Santorini, Greece

We got up early to catch the train to the Athens airport to fly to Santorini with Brad. We relaxed in the airport lounge which is a perk we've gotten spoiled with thanks to the credit card Melissa upgraded to in advance of this trip. Our flight was less than an hour, and before we knew it we had touched down in hot and dry Santorini. We were really excited to be here, despite the naysayers online who claim it isn't "worth" it since it has gotten too touristy (we like to judge this for ourselves). Melissa had been dreaming of going to Santorini since she was a kid after reading/watching The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and even more so after her sister visited years ago.

Santorini is a large island, but the majority of people stay in either Fira or Oia along the caldera. We opted to stay in Fira since it was the larger of the two towns and was well connected by public bus to the rest of the island. Plus, we found a good deal on a villa on the outskirts of Fira that was also close to the town of Imerovigli. We caught the public bus from the airport to Fira, and walked about 15 minutes in the intense heat to our villa. Along the way, we caught glimpses of the coast on the other side of the island (not the famous caldera yet), and saw many of the white painted buildings that Santorini is known for. We dropped our stuff off at the villa, which was quite spacious and nice, and included a lovely terrace and a private "jetted tub" (a hot tub, without the "hot" part). After settling in, we walked toward town and picked up the essential groceries, including a bottle of Santorini's local wine, Assyrtiko. The grapes are grown in the volcanic ash- rich soil, and make a nice refreshing white wine. A little before sunset, we walked about 20 minutes towards the town of Imerovigli. Imerovigli was stunning- the white painted buildings are nestled into the cliff side and overlooking the caldera, with beautiful houses and churches with blue accents everywhere you look. The icing on the cake was that it wasn't even busy; we weren't alone by any means, but there were no crowds, and it was very calm and quiet. It was exactly the Santorini we had always pictured and hoped for. We grabbed drinks at a wine bar which over looked the caldera and were treated with one of the best sunsets we had ever seen. It was definitely one of those moments that makes you sit back and appreciate life and how lucky you are. After soaking in our welcome sunset, we grabbed a quick dinner kebab to go and headed back to our place to jump in our jetted tub and celebrate our first day with some ouzo.

The next day, we got up early to hike from Fira to Oia. The route is about 6 miles and takes you through towns and along some trails. We knew we wanted to do this walk since it was a great way to see more of the island and caldera views, and it would get us to Oia, which we wanted to explore. Along the way, we made a pit stop at Skaros Rock which is a large rocky outcrop that protrudes out into the sea. A medieval castle fortress used to be here, but the only thing left are ruins now due to past earthquakes. The ruins weren't much to see, but it was still fun climbing around and getting unique views of the towns from the rock. We continued on our hike which was very hot and windy, but the views made up for it. After a few hours, we finally made it in Oia, and could immediately tell it was a lot busier here than where we were staying. We walked through town and stopped at the main viewpoints to see the blue domed churches. Most of the viewpoints were very crowded, but we did end up finding one that we had all to ourselves. In our opinion, Oia was very pretty and ok to see for a couple hours, but not worth the higher prices and crowds; we actually thought Imerovigli was just as, if not more, beautiful. We bused back to Fira and jumped into our jetted tub to cool off.

For sunset, we went to a different place along the caldera in Fira to grab a drink and watch the sunset facing southwest this time. It was pretty, but couldn't compete with the one we saw the day before. After sunset, we grabbed dinner at a local restaurant that we found on Reddit which had good moussaka, Greek salads, and fried tomatoes balls. That night, we hit the Santorini bars for bogo drinks and dancing. The DJ's almost exclusively played middle and high school dance playlists, which we weren't mad about!

The next day we slept in some and then got ready for the half day tour we booked that would take us on a boat out in the caldera to the volcano and hot springs. The boat we needed to take left out of the old port of Santorini, which is the port that the cruise ships use, but the local ferries don't. Turns out there are only two ways down to the port- an expensive gondola ride with a long line, or a windy switchbacking path down the side of the cliff with about 600 wide steps. We figured we could handle the stairs and save a few bucks, so we opted for the stairs. We wouldn't say it was a mistake to go this way, but it wasn't pleasant. For one thing, there is absolutely no shade, and for another you're sharing the path with other people and a lot of donkeys that make the trek up and down the stairs many times a day carrying cruise passengers. The donkeys have historically been used in Santorini for these purposes, but we felt bad for the donkeys since it seemed like they were worked in the heat all day. We finally made our way down the steps, avoiding all of the donkey poop, and finally made it to our boat. We sailed past all of the cruise ships in the caldera to dock on the island of Nea Kameni. Nea Kameni and neighboring Palea Kameni are two islands formed through the volcanic eruptions over the centuries. Nea Kameni means "new burnt" and Palea Kameni means "old burnt." At Nea Kameni, we were able to hike around the lava rocks and see some of the active volcanic vents. The volcano is still active, and is monitored closely by scientists. We also learned some interesting things about the volcanic history and formation of the caldera and these islands. One of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history occurred here in 1600 B.C.; it wiped out the ancient civilizations that inhabited the island and gave Santorini its unique shape. It was really interesting to walk around the island created by subsequent eruptions and see new views of Santorini from here.

After walking around Nea Kameni, we got back into the boat and cruised to the hot springs. We anchored and jumped into the sea to swim to the springs, which was actually just a shallower part of the ocean near an island where warmer water vents. The water of the Aegean Sea was cool and a deeper blue than the Adriatic in Croatia. The hot springs gave an orange tint to the water and mud and smelled like sulfur. It was only slightly warmer than the sea, and we spent more time hanging in the deep blue sea. The boat cruised back to the old port of Santorini, and we elected to plug our noses and hike back up the steep donkey stairs instead of waiting in the long cable car line. We relaxed back at our villa and then got ready to go to dinner at a fancier restaurant called Parea Tavern that we had read great things about. Dinner was amazing and we shared large plates of grilled swordfish, grilled sea bass, calamari, grilled prawns, and grilled octopus. It was all great, but the octopus and swordfish were our favorites.

After dinner, we went back to the villa to relax, pack, and watch a classic - My Big Fat Great Wedding. It was fun seeing the movie reference so many things we were experiencing and eating/drinking. We went to bed early since Brad had an early flight out the next day, but we were so glad he came to visit us. We had some unforgettable experiences, and we're looking forward to reuniting back in the states again and having more ouzu!