Category: Santorini

The next morning we were up early to catch the ferry to Ios, the ‘party island’.  The port in Ios was bustling. Tourists scanning the crowd for someone holding their hotel’s sign, letting them know that their shuttle was there to pick them up. Emma and I found our guy rather quickly and were soon making our way up the hillside to Chora, our home for the next 3 days. Our host, Yannis gave us the low down on buses, beaches and bars. The bars don’t open their doors until rather late and some nightclubs even later (2:30am). If you’re looking to party ’til the sun comes up, this is the place for you! If you like beaches, this is the place for you! If you like buses, well nobody likes buses, but they’re cheap and they run often.

Our hotel, The Village Twins, is located right in the heart of everything.  It doesn’t have a pool, but we honestly didn’t need it, the beaches of Ios are fabulous and plentiful. Our room was super cute with a good sized terrace at the back. The room and bathroom were very clean and the A/C worked beautifully. The owners were very friendly and gave us great tips on places to visit while in Chora. They offer a small and inexpensive menu – cold 1/2L beer is only 2€!  Cheapest beer on the island and cheap tastes better – always!

Our first night in Chora, we checked out The Nest for some traditional and local Greek cuisine. Yannis, the owner of Village Twins had recommended it and it did not disappoint. The serving sizes were enormous and the price was reasonsable. Emma had the moussaka and I had the eggplant stuffed with meat. Both were really tasty and quite filling. After that feast, we needed to walk, like a lot, as I said, the meal portions were enormous and we were in beach country now. So, climbed to the highest point of the town to snap photos of, what else? The sunset, and it was GLORIOUS!

We then explored the tiny streets of Chora, checking out the various bars, lounges and shops.

Our second day in Chora was a beach day, as was our third. We visited the main beach, Mylopotas. There are regular buses that run every 10 minutes which will ferry you to the beach for a mere 1.80€ and the view from the tops of the hills along the way are well worth it. The beach itself was pretty quiet earlier in the day, as most of the partiers were likely still sleeping off the remnants of the night before.  It started to pick up later in the afternoon, but it never felt overly crowded. The beach loungers could be rented for 7€/day, but the sand was beautiful and we opted to lie on our beach blankets instead. The water was very clear and the fish swam up to us while we waded in the crystal waters. Cool thing about this beach is the sand actually glitters. When we got back to our hotel, our feet looked as though they’d been bathed in glitter!  FYI: Emma HATES glitter, and yet strangely enough, she didn’t seem to mind having sparkling toes.

That night, we “pre-dank” a litre and a half of white wine, and left our room promptly at midnight in search of some of this famous Ios nightlife.  It did not disappoint. So many bars vying for your dollars with plenty of deals to be had on drinks (if binge drinking is your thing). For 25€ you could get 7 shots and a singlet to commemorate a night that after 7 shots you likely wouldn’t remember anyway, so the singlet is useful in that you at least know which establishment to thank for your hangover and beer goggles mishaps. Emma and I opted to have drinks at a series of spots so we could sample the nightlife. I’m a bit of a commitment phone so settling on one spot when there were so many to visit suited me just fine. We visited a few places and ended the night on a very crowded street sipping cold beers and people watching. We had a beach day planned for the following day (quelle surprise) so we called it an early night and were back at our hotel by 3:30am.

The next morning, a little hungover, and definitely in need of a low key day, we hopped on the bus to Manganari beach. The bus is 7.50€ return and the views along the way are themselves worth the fare. The beach is 11km from Chora but the ride there takes about 45 minutes. The road is all steep inclines and switchbacks with the most breathtaking views of Ios. The landscape of this island is truly surreal. Everything looks photoshopped, it’s THAT stunning.

Manganari beach is isolated, small and very quiet. We settled into our loungers and pretty much stayed there until we either got hungry, thirsty, or needed to take a dip to cool off. The loungers were free and Christo’s Tavern in the beach serves up the coldest beer on the island and the freshest good. I had the Greek salad and Emma ordered the grilled calamari. Again, serving sizes were enormous and the food delicious. After lunch, Emma lounged in the sun for a bit and I wandered off to snap a few photos. It was another perfect afternoon on Ios.

