An island in the Aegean Sea with many names. Belonging to Greece, it sits on top of a volcano along the largest caldera on Earth. It’s a popular Mediterranean tourism destination for both luxury tourists and the ones with a more reasonable budget. To me, it’s also all about sunrises and sunsets. Here is just one way to spend a week there.
DAY 1 – WEDNESDAY
Arrival day. Our first flight departed towards Athens already at 3:30 AM. That meant no sleep during the night. I still managed to get a few minutes of sleep during the flight just before Aegean Airlines surprised us with some snacks and drinks. In no time we were in Athens. There was a 3-hour layover before our short flight to Santorini. Officially only 40 minutes and we were there. If Athens was cloudy then Santorini had clear skies and fierce winds as usual. The temperature in the middle of October was still around 22 degrees Celsius but the northern winds made it a bit chilly. The airport is small, and the luggage arrived on the belt just as we were taken there by bus. We had rented a car from AutoUnion, whose representative was already waiting for us outside the terminal with a sign and took us to their office a few minutes’ drive away from the airport. I had chosen this car rental agency, because they were mentioned in a blog I had read, and their website described clearly what the total cost would be in case of full insurance. Usually, the rental agencies only tell you the basic rate and then try to sell you more insurance once you get there. So, this was a pleasant change. Additionally, they had a really low backup fee of only 200 EUR per car. In some other cases this could be up to a few thousand euros which the rental agencies book from your credit card. We got a small Suzuki Swift with automatic transmission and Android Auto connectivity, which allowed us to use Waze for navigating without any additional phone holders. Always rent a small car on Santorini, because as you will soon see, there is no place to put a bigger one. So, in one hour from when the plane arrived, we were able to reach our hotel. It was located in the village of Imerovigli called the Golden East. It was a nice small hotel with only seven rooms, a pool and a 24/7 sea view. Unfortunately, our room was not yet ready as we arrived there just before 12 o’clock. But the guy at the reception desk checked us in, explained to us how everything worked, and made us order our breakfast for the next morning. As breakfast is served in your room you have to set the time and menu beforehand.
All that made us really hungry, so we decided to drive to the village centre and find some lunch. Just after finally finding a parking spot I got the call that the room was ready. But we decided to eat first as planned. The number one place in TripAdvisor was still closed so we wandered through the narrow streets and ended up seeing some nice views over the caldera. Our wandering finally took us to another fast-food restaurant called Jimmy’s with low prices and a really Greek menu. We ended up ordering big portions of kebab and pork skewers with some salads and fries and really enjoyed the experience. There was also a cute yellow cat with blue eyes begging us to feed it and so some of the kebab pieces found their way under the table. There was a small market next door, where we got us some local wine, bottled water (as the tap water on the island is not drinkable) and some volcanic soaps as presents. As there are no street signs anywhere the best way to find your car again is to mark the spot on Google map. Later I found out that we had parked the car in one of the best sunset spots on the island. Back in the hotel, we found our room ready and everything was as lovely as expected. We did not have long to enjoy it because being up all night finally kicked in and we decided to nap before doing anything else.
In the evening, after making some plans for the next day, we felt hungry again. Luckily, there was a highly recommended tavern called Steki Tou Nikou just a kilometre away. The only way to get there is by car because the roads up there are dark and narrow, which makes walking there not advisable. The place was cozy with some other couples enjoying their food already. We sat down and ordered some moussaka, Greek salad and grilled Greek cheese. The food arrived shortly and was delicious as expected. In the end, we were surprised with some small ice-creams as desserts, which was a really nice gesture.
Now, after writing all of this down I only hope that in the morning we see why this place is called the Golden East, as we hope to see the golden sunrise from the east right from our terrace and see what breakfast is all about here.
DAY 2 – THURSDAY
Breakfast was everything and better. But before breakfast, there was the sunrise at 7:22 AM. We had the best view from our terrace. Then came the food and the sunrise went even better.
