Santorini, Greece

Day 1 (Thursday):
Unfortunately, this day was cancelled due to high winds that docked the ferry boats.  

Day 2 (Friday):
We had been staying on the island of Koufonisia, so we took the ferry from Koufonisia to Naxos and then Naxos to Santorini. Each ferry was about 2 hours. It would not have been so bad, but ferries had been cancelled the previous two days due to high wind, so EVERYONE was on the ferry to Santorini. When we docked, we ended up having to wait almost two hours before our taxi could make it down the switchback road to the port. To say traffic was backed up would be an understatement. Luckily, we had a cooler of cold beer and decided to just enjoy the sunshine while waiting for our ride up the hill. Santorini does have an airport which is what we used on our return flight back to Dublin (Santorini to Athens and Athens to Dublin).

We made it to our house at Albus Villas at about 5:30pm. The host was there to greet us and show us around. They even had complimentary wine for us to try. We immediately jumped into the pool to unwind after our long day of ferries and delays. We then got ready for the evening and walked to Santo Wines. This place has an unbeatable sunset view of the caldera. We ordered a flight of wine with 16 options (!!!!) to share and a cheese plate. We really enjoyed trying all of the different options. We had a great table, first row, right on the glass.  We highly recommend going to Santo Wines for sunset!

We took a taxi to Fira to eat at Cacio e Pepe for some good ole Italian, it did not disappoint. We even considered eating here again the following night.  At this point, we were too tired to figure out the bus system, so we took another taxi back to our villa.

Day 3 (Saturday):
In the morning, breakfast was brought in - everything you could imagine - breakfast pastries, bread, fruit, omelettes. They also had the house stocked with fruit, granola, cereal, milk, yogurt, coffee - anything that you would need. We lounged by the pool all morning and in the early afternoon walked into Pygros to explore. We had a late lunch (with dessert first) at Bruscus Deli - the Baklava was so good. We then explored every street we could find and stopped in at each shop. We took the bus from Pygros to Fira - which was quite the experience. You get on old coach bus and sit down, there is an attendant who will come by and you can pay your fare. These guys were blasting music and you had to basically jump out of a moving bus to get off, however, it was cheap (€1.80 for each leg per person).  At Fira, we had to take another bus to get to Oia. If you do not like cliffs, you may want to get a taxi and request they take the lower road to Oia. We survived the ride and started to explore the beautiful town. Just get lost. You will find lots of neat places to explore and a great place to watch the sunset. We decided to watch the sunset from a view where we could see the three blue domes.  After the sun goes down, it is great to see Oia all lit up at night. We took the bus back to Fira for dinner (again, not ideal). We really wanted to eat dinner at Salt & Pepper, but they were full (make a booking!), so we ate at Argo. The tomato croquettes were really, really good. We got a crepe somewhere and then took a taxi (we were over the buses) back to the villa. 

Day 4 (Sunday):
Our flight was at 8:20am, so we had a transfer pick us up at 6:30am. It is a short 10 minute drive to the airport, but it was nice to get there early and watch the sunrise from the outdoor patio (after security). The flight from Santorini to Athens was short, about 30 min. We had lots of time to kill before our flight back to Dublin, but it went pretty fast. 

​I know that Santorini is a bucket-list item for some people and while it is very beautiful, it is also very expensive. For me, I would rather spend my time on the smaller islands in the Cyclades that I would argue are more beautiful and not full of tourists. We really did enjoy our time here, but take me back to Koufonisia!