Given that the next morning we would be taking the ferry to Santorini, it was a relatively early night for us. If we’ve learned anything it’s to NOT have a big night before a travel day. Thank you Amsterdam for that lesson.

Santorini

We arrived in Santorini by ferry. I had visited Santorini 5 years ago, but was still awestruck by the cliffs of Fira as we arrived at the port. We immediately booked a shuttle to Stella Hotel, our home for the next two nights. As the shuttle van weaved its way through the switchbacks up the cliff side everyone in the van was oohing and ahhing at the scenery as the port below became smaller and smaller as we approached the top of the cliff. The vistas of the caldera and Nea Kemini from the top were absolutely breathtaking.

We drive through Fira and then onto Kamari where our hotel was located. Kamari is located on the opposite coast. It’s becoming more and more popular as a less expensive alternative for food, drink and accommodations for the budget minded traveler. The small town offers regular bus service to Fira where you can catch connecting buses to Oia. It’s also about 10 minutes from the airport.

Our room was lovely and the hotel offered free breakfast, which we took full advantage of, poolside of course.

Since we only had 2 days in Santorini we did not waste anytime and grabbed the bus to Fira as soon as we were settled at the hotel.

Let me tell you, it was bloody hot that day and the 10 minutes we waited by that bus stop, in pools of our own sweat did seem like an eternity, however we quickly discovered that the buses are air conditioned (thank heaven) so the miserable wait seemed worth it once aboard the bus.

Now, you should know that the public buses can get very crowded. We spent an entire bus ride from Oia standing – great core workout – but certainly not ideal.

We wandered around Santorini in a heat inflicted zombie state, snapping pictures along with everyone else in the tourist hoard then made our way to a taverna for some cold microbrews. With renewed energy we decided to make our way to Oia by bus to watch the sunset.

Oia was ridiculous!  The tourists had descended upon that town like a swarm of locusts.  Everyone was filing through the tiny streets, lining up to snap photos of the iconic blue domes and that famous sunset over the Aegean Sea.  We followed along, didn’t have much of a choice really. You do get swept up in the crowd. We took so many photos that both our iPhones and camera batteries died.

Unable to take any additional pics, we had dinner at one of the tavernas then climbed aboard the bus to Fira in the middle of the post sunset mass exodus. It’s absolutely crazy how touristy this entire island is. The crowds are unrelenting and the businesses shameless in the fact they they subsist solely on the tourist dollars. I have to admit, it made the place feel a lot less special to me.

Our bus ride back from Oia was an adventure to say the least. Packed in the aisle like sardines, bus filled to capacity and standing room only as our driver navigated the steep hills and curves of the road atop the cliffs. This was not an enjoyable ride. Trying the stay standing through the twists and turns was challenging enough but add to it the being stepped on, or having some fellow super sweaty traveler brush up against you, the inescapable waft of body odour all around, bleck!  I just wanted it to be over.

When we arrived safely in Fira I was thankful. Now all we had to do was get the connecting bus to Kamari. That was easy enough. However, we really didn’t know where we were going and ended up traveling the entire route until the last stop in Kamari. We had clearly missed our stop and then had to walk for about 30 minutes from where we had been dropped off to get back to our hotel. Just great!  Upside? It was so dark as we made our way back that we had a wonderful view of the star.  Downside? We were lost and wandered around for a bit befriending stray dogs along the way. We must have circled around our hotel for about 10 minutes, served us right for not making a point of knowing which stop was ours.

Next day we were super excited to get going. We booked an excursion to walk to the top of the volcano, swim in the hot springs, visit Thirassia and then watch the sunset over the caldera from the deck of the boat.

The boat ride to the Kea Kemini offered us some even more amazing views of the cliffs and the cities of Fira and Oia perched atop.

We arrived at the volcano (entry fee is 2€) and began our hike up to the top. The hike to the top takes about 40 minutes and it’s fairly steep in some places. The hike itself was not particularly challenging, however, combined with the high temps and humidity it felt like walking into the 7th circle of hell. The volcano is still active and we could feel the heat emanating from the ground beneath our feet – this just added to the inferno’esque feel of the climb.