By 10:30 we finally managed to leave the hotel. The plan for the day was to explore the more remote areas on the island. For that, we drove all the way to the southern tip of Santorini to visit the Akrotiri lighthouse. The drive took us around 40 minutes. There was a car park about 100 metres from the lighthouse but as the Waze instructed us to get even closer, then we drove right up to there. Luckily, one car was just leaving there, otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to find a spot. It was just a short walk around the lighthouse on the cliffs facing the caldera. Around the corner, however, more of a view opened up. The sea was full of catamarans and other crafts. The cliffs were amazing and the view was spectacular. By some miracle, we even had the place for ourselves for 10 minutes or so before other people started to arrive.
The next destination was the Akrotiri archaeological site. The excavations started already in 1967 and they have unearthed part of a city built in the late Bronze Age (1650-1500 BC). People had lived in the area already in the middle of the 5th millennium BC, but many earthquakes had demolished the site during different ages. Before the end of the 17th century BC, the rebuilding was finally cut short by the sudden eruption of the volcano, which buried the city under the mantle of pumice and volcanic ash, which preserved it for posterity.
From there it was only a few minutes’ drive to Red Beach, which got its name from the reddish cliffs towering above the seaside. There is also a White Beach and a Black Beach on the island. The trail went over the cliffs and then down to the beach. We didn’t go all the way but reached the viewpoint over the bay. It was not that we didn’t want to go for a swim but the trail itself was not really inviting. But if you are not worried about some loose rocks falling down on you when you try to navigate the narrow trail down the cliffside then definitely go for it.
As we couldn’t get the swimming idea out of our heads, we decided to drive down to Perissa Beach. It is a small resort town on the southern coast. It was a very pleasant down as there were almost no cars or people there. The street along the beach was full of expensive restaurant wannabes and the black sand was full of colourful umbrellas. Yes, this is one of the black beaches. The other famous one is the Kamari, but this one here is allegedly more instragrammable because of the cliffs. We managed to find a changing booth outside one of the restaurants and made our way to the waves of the Mediterranean. The water was warm by our standards, but there weren’t too many people in the water. They were mostly lounging on their beach chairs under umbrellas. I have never understood this “activity” as something I would enjoy doing. As it was almost 2 PM already then, we were a bit hungry. Luckily, there was a bakery on the side of the parking lot. It turned out to be a really good choice. Actually, the choice was pretty overwhelming, so we ended up buying lunch with coffee and also some delicious snacks for later.
On the way back was a small town with a pretty name – Emporio. I had read that it was not like any other on the island. First, it was more yellow than white colour-wise. Secondly, it had these narrow winding streets going up and down the hill. You could never see more than some cats, a few meters in front of you and sometimes the streets were too narrow for two persons to walk past one another. But still, somehow, we managed to find our way around the town and back to where we had parked the car. Google Maps was totally disoriented there. But I liked this place, it was like a treasure hunt where you never know what you will find around the next corner.
Before driving back to the hotel, we stopped at one of the slightly bigger supermarkets by the road. It had a really good selection of foodstuff. We even ended up buying some grilled chicken, salad, tomatoes and tzatziki sauce for the dinner.
We were back in the hotel after 5 PM. I had just enough time to go exploring what I could see from the hilltop behind our hotel. There was a steep road going up there. To steep maybe for the car, but maybe not as there was a battered Smart Car up there. I was surprised to see a really nice footpath going along the topside. It went through a hotel and down to the other side. And on the other side was the most spectacular view over the caldera I had yet to see. Then I noticed some cars down there and found out that I could also drive there easily. Just keep towards the Santorini Princess Spa hotel and you’ll find it. So, I went back to the hotel picked up the car and drove there for the sunset, which was at 6:47 PM.
After the sunset, we had our grilled chicken dinner at the hotel and relaxed after the first full day on Santorini.
DAY 3 – FRIDAY (the 13th)
Our day started with a swim in the hotel’s outdoor pool just after sunrise. It was a refreshing and beautiful, quiet morning. After another healthy breakfast, we hit the road again. Back towards the south. We visited first the Lost Atlantis experience. It had one of the theories of where Atlantis once stood (spoiler alert: it was here in Santorini) described in many audio-visual screens and information boards including a 9D cinema performance. It felt a little too touristic but gave a good overview of why Plato might have written about Santorini and not about any other places featured in these theories.
