Thanks for the vote guys. Santorini was a great choice
For all those who have Santorini on their bucket list (like I did), get it further up your list. Whilst making the video for this travel blog, I smiled all over again reminiscing on what a great time we had.
We went as a group, which always makes it so much more fun. We didn’t have the time, but if you can, mix Santorini & Mykonos together as they’re so close by (Mykonos is still on my to-do).
We stayed in Fira but Oia is the more “magical” setting to stay in. But we loved Fira. Our hotel was about a 10 minute walk from the centre of town. Worked great for when we wanted to explore Fira in the day time, or stroll back after a night out!
Being by the sea, the food was great (but I’ve never been disappointed with any Greek food as yet to be honest). This particular part isn’t the warmest to swim in (but I’m a bit of a wimp if it’s not the hot Caribbean type sea!!), but for the brave ones, you’ll be fine. You should know that the water isn’t drinkable, even for brushing your teeth, so buy a stash from your local store to keep in your hotel.
So, what can you do:
1. Do a bus tour of the town – it’s a fairly small town to get around. We did one specifically that took us to the monastery / winery / lost city / red beach / then ended up in oia to watch the sunset. Absolutely amazing. Before the sunset in Oia, get lost in the many many stores and be ready to fight your way through the crowd as there are so many tourists. Also listen to your tour guide who will advise the best vantage point to catch the sunset (with so many people, it’s good to know where you’re headed).
2. You can also explore the town yourself on a quad bike or moped. It’ll be fun for the adventurous types, but I like to hear the history behind it all (although I can’t claim to remember much!), which is why we chose the tour option
3. Do a boat trip (we caught the “king Theros”) to the volcano. Now, hopefully I can prepare you, coz our group certainly were not prepared! It’s a fairly hard climb!, and warm; so dress accordingly and have water. My mind wasn’t prepared for it so it was probably harder than it should have been. The boat trip also does a stop off at their hot springs. Again, I hope I can prepare you! Depending on what tour you get, they may drop you close to the springs, or a fair distance away and expect you to swim a fair distance before you even get to the springs to enjoy it. Yep, you guessed right, we ended up on a large boat that stopped a fair distance away! So ensure you’re on a small boat tour if you’re not a strong swimmer, as the smaller boats could get close to the springs! Not being so confident in myself, we had to watch others jump off, swim to the springs and enjoy themselves. Such is life! I love my hubby though, as he’s always sooo willing to try! But I know better! Our group was in fits of laughter as Remi (along with another black couple I should add) were the only ones who needed rescuing to bring them back to the boat, and they didn’t even make it to the springs! Oh the embarrassment! But it’s the effort that counts right!
4. Catch the cable car for the views in Fira, then catch a honkey (half horse, half donkey!) ride back up (for those not keen on the honkey ride, you can take a leisurely walk back up)
5. Shake a leg and enjoy the nightlife. Need I elaborate more on that?!
3-4 days is good enough (we did 4 nights / 5 days). Too long and you may get bored. But the short break away in such a beautiful, genuinely white city, was lovely.
Hope that’s given you an insight to Santorini and enjoy the pictures / video! (YouTube video link here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mIkcF4ncwxM&feature=youtu.be
Bye for now
Tina
T&T Consultancy
T&T Consultancy 