The heat, the humidity and the inclines were all forgotten however as soon as you reached the top of the volcano. From there we had sweeping 360 degree views of the caldera and the sea. It was a clear day and we could actually see Ios in the distance. After a few minutes of photo snapping it was time to make our descent back to the boat.

The hike down only took about 30 minutes and we were back on the bait making our way to the hot springs for an hour of swimming. I opted out and instead sat on the boat watching the others jump into the water while I enjoyed a very cold beer.

To be completely honest I have zero regrets about not swimming in the hot springs for 2 reasons

1) Everyone who exited the hot springs had iron stains on their swimsuits and towels

2) An elderly couple on the excursion also joined the group in the hot spring swim, unfortunately the woman was unaware of a trail of toilet paper stuck in the front of her bathing suit. It wasn’t like a couple of squares, it was a couple of feet of toilet paper trailing from her suit. Once she was in the water, the toilet paper started to come apart and float up into the water surrounding the other swimmers as they tried to avoid it. Just gross. She exited the water a bit later, joyful at having cooled off in the water and oblivious of the trail of wet toilet paper still clinging to the side of her leg. Good for her! Too bad for everyone else.

After the hot springs it was off to Thirassia, the small island across from Santorini’s main island. Thirassia is home to approximately 100 families. The families live at the top of the island during the winter months and down at the shore during the summer months when both the fishing and tourists are plentiful. The income they make over the summer months on fishing and tourism sustains them for the remainder of the year. Unlike Santorini, the homes and businesses at the top of the cliffs are all but abandoned during the summer months. I’d like to point out at this time that our tour guide did tell us this before we arrived at the Thirassia.

When we arrived on Thirassia we walked along the shore and inspected the steep path up the cliff side debating whether or not to make the trek up. Common sense did not prevail in this case (when does it ever?) and we decided to hike up to the top.

Oh. My. God. What the hell were we thinking?! The switchbacks were merciless, some sections of the path had to be at least 60 degrees or more, riddled with donkey shit – the smell! My eyes were watering and I was gagging. The gagging didn’t bother me, I was terrified of stepping in one of the countless steaming mounds of donkey poop covering the path. I was wearing flip flops, I had switched out of my Cons after the volcano hike.

Along the way up the mountain (it wasn’t a mountain, but it may as well have been) there were signs for ‘Different Restaurant’ promoting their free wifi and swimming pool!  Yay!  The promise of a swimming pool was all it took to motivate me. I channeled my inner pack mule (my new spirit animal) and pushed my way through the gagging, watery eyes and mounds of shit to get to the top of that mountain!  Once we got to the top we took in the scenery and explores the abandoned village. We did see a few people but they easily outnumbered by cats and a few dogs. Hot, sweaty and thirsty, we followed the signs to ‘Different Restaurant’ which, it turned out, was closed. There would be no wifi, no beer and no swimming pool.  Was ‘Different Restaurant’ offering a ‘different restaurant’ experience in that you could have a seat at any of the tables but you could not expect to be served.

 

Ugh! Snapped some pictures then hiked back down. The views were great, it was worth it…maybe. I’m still undecided on that one.

We are at one of the restaurants along the shore and then back on the boat to watch the sunset over the water.

Now, the sunsets in Greece have been spectacular but nothing and I mean NO sunset I have seen so far will ever compare to the sunsets in Santorini! Words fail me, so here are about 400 pictures of the sunset we saw that night. (Ok, I have limited my post to 3 pics of that sunset, but I did snap about 400 that night.)

That sunset sail was the final curtain call on our trip to Santorini as we were flying out the next day. We spend the following morning lounging by the pool before our flight to Crete, as you do.

Crete

No visit to Greece would be complete without a visit to Crete. I know that every island in Greece has its own character, and Crete is distinctly different in terms of culture and cuisine. I love Greek food, but Cretan food, on my opinion blows then all away. Just don’t, whatever you do, drink the Raki. That Cretan firewater is the worst!!