Just a 6-minute drive (it would have been 3-minute drive, but I managed to go in the wrong way in the beginning) from the Lost Atlantis is a place called the Heart of Santorini. We found the parking lot, but the trail down there looked dangerous. So, we enjoyed the view from up on the cliff over the caldera and the cruise ships in there.
We spent the afternoon in Fira, the capital of Santorini. The first recommended parking lot on the south side of the town was full. Even waiting there for some spots to open didn’t give any results. So, we drove a few hundred metres further and found a practically empty lot where cars were parked. We walked around the town and stepped into some shops here and there. The streets took us all the way up to the edge of caldera, where all the fancy restaurants and cocktail bars are located. We even managed to purchase some gifts and other stuff during our walk. Before leaving the centre square, we had a light lunch of stuffed pita (souvlaki) with drinks and Greek-style cold coffee (Freddo Cappuccino).
Back in the hotel at 5PM. The sun was still high enough to fill the hotel pool with golden light. So, we went in and soaked for a while in cool water and sunlight. Around sunset, I went up to the hill again and tried to capture another timelapse of the sunset with a small chapel in the corner.
DAY 4 – SATURDAY
Day started (after the swim and breakfast of course) with booking a boat tour to the volcanic islands in the vicinity for Sunday morning.
But today we went to Oia. This is considered the most touristic village of them all. It’s located on the northern tip of the island. It’s considered the destination for sunsets. So, we went there in the morning. Well not exactly in the morning. It was 11 AM. Oia was already full of tour buses and cruise passengers, who came with them. There is only one way in and one way out of there and the first parking lot was already full. There was a second one dedicated to the sunsets, but we managed to get a spot there behind a dumpster. It turned out that the real paved and nicely made parking lot was 50 meters further on and totally empty. Even closed by the look of it. Everybody parked on this dusty piece of land just before that. The location was good though. Just around the corner was one of the first viewing spots I wanted to see anyway. The trail started going up and down, left and right along the cliffside. Nice small boutiques everywhere and views to die for. We managed to get some locally handcrafted jewellery from one small shop with a sleeping cat on the window. From the other store some linen shirts. Many stores had a 20% discount going on. The same happened in Fira the day before. Nice to be here in October. The next viewing tower was in a tower of Oia Castle. Or what’s left of it. There was however a musician there playing Greek music in the background.
After that, the streets got a bit wider. By the time we reached the Blue Domed Church, we were tired and hungry. We even got weak enough to step into one of the patisseries on the seaside. But after seeing that an espresso with a view cost 6.50 we backed out of there quickly. Instead, we went a few streets inland and found some more reasonably priced dining options near the bus station. After lunch, we headed back to the car using different streets than before. Getting out of Oia turned out to be easy. We just had to follow a big bus. On the way, we decided to take a look at an unofficial beach with an interesting name – Pori. It’s only funny if you know our native language of Estonian. The beach itself wasn’t funny at all. Just a small stretch of land with black sand and stones. Not inviting at all. There is another beach called Kanakari, which sounds funny as well, but we decided not to go there. Back in the car, we now only had to climb the hill to get back to our accommodation on the top of it. The change of altitude made my ears pop. We finally got our coffee in the local Carre Four store for just 2 EUR per drink. We did find a nice bottle of locally made Vin Santo (like ice-wine) there and bought it for the evening. With some slices of pizza, which saved us from finding a place for dinner. Back in the hotel we had a long refreshing swim in the pool and had another nice time-lapse video with the sun setting through the moving clouds. There haven’t been as cold and strong winds during the past few days. I hope it stays that way also tomorrow when we need to take the boat trip around the caldera. Looking forward to it.
