GREECE | SANTORINI TWO

It’s the second part to our stay in Santorini! We were there for a total of three nights, spending each night in a different Airbnb. Here’s the second night’s cave home:

Don’t be fooled, that door is very short! I know because I knocked my head on it two different times. In case you’re wondering, yes I was warned and yes it hurt!

This spot was really interesting. We only had the bottom half which wasn’t much from the outside (compared to night one’s upgrade!) but the interior, specifically the “disco room” as our porter called it, was hip as hell!

After we got settled in we went to grab some breakfast and do some more exploring.

Then we loaded up on SPF and headed to Jojo’s down at Black Beach.

Jojo’s vibes were everything I ever invisioned of from a Greek beachside hangout-all the rattan, neutrals, driftwood,various swimming pool options, beer on tap, hanging chairs and on and on!

We had been told that if you ate at their restaurant, the regular chairs are free so we grabbed a a quick lunch and headed down to the beach and found a set literally ON the beach. Perfection.

Black beach for a reason!

While we bobbed in the salty Mediterranean we scooped up colorful stones to bring home. This collection grew and grew during the trip. So glad I thought to grab stones along the way (thought it’s nothing new, been obsessed with rocks my whole life!) because I recently made a terrarium and used a few handfuls from Greece which made it even more special! *See Instagram for the finished product.

So I know I just said Jojo’s was everything I dreamed of but Wet Stories (yea, terrible name…) was a minimalist’s beach dream, those cacti, HEART EYES!

After a day on the beach, it was winery + sunset time! We changed back into our clothes and headed to a winery that was recommended, Santos, but they were randomly closed and so we mapped it over to Venetsanos Winery.

It was CRAZY WINDY, like blowing off the food on our plates windy.  Several people sitting around us had their wine glasses blown right off the table! We figured out that if we set the glasses in between the two plates and pushed them it, it anchored them down. It was a real struggle though especially not wearing the appropriate amount of clothes.. but the delicious treats, setting sun, Greek wine and spending time with my “bb” was glorious!

During the chaos of the wind shattering glasses and the terrible service-they threw away our food and Dustin’s wine while we were getting sunset pics- we connected with two ladies from the states, Cat (NYC) and Lara (currently London). They were so fun and leaving around the time we were and asked where we were going and we said, “FIRA!” and they were all “that’s where we’re staying, we love it!” and since they were going to call a cab we offered to give them a lift,  When we arrived they suggested we hit up Tropical for cheap drinks and fun music. DONE!

Many drinks and making additional friends later, we all needed some FOOD. Brick oven pizza it was! So glad we were able to connect with fun folks!

Onto the last full day~aka Dustin’s 30th~aka third Airbnb cave home:

This lil spot was so bright and open, I loved it but Dustin and I both agreed, nothing beats that first spot!

After our final settling in we went to have another Greek breakfast feast. I got really into Greek yogurt with seasonal fruit and honey. Tasted so much better there!

If you’re wondering if the moving around so much in such little time was annoying, well, it was and wasn’t. We were thankful to get legit Oia cave homes in such short notice but it would have been nice to leave hanging clothes up rather then hand carrying them to the next spot. But on another hand, getting three different experiences was also rad. So, if you’re up for it, do it! If you are more than happy with one sleeping environment, steer clear and book far in advance.

I for real didn’t make the sky that blue! au naturale!

Santorini has a reputation for having lots of cats everywhere but if you saw in my Athens post, they also had a ton of cats hanging around. So it’s safe to say, Greek cats aren’t afraid to chill wherever they dang well please! Wait, that’s all cats…

To celebrate Dustin’s 30th we wanted to do something adventurous. We spoke with our host and she suggested a sunset cruise on a catamaran, yes please! That didn’t set sail till 2pm so we had time to kill which meant walking more stairs to see different angles of our hillside hood.

All aboard the catamaran!

The cruise included dinner and ALL YOU CAN DRINK. It was about $280usd and so so so so worth it. The food was prepared on the boat and was a top meal on the entire trip-ridic good.

“Dustin, what are we doing for your 30th birthday?!”

That’s Amoudi Bay where we walked the 300 steps and road donkeys. We sailed all around the islands and saw so many different layers of volcanic eruptions and erosion. The boat stopped at three different beaches-anchored out in water-and let us jump off and explore around. In addition we stopped at a “hot spring” that wasn’t hot at all. We laughed and joked around with other tourists about how lukewarm (at best) it was. The Mediterranean is cold y’all!

Buzzed and salty, we had a bit of fun posing in front of the setting sun :)

Confession, I totally flooded the bathroom and let someone else take the blame. Oops! After getting in a final swim I went to shower off in the cabin and for whatever reason the water wasn’t draining but I figured it was some button outside the shower so I went about my way and got cleaned off. When I got out of said flooded shower all the water went into the bathroom area, panicked I started pressing buttons and flipping switches. Nothing worked.  So I dried off and fled. I was drunk (hello, all you can drink..) and was in fight or flight and I chose flight! A women we had befriended was walking in after me and I said “gosh, someone flooded the place!” and after her trip to the bathroom she told one of the boat folks and they got it figured out. Yea I’m a jerk for not fessing up but everything in there was waterproof so no damage was done and now I have a funny story to tell :P

Man, what a couple of three days.  To say Santorini has magical powers would be an understand. At the time of this trip we were in between homes, staying at friend’s places and living out of suitcases. Our marriage was suffering because of it and this trip was just what we both needed!

Can you believe there’s ANOTHER leg of this trip? I’m having so much fun reliving it!