The end of the adventure

Our last day in Santorini was a relaxing and mellow day. We woke up, checked out of the hotel, and had a delicious breakfast at a restaurant called Mama’s.

Our last breakfast in Santorini

We spent the afternoon briefly using the Internet at the hotel and then walking through the shops in Fira. Later we had scheduled a skype date with our significant others so we went to a bar with an amazing view of the cliffs. That way, when we talked with them they could see the amazing view!

The view from the bar

The awesome people at our hotel drove us to the airport where we relaxed with a frappe on the airport’s open-top restaurant. Then it was a quick flight back to Athens! We spent the night in the airport where we learned the transportation strike was still going on - thank goodness we’d visited Athens when we did! The next morning we caught an early flight to Zurich, our first stop on our three flight trip home to Denver.

Santorini's airport from the open roof restaurant 

Zurich!

When we arrived in Zurich we had a five hour layover so we decided to head into town for a few hours! The train ride was quick and relatively cheap. At first we didn’t even know what language they spoke (turns out, German) and we were expecting that they used Euros but no, they use Swiss Franks. We quickly got up to speed and once off the train, walked the famous Bahnhofstrasse - their main street with very high end shops (lots of jewelry and watches). We then walked along the Limmat river and admired the gorgeous architecture.

Early morning deserted street in Zurich

The river flows into Lake Zurich which was lovely and surprisingly, home to a lot of swans. It was a foggy morning so we couldn’t see the Alps in the distance. We walked through a small street market which was pretty cool and then crossed the river.

Lake Zurich

Swans!

Swiss market

We decided to have breakfast at a cafe and luckily the waiter spoke English. He was quite patient with us since neither one of us know any German. We sat outside and while it was chillier than it’s been in Greece or Italy, it was a lovely morning. We had croissants, fresh orange juice, deliciously strong coffee, and a very over easy egg for breakfast. Then we walked back to the train station staying on the other side of the river and headed back to the airport.

Our delicious breakfast

Zurich

Zurich

Then it was a 10 hour flight to Chicago and a 3 hour flight to Denver! The long flight to Chicago went faster than we expected (although I did watch three movies and a few TV shows). It was a fantastic trip and I’m so glad we did it! Steph was an amazing traveling companion and the places we saw, the food we ate, the wine we drank, everything we did - I’ll never forget.

p.s. Sorry about the delay of posting Santorini! Life caught up with me faster than I was expecting once home.

Santorini - Day 3

This was the day we decided to rent a car! Everywhere we’ve gone the drivers have been crazy but on the island renting a car is really easy and the traffic is much more mellow than anywhere else we’d visited. So, after breakfast (we went to a Greek yogurt to-go place) we rented a car for 24 hours. It was pretty cheap although we did need to put some gas in it after renting it. While both Steph and Electra said they’d be driving, it turned out to be only Steph (mainly because Electra enjoys navigating much more than driving and Steph was doing awesome). Figuring out where we were going was an adventure because the map we had of the island (supposedly the best map they had) literally had no street names or anything. Just the roads so you pretty much had to guess when to turn or where things would be. It all worked out though and the island is much smaller than you think.

So, we got in the car and Steph started driving out of Fira where we stopped at a large Greek supermarket to buy food for lunch. The market was fascinating and we wandered around looking at all the Greek products. We bought a fresh chunk of feta from the deli as well as some Santorini wine and tomatoes.

Steph our fearless driver!

Our first stop in the car was the highest spot on the island. We had to drive up this narrow road and then park where we then hiked to the highest the road took us. Luckily we saw a couple tourists taking a small path off the road and we followed. The trail took us to near the top of the high spot and the views were amazing! You could nearly see the entire island! I kept being surprised when I’d be reminded how small the island was.

The road up to the highest point on the island

Our adorable rental car

Overlooking the island!

The north end of Santorini

And the south end

After our invigorating short hike we hopped back in the car and headed to a wine museum. The museum was underground and covered the history of wine making on Santorini. Wine has been produced on the island for thousands of years! The museum was pretty cool and afterwards we had a tasting of four different wines including two dessert wines which were delicious.

Wine Museum

Our next stop in the car was Santorini’s famous Red Beach. Again, navigating was an interesting experience but we did arrive at our destination without getting lost. You have to hike to the Red Beach and there are no shops or anything at the beach so you need to be prepared with water and food when you go. It was a short hike to the beach and goodness was it a site to see! The red sand and the backdrop of the huge red and black volcanic rocks, makes the beach so beautiful. We set up our towels, ate our delicious lunch, swam in the ocean, and relaxed for a bit.

Santorini's Red Beach

Beautiful!

Determined to get as little sun as possible

Our delicious lunch

Once back at the car we drove to our final stop for the day - a bar along the ocean that our Greek friend back home Katy, had told us about called Theros Wave Bar. We were worried about finding it but luckily there were signs. We had to drive on a dirt road for about ten minutes before arriving at the end of the road and the gorgeous restaurant. The bar had the beach to itself and we sat in an awesome canvas seat while drinking wine and soaking in the beauty.

Looking down at the private beach at the Wave Bar

Our awesome seat

Theros Wave Bar

Once back in Fira we freshened up and then headed out for dinner. We decided to splurge on our last night in Santorini and went to a nice restaurant overlooking the cliffs of Fira. It was right at sunset and it was gorgeous! We both ordered seafood and had a delicious meal complete with ouzo. Afterwards we ended the evening with a drink at bar in downtown Fira.

Fira at sunset

Our delicious meal

Seafood pasta!

