Santorini was an absolute dream, folks. We intentionally took the last flight out of Athens to the island so that we would wake up the next morning to a picturesque view of Amoudi Bay in the village of Oia (pronounced EE-AH).
Oia is a bit remote compared to the main port city, Fira, but being on the northwest part of the island, it offers the world's best sunsets and a serene atmosphere. Many of the buildings on the Cycladic islands are made of stone and painted white for insulation purposes, and to combat the stinging summer heat experience from June through August. This is especially striking in Santorini, and particularly in Oia village.
Santorini island was originally circular in shape many, many centuries ago, but after a series of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes over time, it became crescent-shaped and is now covered with large, jagged cliffs and beaches covered with black, white, and red sand resulting from the volcanic ash from previous eruptions.
We saw this part of our trip as a period of respite from our jam-packed month of travel so we definitely took it easy during our two day, three night stay there. Here are the highlights from our trip:
1. We found a little swimming hole just around the corner from our little rented villa. It was so beautiful, cool, and refreshing to jump into the Aegean Sea! Joe climbed up to the top of a nearby rock and jumped in -- he said it was exhilarating but a bit scary!
2. We visited a few beaches, but one of particular note was Red Beach. Covered with red and black sand, Red Beach takes a while to get to because you have to hike down a little cliff to get to the shore below. It was completely worth it, though!
3. We decided to take a half day excursion from the main port of the island in the village of Fira. Fira is much bigger than Oia and is built on a high cliff, so you can either take (1) a gazillion steps, (2) a donkey ride, or (3) the funicular to get to the marina. We chose to take the steps since it was earlier in the day and there was less foot / donkey traffic (yes, the road was FULL of donkeys taxiing tourists up and down). Plus, well, we got to walk down and not up (I think it was something like 250 meters down to the marina from the main city). From the marina, we took a half day excursion to hike up the Nea Kameni volcano and swim in the nearby hot springs, which had volcanic mud that everyone was rubbing all over their skin to retain any sort of benefit from the minerals in it. :)
Afterwards, we took a donkey ride back up the marina to the main city -- it was definitely an adventure -- chaotic and scary, but it was an experience. By the way, the steps up and down to the old Fira port are COVERED in donkey shit. Just covered. We tried to avoid it walking around Santorini (even in Oia), but I'm sure we stepped on some at some point. I have no idea why poop bags are not used on these donkey butts, but it would really be a lot more sanitary if they did.
4. We just relaxed outside on our balcony to blog about our trip and enjoy each other's company. We ate breakfast out there and had an amazing view of the bay from where we were. There were still about 220 steps from our rented apartment to the main city of Oia up above so we still got a fair bit of exercise when we were in Santorini, but we were so incredibly thankful for our little piece of heaven in Amoudi Bay.
5. We tried some seafood but honestly it wasn't really the best experience. This part of the Mediterranean is apparently overfished so seafood is extremely expensive and is not always of the highest quality. Most of what we saw being served included grilled octopus (which we got a delicious serving of while in Athens), sardines, mackerel, anchovies, and sea bream.
6. We saw the sunset in Oia and it was beautiful and magical and spectacular. There is always a mad rush to get to the best sunset viewing spots in Oia around this time and the streets are PACKED with people. Just as the sun goes down, the entire village claps in amazement and everyone takes a million pictures (us included).
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| The view from our villa balcony. |
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| The view from our villa balcony. |
Oia is a bit remote compared to the main port city, Fira, but being on the northwest part of the island, it offers the world's best sunsets and a serene atmosphere. Many of the buildings on the Cycladic islands are made of stone and painted white for insulation purposes, and to combat the stinging summer heat experience from June through August. This is especially striking in Santorini, and particularly in Oia village.
