Greece: Santorini Itinerary

Words cannot explain how happy I was when Carl and I had our chance to go on our dream vacation to Santorini, Greece. This destination has been on my bucket list for at least three years…I have day-dreamed about walking the caldera (cliff edge) and looking at all of the beauty that Santorini has to offer. My dream finally became my reality and there is no better person to experience this with than with my husband. We planned for this trip for at least a year and we decided to celebrate our four-year anniversary visiting this magical island.

Because we arrived at night, we were not able to see the view of the Aegean Sea until the next morning, and frankly, we were tired after traveling for almost 24 hours. We booked the “honeymoon suite” at the Pegasus Suites & Spa, which overlooked the caldera and had amazing views of the island and the sea. As soon as we woke up and saw the water with my very own eyes I was in complete awe: by far, this place is seriously the most beautiful place I have ever visited. Many of us have seen the pictures of Santorini and the views…. all I can say is that pictures don’t do justice for the beauty on this island. It’s something that you need to experience in person.

My husband and I were able to re-connect again during this trip and we were over the moon. It brought me back to when we were dating without a care in the world. This was the first trip that Carl and I have taken without Julianna and even though I missed her like crazy, this trip was worth it. I was not only able to refresh my marriage but to re-connect with myself. I lounged, relaxed, and soaked up the sun as much as I could. We promised ourselves that we were not going to take another trip without our princess, and I can’t wait for the next adventure that will involve her.

If you are considering a trip to Europe in the near future, I highly, HIGHLY recommend you to research Santorini. The language is not a barrier – everybody speaks English and almost all the signs are in English as well. Below are a few tips and some things I wished I would’ve known about Santorini:

IF you are taking heels, I would only take one. I took one pair and I NEVER wore them. I know we all want to look cute in pictures or go to a fine restaurant, but every part of this island has stairs and hills. Had I only brought heels, I wouldn’t have been able to function. Which brings me to my next point:
You do A LOT of walking. Not just in the tourist areas…every part of the island has stairs and streets with deep slopes. The entrance to our hotel was on a hill…there were stairs to enter our room, there were stairs to get to the jacuzzi in our room, there was even stairs inside our room. I have never seen so many stairs in my life…I honestly wish I would’ve done some working out before this trip, haha. (Side note: Carl and I always pay attention to whether a city is stroller or handicapped friendly. This place is neither. I’m not saying it’s not possible, but be prepared to be challenged.)
Take comfortable shoes: our personal favorite: Adidas Ultraboost.
Although we did budget for this, it’s still eye-opening: the food and drinks are very pricey. A can of soda cost 3-4 euros (yeah, we were caught off guard haha), and that’s not taking into consideration the dollar-euro exchange rate.
One of the most exciting things that we did was to rent an ATV for two days. Although you have to get used to the mechanisms of the ATV, it is so much fun exploring the island on your own time and just getting lost in the island. You will not be the only person with ATV: the streets are small and narrow so everyone commutes by motorcycle or ATV, without a helmet. Another advantage of the ATV is the fact that you get everywhere much faster: there is only one main bus line serving the entire island and taxis are very expensive. The price per day for our ATV was 50 euros flat.
Don’t be worried about getting lost. That is part of the adventure. Case in point: we got lost driving to one of the two main beaches in the island…it felt like we had driven for hours before we finally got back on track. However, we would have missed out on amazing views of the island and looking at how locals live in Santorini.
Take water shoes for the beaches. One super important note: there is no sand in Santorini. Santorini is basically what remains from a massive volcanic eruption, and thus there is volcanic rock instead of sand in the beaches.
You must take a cruise to watch the sunset. Santorini has one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world and it is the highlight of the island every single day. There are many cruises for you to choose from, but don’t bother taking two cruises. Our “sunset” cruise was five hours long: you get enough fix out of just one.
One of the absolutely must-do (and completely free!) activities in Santorini is to do two different hikes. The first hike, the hike to Skaros Rock, took about an hour, but be prepared to get a serious dose of stair climbing…going down stairs is the easy part, but climbing back up….challenging! Skaros Rock is a rock on top of a peninsula that is about 80 feet from the sea floor. You can go to the base of the rock and have magnificent views, but most people decide to climb the rock and reach all the way to the top (although it can be dangerous, chances are that you will have a stranger spot-checking you as you climb down, so you should be fine). The other hike we did was a big one: a three-hour, seven-mile hike from our town, Imerovigli, to Oia, Santorini’s largest town. Half the hike is through paved walkways, but the other half is completely challenging in a mountainous setting. Add the weather, the stairs, the hills….it turns into a very challenging hike. That said, you must, MUST do this hike. Seriously, some of the most amazing views of the island unreachable by car or ATV. And, once again, wear comfortable shoes: don’t make the same mistake I did by wearing sandals. Never again.
As previously stated, we stayed in a town called Imerovigli. A SUPER calm and relaxing town. This place is more for people that want to lounge, to relax. I loved it! It was centrally located between the two big towns, Fira and Oia. About Oia: this is the two that is known for its luxurious shops and high-end hotels. It is very touristy driven and the sidewalks are brimming with people walking around. This is where you have all the shops and bars and restaurants. I loved this place to hang out for the day- not to stay in.
Do not go to the end of Oia to go watch the sunset. We went our first night in Santorini and the overflow of people was overwhelming -we didn’t get to see it. The next night we watched it from our hotel room and it was pure magic. There are many other spots in the island where you can watch this amazing sunset without strangers bumping into you. Funny story: the night we went to Oia to watch the sunset, the concierge at our hotel asked us what we had planned for the night. When we told him we were going to go see the Sunset at Oia, he defiantly said “No! It will be a waste of time. Too crowded. Just stay here”. He was right.

Below is a glimpse of our vacation. I have mentioned this before, but my husband likes to plan every trip with extra care. He takes the time to do the research and does an itinerary for every trip, so you will see that below as well. Some of the things don’t work out, such as buying wine and cheese to watch the sunset in Oia, lol. But the majority of the things he plans are spot on (if you need help planning your vacation, contact him!) The next destination in our bucket list is…. Iceland! We hope we can go in 2018. What is your dream vacation??