Santorini - Day 2

The plan for the day was to take a tour of the volcano. Santorini is a volcanic island shaped like a crescent moon and if it was a complete circle, in the center is an island where the volcano is located. The last eruption was in 1950 and it is due to go off sometime before 2025. We signed up for a tour of the volcano and some nearby hot springs at the hotel and headed out for a quick breakfast. We went back to the place we went yesterday and we both ordered Greek yogurt with fruit and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was amazing! The Greeks sure know how to do breakfast. Then we walked down the steps from Fira to the port. There are three ways to get down to the port: 550 steps, a cable car, or you can ride a donkey. We opted for walking down but didn’t leave enough time so about the last third of the way we were running to make sure we made it to our tour boat in time. The view of the ocean and the island was incredible.

The donkeys we could have ridden down on

The stairs down to the Old Port

We made it to the tour in time and rode the boat out to the volcano. The tour of the volcano was interesting and we saw all the pits where the volcano has erupted in the past. At one point we were able to put our hand in a hot spot and feel the heat coming up from the ground. We walked around the island with our tour guide giving us some information about previous eruptions and how Santorini was formed.

On the boat heading to the volcano island. You can see the small dock in the distance

The pit where the most recent eruption (in 1950) occurred

After the volcano tour we hopped back on the tour boat and rode around the volcano to a nearby uninhabited island where there’s a hot springs in a bay. It was great because you jump off the tour boat into the Mediterranean and swim a few hundred yards to the hot springs! The cool water felt great on the hot day and the hot springs was awesome.

The hot springs are the brown water in the bay. Someone just jumped off the boat on the left

After we sailed back to Fira, we took the cable car up the cliffs and headed back to the hotel for a quick shower to rinse off the salty sea water. We ate some savory pies for lunch at a delicious bakery and took the bus to Oia. Oia is a town on the most northwestern tip of Santorini and is famous for watching the sunset. Once we found the town (we got a little confused initially after getting off the bus) we walked aimlessly enjoying the incredibly beautiful town until we realized we’d reached the end of it. We stopped for a glass of wine and some grilled feta and relaxed for a bit until it got close to sunset.

Oia

Where we stopped for a little snack

Turning around, we walked to the other end of town where there are the famous cliffs for watching a perfect ocean sunset. The pedestrian walkway was filled with lots of shops and picturesque buildings. We seriously saw three different weddings going on as we walked through town - understandably, the town is so beautiful (and it was a Sat evening)! When we reached the cliffs, there were tons of people also waiting for the sunset. Steph spotted an awesome spot where we sat on a ledge with a perfect view of the ocean and sun and watched the sun set. It was the classic ocean sunset and people even clapped once it was over!

Oia

All the people on the cliffs watching the sunset

Watching the sun set

So pretty!

Afterwards we walked back along the main walkway, bought some gifts and some jewelry, and then took the bus back to Fira. In Fira, we tried to find a restaurant recommend by a friend back home for dinner but after a lot of searching, we had no luck and instead ended up going to a lovely restaurant recommended by our hotel. The food was delicious and we had some more ouzo before heading back to the hotel for an early night.

Fira at night

Steph with some ouzo at dinner

Santorini - Day 1

Today our morning started bright and early. As the previous post mentioned, we had to leave the hostel at 12:30am to catch our ride to the Athens airport.  Luckily we were able to find a decent spot and close our eyes for a few brief hours.

Trying to get comfortable in the Athens airport

The flight to Santorini is only 45 minutes long but it was quite a busy flight. We took off, the lights came on, the flight attendants served us drinks then picked up the trash, and then we landed. We arrived when it was still dark outside and someone from our hotel was there to pick us up and drive us to Fira, the capital of the island and where we were staying. When we arrived at the hotel, our room was all ready for us! So we were able to get some decent hours of sleep in before heading out to explore the island.

We woke up late morning and after checking in (reception had been closed at 6:30am) we ate a wonderful breakfast at a place recommended by the hotel called The Corner. It was the first good breakfast we’ve had since we’ve left the states. Steph ordered a savory vegetable crepe and Electra ordered yogurt with honey and a Greek omelet. The meal was complete with fresh squeezed orange juice and Greek coffee.

Breakfast

Immediately afterwards we headed to the beach. We took the bus to Pervivlos where there’s 7 km of a gorgeous long black sand beach. The Mediterranean water is gorgeous! Clear blue water and sky for miles it seemed and after walking along the water for a little bit, we paid to sit under a huge straw umbrella on beach lounge chairs. It was pure bliss. We got some frozen cocktails and relaxed for hours. The water was the perfect temperature and an amazing way to cool off when we got too hot from the sun. Of course, Electra tried very hard to be covered in shade the entire time.

On the beach!

Our cocktails

The view from our chairs of the Mediterranean

After a while we got hungry and wandered down the beach street looking for a good place to eat. We ended up going to this restaurant that had great authentic Greek food. We ordered a Santorini salad and a Meze appetizer (which is a large sample plate with lots of different appetizers). We were able to try Santorini tomatoes and fava beans – both specialities of the island. The waitress was quite a character and kept telling us about the Greek dancing night they host on Monday nights. It seemed like it’d be a fantastic time but sadly we’ll be gone by then. Our late lunch was delicious and the view of the ocean was incredible.

Our view from our table at lunch

After stuffing ourselves we walked further down the beach road to try and walk off some of the calories. Eventually we headed back to our original lounging location and relaxed some more until the sun set, drinking Mythos.

Our lounging area was empty by the end of the day

Bliss!

Waiting for the bus and quite happy after a wonderful day of relaxation

Then we caught the bus back to Fira and after a quick shower we headed out and stopped at a Gyro stand where we each ordered a gyro pita. It was delicious! We were however, afterwards quite full and tired so we headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

Dinner!