We opted to fly to Crete as opposed to taking the ferry. The cost of the flight was almost the same as the ferry and was only 20 minutes versus and 2 1/2 hour ferry.

Our flight landed at around 9pm and we easily found the bus from the airport that would take us to our hotel. The bus costs anywhere from 1.50€-2.50€ depending on how many zones you travel through. Though we easily located our bus, figuring out which stop we had to get off at was a bit more challenging. First of all, the digital crawl sign at the front of the bus listing out the route stops as we made our way from the airport wasn’t working. Call me crazy, but would this not be an important feature to have working on a bus that ferries foreigners from the airport to the centre of the city?  Secondly, ALL THE STREET SIGNS ARE IN GREEK, which made it a bit difficult to figure out where the hell we were. I started to worry that we might miss our stop so I walked up to the driver and asked him if he would please let us know when we got to our stop. He didn’t speak or understand English, but I was able to point out our stop on the map and he assured me that we hadn’t passed it yet. He indicated that he would.

Thankfully, Emma is a wiz at directions and reads trip advisor reviews religiously and she recognized a food market that had been mentioned in one of the reviews for our hotel, so she knew we were close and sure enough at the next stop there was a sign for our hotel!  The bus stopped and though the driver didn’t say anything he left the bus parked and door open until we clued in that we were at our stop. From there we had a short walk to our hotel. Yay!!!

Park Hotel is where we would be staying for the next 3 nights. The room was okay with a balcony, A/C and a roomy bathroom (compared to most of the other bathrooms thus far). Now, the room was meant to have a kitchen, but instead the kitchen was a sink, an exhaust fan above a countertop, um, no stove or hot plate so we were unclear as to the purpose of the exhaust fan. Oh and no fridge. So basically, no kitchen. Anyway, we’d make do.

Our first day in Heraklion and decided to keep things pretty low key and explore the town centre. I much prefer Heraklion’s city centre to Athens. It was comparatively clean and we felt very safe. Everyone was very friendly and we easily found inexpensive food options – gyros the size of your head for 3€!  The shopping is very good, each of us bought a dress, you know for ‘a night out in Barcelona’.  Never mind that we both brought one piece of carry on, already busting at the seems. Something would have to be let behind in Crete. I’d already ‘left behind’ a pair of flip flops in Mykonos to make room for 2 new bikinis that I ‘absolutely needed’.  Sacrifices needed to be made.

After wandering through Heraklion centre for an entire day, we returned to our hotel for their spaghetti dinner. It was actually delicious with one of the best Greek salads we’ve had so far and only 8€ each!

We spent the rest of the evening playing cards and drinking cheap house wine.

Our last day in Crete and we wanted to check out the nearby beach.  The path to the beach was just outside the entrance to our hotel, how convenient, so we walked over right after breakfast. Thank God we hadn’t made plans to have a beach day in Heraklion. If you love sandy beaches littered with everything from discarded cigarette packages, hair brushes, dirty socks, empty beer cans, cigarette butts, basically all manner of garbage then this is the beach for you my friend. The sole running shoe and striped underwear in the middle of the sandy path leading the beach should have tipped us off. ‘This is not the beach you are looking for.’  Just nasty! You may think I’m exaggerating here, but I assure you I am not. Check out the photos, if you dare. It’s not pretty.

After shaking off the horror of ‘Garbage Beach’ we made our way to Knossos, located about 5kms from the city centre, the largest Bronze Age archeological site on Crete and considered to be the oldest city in Europe (first settlement dates back to about 7000 BC).  Knossos is believed to where the King of Knossos lived as well as the political centre of Minoan civilization.  We spent about 2 hours exploring the site. The site itself is beautiful but it’s also surrounded by some stunning hillside views.

After visiting Knossos we made our way to the Venetian port for a late afternoon walk along the break wall. More history, more stunning scenery and more photo snapping.

After a day of walking and touring the city we made or way back to our hotel where we spent the rest of the evening sitting by the pool catching up on emails and finalizing some last minute travel details before heading to Istanbul the next day.