Santorini
This isn't going to be a typical Santorini post, instead I would like to let you in on a few things that we wish we had known before arriving in Santorini. It's no secret that Santorini is a beautiful place. In fact, it's beauty is indescribable and pictures don't do it justice. From it's deep blue waters, to the white washed buildings, it's beauty is something that must be experienced in person. Of course we knew that going in but these things I wish I'd known beforehand.
- Checking in could take some time- Wish I had really known this because it would have saved us some time and given us much needed sleep. Our first mistake was arriving way too early in the morning. I believe we arrived at the hotel around 6 or 7am. I know you are thinking why that early ? Well the earliest flight from Athens was the cheapest and we had requested an early check-in from the hotel so we thought we were good until we arrived to find out they do things differently there. They didn't check us in until after 1pm (this is after pleading and begging) because we were overtired. We hung out by the hotel pool in the scotching sun (in the clouds literally, that's how high up we were) trying to get some sleep. I would advice scheduling a tour for the morning if you arrive this early.
-Santorini Steps- I've never climbed so many stairs in my life before and it didn't help that I was a prego out of shape woman. The popular hotels that face the water have these stairways to heaven (and no there aren't any elevators or escalators) so if you want a room with views, you better get walking. You can't escape them, the stairs are everywhere even from your hotel room to the hotel lobby to the hotel restaurant to the pool to town to the port and anywhere else. So before you go, make sure you get in shape because you are going to need it. I had to say a prayer each time before I went up the stairs to not fall. My thighs were screaming in agony on the last day (like not again woman!!)
Romantic Oia Sunset- I'm sure you have seen the pictures and heard all great things about the it but it's not all that romantic when you have to share the view with 50 other people. We went in May which is supposed to be their off season but you couldn't tell due to the number of tourists. Luckily for us, we were able to enjoy it from the privacy of our balcony (in Fira). It really was beautiful but so is the sunset in Philadelphia ..I was expecting to be wowed but I wasn't. We also saw the sunset in Oia on our sunset cruise because they said it 's better to see it in Oia but honestly it's the same. Sunrise is also just as beautiful.
White washed and blue roofs- Before visiting Santorini, every picture I had seen of the island was a white washed building with a blue roof so I too couldn't wait to get my picture infront of one of those buildings to post on the gram. Well, little did I know that, there aren't that many of them with the blue roofs. We stayed in Fira and there we only saw one or two churches with the blue roof. Sadly, we were in hurry so I couldn't even get my shot. Darn!! The buildings are all white washed with blue doors and windows.
Hotel Breakfast- So you paid for breakfast with your room so you expecting a nice buffet spread, right? Well think again! You get a choice of tea or coffee then it's standard orange juice, one boiled egg, Greek yogurt and toast. This is what you get everyday and at all the hotels in Fira (we know because we asked people lol) If you want something else then you gotta pay for it. Can you imagine eating this everyday? You can't even substitute the boiled for a fried egg or the orange juice for apple juice without a price lol Everything comes with a price and the servers looked like they weren't used to people asking for substitutions due to their confusion with all of our questions. I am sure they were glad when we left.
Beaches- We found out Santorini is not big on beaches especially on the West side. We heard there were some on the other side of the island which we were able to see on our sunset cruise but they were disappointing to me. First of all, the cruise doesn't dock close enough to the beach and in order to get there, you must swim there. They were also small but hey they had black sand and red sand beaches. Mykonos is the best place for beaches.
I hope these tips help you plan for your next trip to Santorini! Next up, I will share our share our Mykonos experience!