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| An example of one of the many white buildings in Santorini. Many of them, especially churches, had blue domes. |
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| Made it to the top of the stairs to the main village of Oia! (We had to hike from our villa on Amoudi Bay to get to the main part of the village at the top of an enormous cliff. It took about 20 minutes one way to get up there!). |
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| Beautiful view of Oia village with the Aegean Sea in the back. |
Santorini island was originally circular in shape many, many centuries ago, but after a series of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes over time, it became crescent-shaped and is now covered with large, jagged cliffs and beaches covered with black, white, and red sand resulting from the volcanic ash from previous eruptions.
We saw this part of our trip as a period of respite from our jam-packed month of travel so we definitely took it easy during our two day, three night stay there. Here are the highlights from our trip:
1. We found a little swimming hole just around the corner from our little rented villa. It was so beautiful, cool, and refreshing to jump into the Aegean Sea! Joe climbed up to the top of a nearby rock and jumped in -- he said it was exhilarating but a bit scary!
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| Close to the swimming hole we walked to. |
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| The giant rock Joe jumped off of into the water. |
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| Beautiful panoramic of the swimming hole we visited! |
2. We visited a few beaches, but one of particular note was Red Beach. Covered with red and black sand, Red Beach takes a while to get to because you have to hike down a little cliff to get to the shore below. It was completely worth it, though!
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| Red beach! |
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| The sand at Red Beach. |
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| Just before hiking down to Red Beach. |
3. We decided to take a half day excursion from the main port of the island in the village of Fira. Fira is much bigger than Oia and is built on a high cliff, so you can either take (1) a gazillion steps, (2) a donkey ride, or (3) the funicular to get to the marina. We chose to take the steps since it was earlier in the day and there was less foot / donkey traffic (yes, the road was FULL of donkeys taxiing tourists up and down). Plus, well, we got to walk down and not up (I think it was something like 250 meters down to the marina from the main city). From the marina, we took a half day excursion to hike up the Nea Kameni volcano and swim in the nearby hot springs, which had volcanic mud that everyone was rubbing all over their skin to retain any sort of benefit from the minerals in it. :)
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| We made it to the top of the volcano! |
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| What an accomplishment! |
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| We made it to the top! There was steam coming out of the rocks near the craters, by the way. |
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| Panoramic views from one of the craters of the volcano. |
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| Taken on the hiking path up to the top of the volcano. |
Afterwards, we took a donkey ride back up the marina to the main city -- it was definitely an adventure -- chaotic and scary, but it was an experience. By the way, the steps up and down to the old Fira port are COVERED in donkey shit. Just covered. We tried to avoid it walking around Santorini (even in Oia), but I'm sure we stepped on some at some point. I have no idea why poop bags are not used on these donkey butts, but it would really be a lot more sanitary if they did.
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| Of course, all donkey trips are fully insured. |
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| There was a large donkey terminal, complete with donkey shit surrounding it. |
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| Joe riding a donkey. I was taking this while riding my donkey so I could not get a good picture. Joe's donkey was a bit erratic, too, so it was hard to get a good still picture of the two of them. Mine, on the other hand, was relatively gentle and was being led by its master. |
4. We just relaxed outside on our balcony to blog about our trip and enjoy each other's company. We ate breakfast out there and had an amazing view of the bay from where we were. There were still about 220 steps from our rented apartment to the main city of Oia up above so we still got a fair bit of exercise when we were in Santorini, but we were so incredibly thankful for our little piece of heaven in Amoudi Bay.
5. We tried some seafood but honestly it wasn't really the best experience. This part of the Mediterranean is apparently overfished so seafood is extremely expensive and is not always of the highest quality. Most of what we saw being served included grilled octopus (which we got a delicious serving of while in Athens), sardines, mackerel, anchovies, and sea bream.
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| Sun-dried octopi are grilled and served to customers at this restaurant. |
6. We saw the sunset in Oia and it was beautiful and magical and spectacular. There is always a mad rush to get to the best sunset viewing spots in Oia around this time and the streets are PACKED with people. Just as the sun goes down, the entire village claps in amazement and everyone takes a million pictures (us included).
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| The view of Oia village at sunset. |
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| Beautiful Oia village at sunset. |
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