I know folks don’t like bucket lists but I love them…I have a variety of different ones and I love that I have a bit of focus on where I want to travel too. I travel to destinations that inspire me rather than where is popular.
Santorini has being on my bucket list for years…and years…and years! Even my folks and sister made it to this Greek Island before me and they live in New Zealand. We only had 2 nights in Santorini however it was enough time for us to get a feel of the island.
I know that Santorini is slowly becoming a marmite destination; folks either really love and rave about the island or they disliked it as it was overpriced, crowded and felt like Disneyland.
I will be honest and say that I am an inbetweener…it was okay, it was beautiful but I didn’t feel overwhelmed and my heart didn’t miss a beat…unlike with my three visits to the pyramids in Egypt (and I know how some folks don’t rate the pyramids either…we’re all different).
We arrived really early into Santorini by air, into the smallest airport you’ve ever seen (actually maybe Apia International Airport was smaller…hmm!)…we jumped into our transfer that whipped us across to Oia and met the lovely Elvis who carried my bags and showed us to our accommodation…poor Elvis, he possibly got more than he bargained for with my suitcase…
…then there were the donkeys. As we arrived early, nothing was open and most of the shops would continue to be closed during our stay as it was winter.
The views from our terrace were spectacular…
…while G had a little nap, I went out exploring with my lack of sleep and a glass of champagne headache that I still had from the day before (I’m pretty sure that I’m allergic to alcohol now!).
Santorini was different to how I was expecting it to be; firstly it reminded me slightly of Split with its slick main pedestrian street and pretty crumbling buildings…
…I was rather in my element with the beautiful doors…
…there were quite a few obviously…
…okay maybe there were more than three…
…to the rambling bougainvillea…
…and to the donkeys that decided to run directly towards me laden with rock while I too busy photographing something to see them coming hurtling towards me…I survived!
I joined G for a little nap after my mini exploring session of Oia as a 4am start two days in a row is never a good idea even if it does mean you’re in Greece and can eat your body weight in feta cheese!
After a nap, we headed out for lunch (to a place I’ve forgotten the name of!)….
…where the views over the sea were stunning….
… we scoffed our way through a lovely, albeit expensive meal while taking in the views…and listening to two American girls with their…like…just like…you know likes….I did giggle with G as I said that they say like more than I say F*** and that is saying something!
Deciding we needed to walk off the calories we wandered down the pedestrian main street…
…we found the supermarket and bought some supplies i.e. feta cheese (I’m obsessed with the stuff…I’m pretty sure I was Greek in another life!). This little supermarket also has gluten free pasta…great if you are self-catering while on Santorini.
I managed to take a million more photos as Oia is rather photogenic to say the least…
…G asked, didn’t you take all these photos already….
….ummmm…
….yes…
….maybe….
…no!
Follow me to see the sunset…
We decided to watch the famous Santorini sunset from our terrace along with about another 50 tourists that had popped over to Oia to watch it (they didn’t join us on the terrace!)…
…it wasn’t that specular at all especially after listening to everyone rave on about it…that’s a gamble you take with mother nature.
We jumped into the hot tub…when I say jump, I mean slip in very elegantly or as elegantly as I could…I apologise now if anyone’s house in Oia got flooded as a lot of water left the hot tub…eek!
I had every intention of waking up early to watch the sunrise but forgot to charge my phone hence no alarm…doh! So waking up late, we scoffed feta cheese in bed (totally up there with eating scones in bed which I highly recommend at least doing once in your life!), dressed and went out to explore another little section of Oia that we didn’t see the day before.
It was all rather blue and wonderful….
…taking Monday Morning Blues to a new level!
Finding a new little café to visit which was right by our apartment (doh!) I thought I would suggest it to G…of course he was doing his best prune impersonation in the hot tub and was rather hungry so we decided to go try out the café.
