Katharos Lounge, vegan restaurant that felt sketchy arriving to but was absolutely beautiful! I wish we would of gone during the day because its located off a cliff so all you hear is the beautiful sound of waves crashing into the rocks. We highly recommend. Unfortunately I started feeling so sick mid meal, ordered tea and headed back to out hotel to rest as we were heading to Mykonos the next morning.
( I think this was the only beer they sold on the Island, its yummy)
(Our view from the Hotel Pool)
( Katharos Lounge, vegan restaurant)
So what did I think of Santorini?
For my overall experience in Santorini, I am very grateful I was able to experience, see and live a couple of days in this world wide known place. My favorite memories were made of simple unexpected events/places. I found it awfully crowded as cruise ships arrived in the day crowding up the narrow streets. Since this is s tourist Island the people who work here come from different parts and I felt I did not get to experience "the locals" as I have in other places. We found some to be extremely rude and with poor manners but we never took it personal. There was also quite some traffic and way too many four wheelers/ATV's. Everything is pretty over priced. I do believe there are hotels that are worth the pay with amazing food and experience, unfortunately I was not able to have that experience.
Do I think I will return? to be honest probably not, there are so many more Islands in Greece to see and explore with more affordable options, I think I will save my dollars for those ones. That is it for now. Hope my experience doesn't change your thoughts on this Island and give it a try after all it is worth seeing and experiencing yourself. If you made it this far thank you for reading, till next time my wanderlusts.
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With Love,
Maggie ♥
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