DAY 5 – SUNDAY
Santorini is one of the most spectacular islands in the Aegean Sea. It sits on top of a volcano. What remains today is a crescent-shaped island enclosing a vast bay, the largest caldera on Earth, consisting of the islets Thirasia, Nea Kameni, Palaia Kameni, Aspronisi and Christiana complex. The official name of the island is Thira (Thera), but it’s also called the black pearl of the Aegean. Worldwide it’s however known by the name given in honour of the island’s patron saint, St.Irene of Thessaloniki, who died here, while in exile in 304 AD. Approximately 15,000 residents live here, but during tourist season this number increases drastically. According to Greek mythology, the first name for the island was Strongyli (I.e., round) because of its shape. The first colonists called it Kallisti (meaning beautiful), until the volcanic eruption in 1615 BC (or 1613 or between 1550-1500 BC depending on the source), which destroyed the island and the Minoan culture on Crete at the same time. During the 8th century BC, a Theban hero called Thiras, left his reign in Sparta and with a group of noblemen settled on the island. The island subsequently took his name, Thira, and has been known as such ever since. Christianity reached the island in the 3rd century AD. The foreign seamen started to call it Santa Irini, which with the passage of time became Santorini. The island suffered many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions during the centuries. The last big earthquake in 1956 caused great destruction on the island and took the islanders many years to recover. The volcanic eruption also caused the islet of Neo Kamini to appear. You cannot claim to know Santorini if you haven’t seen the Caldera from the sea. That is why we are heading towards the so-called Burnt Islets today.
I was looking for a tour of the islands, which would start from the Athinios Ferry Port. There are many boat tours around. Mostly (semi-)private catamaran tours, like the one the hotel suggested to as ( ca 190 EUR/pp). Most of them start from the Old Port in Fira, but in order to get there you would need to find a parking space and then walk down 586 steps or take a cable car. We had a car and therefore it was much easier to drive all the way down to the newer port. It’s a scenic winding road which goes about 3 km on the side of the hill. We found a good parking spot there and went looking for our boat Kalypso. It arrived well ahead of time and first, we foolishly thought that we were going to have a private tour. But no. I had chosen a group tour with a boat for only 38 EUR per person. Five minutes before the scheduled departure arrived Anastasia with a huge group of other tourists whom we had somehow missed. Everybody was ushered onboard, and the tour started on time. People all gathered on the sundeck upstairs in the aft. That became too crowded for me, so I went searching for a better spot downstairs. I found it in the bow of the ship. Quiet and with a great view (without any tourists on the way). That became our place for the rest of the trip. We stopped briefly also in the Old Port of Fira and picked up some more people, but the first planned stop was on the island of Nea Kameni. The entrance fee to the National Geological Park was 5 EUR per person. The path up the hill took us about half an hour with some stops on the way. You could see craters from different eruptions there. Each having a name like Mikri, Daphne, and Georgios. Here is a good video of how Santorini was created by the volcanos – https://www.cuervito.gr/santorini-volcano-history/ The Georgios crater lie near the volcano’s summit. It is the result of a hydrothermal eruption that took place in 1866. The adjacent smaller crater was formed in 1940 and just on the side of it is the lava field, which was created during the last big eruption in 1956. Inside the main crater you can observe the release of hot gases and smell sulphur in the air. The rim of the crater is located over 120 meters above sea level.
The way back took us another 30 minutes or so and we were happy to get back into the shade of the ship. The stop on the island was altogether 75 minutes. The next stop was just around the island in the cove of the smaller Palea Kameni islet. There were some hot springs where people were allowed to swim to. As the ships are not allowed to moor there for more than 30 minutes at a time, it had to be a quick swim. The water temperature in the hot springs was allegedly around 25 degrees. But it was really nice after the sweaty hike around the volcano. The third and final destination was Thirasia Island. It’s the second biggest island in the group and around 300 people live there officially. Mostly fishermen. We had 2 hours there for lunch and rest. We picked a local taverna in the harbour and ordered ourselves some fried calamari, squid and local fish with chips and salad. All very delicious and not overly expensive. At 3:20 the ship departed for the final trip. As our ship had a glass bottom it was also possible to observe a reef under the water. Who knows what is beneath it…maybe even the lost city of Atlantis. The ship sailed along the cliffs of Thera all the way from Oia to Fira and finally back to the Athinos harbour, where we arrived at 4:30 PM. It was cool to see Santorini from the seaside and be in the middle of all the maritime traffic in the caldera.