I had ice cream with strawberries and banana as obviously that is gluten free (they did have salads on the menu to be fair…but when on holiday, I will eat ice cream as my mains!) while G had a crepe…
and then the Grinch received this as his coffee…
…he was mumbling already about the Christmas decorations in November, so Christmas coffee art and my mum sending him Christmas quotes on Facebook, it almost pushed him over the Christmas edge.
The views were spectualar so we just sat there taking it all in…there are worse ways to spend a Monday that’s for sure.
We decided to go for another walk down to the waterfront…I had a Mamma Mia moment as we walked down a number of stairs…
….dodging donkey poo along the way…and looking over the white washed buildings…
There wasn’t anything to see as everything was closed for winter but it was nice to see the building work getting carried out…
…and to enjoy the perfect clear Santorini waters.
Looking back up to Oia, it was a view that I’ve never seen before and it was something very unexpected.
Even though it was November, the sun was still blazing and we worked up a sweat by walking from Ammoudi back to Oia via the road…it was an interesting walk as we got to see a lot of new housing developments that I am in sure in years to come will join up to Oia.
Once we got back, we had another pruning session in the hot tub (I mean turning into a prune, rather than having a prune…thought I should clarify this now!), read a book on the terrace and waited for that sunset for a second night…
…it was slightly disappointing again but we did have fun listing our favourite places from Aswan, Cairo to the middle of Africa…and then we saw a magnificent sunset when we got back to the mainland!
That night, G decided to make us an omelette, I’ve talked about this omelette before and it’s basically gone down in travel folklore as it was just so not an omelette…we don’t know where the eggs escaped too…we sat down and watched a movie and just relaxed.
The following morning I got up early as I remembered to charge my phone and caught the sunrise, it was such a peaceful experience.
Had my morning feta allocation and then wandered out to do a bit of souvenir shopping…still kicking myself for not buying at least 3 willy bottle openers! It was nice just to wander without having the pressures of trying to see the whole island…that wasn’t my plan for our week in Greece…it was more to relax and recover.
If you love cats and dogs then you’ll love Oia…
…they are everywhere…
…normally playing hard to get when you want to photograph them…
…I’m not sure why you would want to rent one as there are strays everywhere!
Did I absolutely love Santorini? – as I said before, I’m definitely an inbetweeer, I didn’t fall head over heels in love with the destination however I didn’t hate it either…it reminds me a lot of Dubrovnik…it doesn’t feel very authentic but it’s very pretty to look at. I’ve ticked Oia off my bucket list…I’m glad I’ve been able to see a bit of Santorini and it made me realise I wanted to see another island at some point in the future (however I changed my tune when we visited Nafplio, I’m a Mainland Girl…so many fabulous places in Greece…I could start my own Big Fat Greek Bucket List…scurries off to do this…actually I have a Greece Pinterest board instead!)
Travel Tips for Santorini
- Choose your season wisely, I’m not a fan of battling crowds while on holiday so visiting during November was perfect for us plus it is the most budget friendly time to visit.
- Prebook your transfers if possible – we got an offer for 3 person for 25 euros
- If you are trying to stick to a budget then look at self-catering options as Santorini can be very expensive even in off season for food and it’s just easier when you’re gluten free as well. As I said above, the little supermarket sold gluten free pasta but we just stuck with cold meats, cheese and vegetables and we survived very nicely.
- There are direct flights during the summer months from London with British Airways or you can get a Ryanair or Air Aegean flight from Athens to Santorini which takes approximately 45 minutes (we used all the above from Heathrow to Athens to Santorini and it all went extremely smoothly!).
- I would suggest to have some cash on you as we found a few places didn’t take credit cards
- If you plan to walk everywhere which you most likely will do then I highly recommend flat comfortable shoes…in the end my superga shoes saved my feet…if you have wide feet then I highly suggest giving them a try.
- You can check out my other Greece posts here including my Santorini posts on Lovers House with Oia Collection, Catching the Sunrise in Oia and What to Expect when Visiting Santorini during Winter
xx
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