06 Jan A Photo Essay: Santorini, Greece

Santorini is a beautiful island. Our stay on the island happened to coincide with a particularly windy week in October. If you were sailing to, from or around the island on any of those days, the wind would be a hinder; however, for us, it turned into quite a treat. The wind meant that not as many cruise ships could come into port; thus, the island was much quieter and not overrun every day with hoards of cruise passengers like it normally would be. There were a couple of days where there were either no ships or only one ship at port, but we heard that on normal weather days there can be over 7 ships unloading all at once. We enjoyed the quietness of the island—quietness can’t be mistaken for desolate though, as we were still surrounded by the lovely locals and the travelers who made the island their home for a few days.

We based ourselves in Fira simply because accommodations were more reasonable, and we were happy with our decision to do so. As much as I loved the iconic views of Oia, it was more crowded and costly, and we enjoyed soaking up the other parts of the island, as well. Because we were planning on exploring the island from top to bottom, we decided to rent a car. Driving was intense but the views and opportunities to explore were well worth the stress of curvy, one lane roads with two-way traffic. Even though we were glad that we rented the car, there may have been a few sighs of relief when we finally turned over the keys—thanks to the mostly courteous drivers and Micah’s racecar skills, we made it through unscathed.

Throughout our 6 days on the island, we soaked up the views and sunsets, ate deliciously traditional Greek meals, sampled wine from the wineries, hiked the rim of the caldera from Fira to Oia, sailed to and hiked on a volcano, explored ancient ruins, wandered the winding streets and climbed up and down the stairs to the ports. We had a wonderful time, and thankfully the wind didn’t stop us!

Have a look at our time in Santorini through photos:

 

Have you been to Santorini? What did you like/would you like to do most there?