Memories of Santorini Greece – such a beautiful Island, dreamy really. The Jet/Ferry was an easy ride from Mykonos – little expensive and I know there were less expensive seats and ways to get there – I need to figure that out. But super fast and clean ride. When you get off the ferry in Santorini, unless you have prearranged transport- bypass all the hawkers & go to the local transport/bus to Fria only 2.5€. From there you can get everywhere (actually most of the time you have to come back to Fria, anyway to go elsewhere). I headed to the famous black beach – Perissa 1.80€ pay on bus & confirm direction and drop-off. Attendant will shout out stops – again confirm.
Note – it is a little more difficult because there are not any standard stops with signage and markers, but all and all its fine. My recommendation is to see, drink, eat & sunset in Fria but stay, party & chill (+sunrise) in – Perissa. Utopia is my pick – yoga in the morning- meals at Tranquilo. Sunset without a doubt is Fria or even better Oia, Sunrise in Perissa. Very interesting, as you drive around the island all the Hills are covered with grape vines – kept very low to the ground due to the high winds.
Met up with a High School friend (shout out to Laura Hayes/Gasser) who was in town on the Cruise ship – perfect timing. I arrived by Ferry to the Santorini new port and I saw her ship coming in to the Santorini old port as I was taking the bus to town. Got to the room, checked wifi and she was just coming up the huge hill by cable car. I walked fast (or as fast as I could – UP the stairs) and literally met her as she came out. Awesome – also met her traveling friend & their kids had a drink and a few hugs and off they went. Perfect timing and so great to see her, even for a short moment…
In Santorini the main town is Fria = the view, shopping, eating & drinking. Oh did I say the view, yes incredible? Beyond that you can take the Cable Car down to the port & up by Donkey (trust me it is better this way – down by donkey can be nerve wrecking). Travel Tip: you will smell like “ass” till you shower & laundry.
To the famous Santorini black beach – Perissa. Take bus & get off at Mira walk up beach (towards cliff) past mini golf & road block to Tranquilo – you are welcome. You most certainly need to wear shoes on the beach and rent a lounge chair, the black sand gets scorching hot, yet beautiful. At sunrise, you will have the place to yourself and it’s nice and cool. Go for a swim to really wake up. I stayed at Utopia, where I was awoken each morning to Yoga chanting. Met some Aussies one night and we laughed, joked, played drinking games and smoked a Hookah till late into the night, so much fun.
While in Santorini definitely go to the “Pompeii” of Greece – Akrotiri. This is an active dig from the Bronze Age where they continue to find new things. It is now actually housed under/in and a conditioned building. It is a little expensive at €12 to get in and this is one I actually do recommend a guide for. They are supposed to have brochures to walk around with it but apparently they have not reprinted them because they told me no more available. And there are very few signs depicting what you are seeing. This is a very very small portion of the city, which was destroyed/covered during a volcano eruption much like Pompeii but not as pristinely preserved, this one was covered more with a flow of lava. You will not see any wall paintings or mosaics.
The ones they have found, so far, have been removed from Santorini and taken to the museum in Athens. You will see the walls of the buildings and some beautiful pots but that’s about it. Nice archaeological dig to spend an hour in, worth checking out. Then wander down to the beach, where you can get something to eat and something to drink or take the water taxi to check out black beach, white beach and red beach. Travel Tip: it’s only 5€ round-trip but it does not stop at White Beach or Red Beach. If you want to sunbathe at Red Beach I suggest you just walk around the jetty from where the shops and restaurants are it should take you about 20 minutes. But the hike is all in direct sun and lots of up and down. Catch the return bus to Fria at the bottom of the hill, not the one outside the gate of Akrotiri or you will be standing the whole trip 2€.
The Santorini Airport is small & hot & prone to power outages (really- happened twice while I was in queue). Ask the steward out front where to go, I recommend printing your boarding pass in advance if possible- that way you can go right to security (well if you only have carry on as I do). For Ellinair take a shuttle to your plane & enter either front or back. Very efficient stewardess, wearing snappy uniforms, pass out candy then biscuits plus juice/water/soda for free, and afterwards a moist towelette all during the short 40min flight to Athens, I was shocked at how well they worked the plane.
TripAdvisor Reviews:
- Utopia
- Tranquilo
