Santorini - The Entire Island is Basically a Post Card

After spending a few days in Athens, I really wanted to see one of the famously beautiful Greek Islands. Sadly, time and money limited me to one island stop. I definitely want to visit more of the islands, but the one I've been wanting to see for years was Santorini.


View from the hotel rooftop

My taxi driver on the way into Athens said of all the islands Santorini was his favorite, and the one he thought was the most beautiful. That was encouraging, and made me even more excited to see the island.

I had only planned on one full day in Santorini, thinking that would be enough time to see the main sites. I was wrong.

If you ever go to Santorini, spend at least 2 full days. One day for hiking around the island, and one day for doing all the boat tour stuff out to the volcano, and just boating around the island. Because I was there during the off season, boats didn't run as regularly, so we were very limited time wise. And sadly we missed out on doing the boat options.

Next time. Because I will most likely be back there at some point
Anyway, I found a nice little place to stay in for a really good price. Turns out it was on the exact opposite side of the island where all the main sites are. However, that hotel was right on a beach, and had a bus stop right by it as well. That made getting around the island very easy.


Our host was wonderful. Very friendly, very casual, and very kind. He shuttled us to and from the airport, and gave us tips on what to do and see while we were there. He even gave us Santorini magnets for staying there. He was also very Greek. Very proud, very confident, and of course the Greeks are the inventors of everything. He was so wonderful. I'd definitely stay at Magma Rooms again.

The weather was quite nice, but extremely windy. Apparently the wind is bad once a year for about a week. And we happened to be there during that special windy week. It was still amazing.

We got up early for an amazing breakfast, then hopped on the bus to the main city of Thira. It was only about a 25 minutes bus ride (including the bus stops) to the main bus depot which is in the central part of Thira. From there we could catch other buses to anywhere on the island. It was very tourist friendly in the sense it was easy to figure out what bus would get us where.
 We spent the first part of the day wandering through Thira. It was some steep and windy hiking along a nice walking trail through the city. We saw beautiful churches, and of course spectacular views from every angle.
 
 We did a little shopping as well.




Most of the buildings here are either hotels, restaurants, and lots of shopping. It is a very touristy place. And I can see why with the view from every angle.

After our stunning view of Thira, we were told Oia was the pretty part of the island. That is also the place to go to watch a spectacular sunset.

We jumped back on the bus for another 20 minute ride up the windy island roads to Oia. This is even more of a tourist spot. With really ritzy hotels, and mostly shopping, we still enjoyed walking along the windy paths and taking in the amazing scenery. We wanted to stay and watch the spectacular sunset, so we splurged and sat at a restaurant overlooking the water. We watched the waiters chase the many stray cats out of the open restaurant, only to watch the strays sneak in from the other side of the restaurant.

We saw a fun and quirky book shop, and even got the local cat to pose next to the Rent a Cat sign. I love Greece.

Sadly during the sunset the clouds were thick, but it was still spectacular. Definitely a photographer's dream.