Could it be? Could it really be my Santorini post I’ve been promising?! Why yes it is!
Prepare yourself folks, lots of stupidly pretty scenery ahead~
But, before you’re blown away, lets first start with Dustin and I getting there. That was a scary situation lemme tell you- the flight from Athens to Santorini was garbage! We flew through Ellinair. They left 50 minutes late for a flight that was only supposed to take 45 minutes and the landing was scary af. Also, forewarning, the Santorini airport is comically small and very dirty but don’t let that discourage you because there is magic outside of that one crummy spot. As far as airlines to use while avoiding Ellinair, we’d recommend Ryanair based on what others used that we met along the way!
As far as transportation we didn’t really have a set plan, after all this entire trip was last minute. So we visited the Hertz to just see about prices versus taking the bus and taxi’n around and the cost seemed fair ~$375 total usd for the entirety of our stay in Santorini, about 3.5 days so opted for the cutest option available:
Convertible Fiat!
While it had zero “get up” as Dustin would call it, it was blast riding through the windy roads with the top down and Greek music turned up loud! Turns out it was definitely the best decision for being mobile because the other alternatives were dirt bikes or ATVS both of which were slow and annoying as crap to get behind plus they don’t have coverage for the chilly nights/dust/blazing sun or much storage. We saw a lot of miserable looking couples who probably regretted it but if you were to rent for just short distances that’d be fun, just not idea for zipping all over the island in our opinions. In addition we heard the taxi’s were very pricey. So, adorable little convertible is a win!
Because the trip was last minute I had a hard time finding Airbnbs that were for all three nights. Instead I went with the same rental company but three different cave homes. When we arrived into the town we were staying in, Oia, the porter showed us to the home and it was amazing, like so amazing I was confused because it wasn’t what I booked, it was way better! I thought, ‘did he show us to someone else’s mansion by accident? Should I say something?’ And then after the grand tour he said “you were upgraded to this home because there was a cancellation and this was going to sit empty anyways.”
UM, HELL YES:
This thing could have slept 7 adults comfortably! It was huge. Joked about calling up our friends and telling’em “hey come over, we have so much extra room!”
I had to take a few to run around and admire all the decor and furnishings, squealing around every corner!
After I admired every square inch, we got changed for an adventure.
We knew we wanted to hit up Amoudi Bay’s cliff jumping and restaurants overlooking the water, however, I asked if we could have one chill day because my knees were killing me from all the Athens adventuring. Somehow (still not sure about this one) there was miscommunication and we ended up starting the journey down the 300 stairs…
These are not the Amoudi steps but right before I realized there was no turning back we snapped a pic of pre-sweaty me. Took a hot second to get a pic where my hat wasn’t trying to blow off and my cover-up wasn’t over my head but we got it! The shoes I’m wearing here were bought our last night in Athens and worn every single second there after until they got so gross here in the states they’re waiting for a cleaning. LOVE THEM SO MUCH! These are the ones from the previous post I mentioned I tried to track down to store away for the future but they were all gone.
Bussola, please remake the Nashville gladiators!
Thanks,
Nashville’s #1 fan
Instead of getting bent out of shape about needing some lounging and instead getting an intense workout, I made the most of it and got silly on Snap and also joked with passerbyers who were barely making it back up!
After making it down the stairs you then walk through the strip of restaurants then down and around the island to the other side. Not sure if it was the time of year but it was insanely windy!
We set our stuff behind a rock, got in the chilly water and swam to the above island that has the cliff everyone jumps off. Swim was a breeze, if you can handle swimming against a current, but I will say getting up that thing wasn’t the easiest. There are a few path options but the easiest wasn’t the rope people were using it was actually the pure rock path.
Couple things to note: water is always cold so a rash guard would definitely come in handy, bring water shoes or something like that for the sharp rocks, we loved having our dry bag within our regular bag, point your toes when entering water-otherwise it hurts the arches of your feet and lastly: DO IT!
I jumped off twice and was good but my fellow water baby hubs wanted to get in a few more so I watched from the other island and documented.
photo by friend made over drinks, Nicole Sweet
After all the stairs, swimming and jumping it was snack time!
We went down to one of the water front joints and ordered some of the octopus and some drinks.
This is how the octopus comes out. First they hang it in the sun and let it dry out then they marinate and throw on the grill. Very good! During our time at Amoudi Fish Tavern we met two friendly Americans, Nicole and Lawrence. She’s a photographer and he’s a pro basketball trainer. We chatted and hung with them for about an hour and later invited up to hang. With the crappy service and Oia being confusing it sadly didn’t happen but it was fun visiting while we did.
While walking down all the steps we saw a few people riding donkeys back up and then saw them chilling around the bottom and put two-and-two together, they were for rent! These guys were brilliant. 5 euros each got you back to the top! You and your achy knees could rest while listening to the jingle bells and watch your man pretend to be a Greek cowboy! Best money spent on the whole trip.
After donkey ride it was back to the cave!
Hit up a local market along the way, picked up some regular and spicy olives and margarita ingredients. We danced and goofed off and hung out in just about everywhere, except that “jacuzzi” which was just cold fresh water ha!
Just like in Athens, with the changing colors of the sun, the bright white buildings changed shades with every minute of the sunset.
Judge away, I did! Even though I thought he looked sexy staring off into the Mediterranean Sea. This is not typical but he does enjoy the occasional foreign smoke.
Glad I’ll never have to forget this moment :)
If you’ve ever done any looking into Santorini you’ve probably heard of the epic sunsets. Well, lemme tell you, it’s no myth! People are intense about catching them front row too. The first night we watched with a crowd right outside of our home getting more creative with spots the following nights. Here’s two snap shots from Dustin’s phone:
After sun was down it was back to playing in our cave mansion!
Just look at the view from the couch!
For real, all the above wasn’t even in a full day! We really know how to pack it in on trips :)
Up next: Rest of Santorini!
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