After some quick stops on the way, we arrived at our favourite sunset spot just in time to see it one more time from the cliffs above. Back in the hotel, it was again time for a swim in our “private” pool. We seem to be the only guests here who use it. Go figure.
DAY 6 – MONDAY
We gave the car a day off. But we didn’t give the car away. That would have been a huge mistake because considering where we live, in order to get somewhere you need to have a car. There are buses between towns, but these never go where you want them to go. They all go to Fira and then you need to transfer to another bus. You can’t really walk anywhere, because there are no roads for pedestrians. You walk on the side of the road if you have to. That being said, having a rental car in Santorini is the only way to go. A car, not an ATV or scooter or a buggy.
Today I went for a walk. A totally planned walk. As we live just over the hill from the famous Fira-Oia hiking trail then I took advantage of it. People usually start from Fira (because most of the people live there), and walk through Firostefani, Imerovigli to Oia. According to the official accounts, this should take approximately 3 hours one way. Once in Oia, you need to figure out how to get back. You can take the bus to Fira or take a taxi anywhere. As I had already been to Oia, then walking there didn’t have any appeal to me. So, I went the other way towards Fira instead. As we live somewhere between Imerovigli and Oia then that made sense. First, the trail went uphill to Imerovigli. Once there, I kept my eye on the Skaros rock or a castle as it once was. The trail that goes there off from the main one is hard to find. Mainly because there are no signs anywhere. You could find the trailhead because of the panting tourists, who had just returned from the side-quest. First, there were stairs, many stairs down. Then there was a sign saying that “access to Skaros Castle after this point is extremely dangerous and is strictly forbidden”. I didn’t see anyone who cared. Only the three dogs, who were resting in the shade of a large rock.
The well-worn trail went around the cliff and down on the other side to a small church on the side of the hill. Whoever thought this would be a good place to build a church. The Skaros Castle was built on this naturally fortified location in the 13th century by the Barrocci family, (1207-1265) and was the first Venetian capital of Thera. The serious volcanic eruptions of the 18th (1707-1711) and 19th century (1866-1870) forced its inhabitants to abandon Skaros and settle in the modern capital of the island, Phera (Fira). After climbing back to the top of the Imerovigli village and some serious panting, I continued on along the trail. It was cool to see several photoshoots happening. It is a big business here to have yourself photographed in a long flowing dress. There were three of them going on at the same time. The best job to have there is the person, who has to throw the hem of the dress up high at the exact moment the photographer is ready. The next village was Firostefani. Along the seaside, it’s pretty difficult to tell when one village is ending, and another is beginning. I decided not to go all the way to Fira, because I knew I had to climb back up again from there. So, I turned around and went back. The circle took me 3.5 hours and was as good a hike as I hoped it would be. After some rest and a swim, we returned to Firostefani. This time by car to find something to eat in a local tavern. We finished just at sunset and could see the last glow of the sun on the horizon. That was our last night in Santorini. The wind had picked up again.
DAY 7 – TUESDAY
What a wonderful morning. Last sunrise, last breakfast, two hours of packing. Check-out was at 11 AM. We had a whole day ahead of us before our flight in the evening. Sometimes less is more. We drove to the Kamari beach on the east coast of the island. It’s a resort town with a long black sandy beach. The promenade along the seaside is full of small boutiques and restaurants. Some already have closed for the winter but most of them were still open. We did some shopping and had lunch and coffee in a local seaside lounge. After lunch, we found a bunch of sunbeds belonging to one of the closed restaurants and spent a few hours there on the beach reading and aeroplane watching. As we were already quite close to the airport, all the planes approached it over the beach. We had driven 219 km during these days and made it everywhere we wanted to go. By 6 PM we had changed for colder weather again, refuelled and returned the rental car and were waiting in the airport for our gate to open. After a short stopover in Athens, we finally landed in Tallinn at 2:45 AM.
Here are all the videos together one more time with locations:
jatravellingxp.com 