After Rhodes I was a bit at odds with Greek Islands. Don’t get me wrong, the history is unmatched, old medieval Rhodes Town unbelievable, the clarity and color of the sea to die and dive for. Yet, the very arid plant life and rocky geography, and the super cold water were not what I was expecting. The beaches I saw were wonderful but not…ok…Caribbean Island Beaches. I said it. With that said, we did enjoy our time on the Santorini Beaches.
I wasn’t expecting the same, but I also wasn’t expecting cold water and desert landscapes.
So I was, ok, just here for the history. But… Somehow the people of Santorini turned a dry rocky deserty volcano erupted place with crazy high cliffs and rocky beaches down stupid curvey roads and with cold water to boot into a beautiful worldwide sought after vacation location.
And to top it off, they grow grapes here in such an interesting way that the plants basically water themselves. It doesn’t stop there, they have been making wine for 100s, 1000s of years.
The building decision was amazing too. So although Santorini has plenty of solid ground land to build on, they decided to build down the very high cliffs. And get this…instead of “streets” they decided to have pedestrian only walk ways and alleys that have stairs and curves and turns down the cliffs too.
And to make that attractive the architects designed the buildings with curves and domes, and painted them all white, with a splash of blue on churches!
Well it worked! And I am sold and in love.
Waiting for a ferry to Athens now, but will miss Santorini.
I learned things about myself. I can, although extremely scared, jump off the top of a 5k mountain, but walking down extremely steep, uneven gravely steps with no railing sends running away these days. Go figure, aging is weird.
ADVICE:
We were in Santorini in the late of May, but still it was chilly at nights and mornings. Maybe it is this way all summer long. Depending on the winc and cloud, it may be cool all day long.
The beaches are very hard to get to, but you must. I mean, you’re on an island…see the beaches. They are very rocky, the water is cold, and depending on the popularity there will be a place to eat, drink or lay on lounges. One in particular is really cool, not because it is most likely a beach beach, but the back drop cliff/sand walls are beautifully drastic. Nature has made art all on its own, so go see Vlichada Beach.
We tried to visit Oia, but it was too crowded. I recommend to stay in another town. We stayed in Imerovigli and looooved it. Will tell you more about our hotel there, and all the hotels we stayed in on this trip, in a future post. Do definitely go to the tiny cover fisherman village below Oia, Ammoundi Bay. It is Adorable with the best seafood! Warning, it is not easy to get to. We rented a car, and that helped. I recommend getting a car, only if you are ok driving crazy winding mountain roads. We saw all of the island though!
PS…Santorini is an amateur photographer’s dream. There are no bad photos here.
Thanks for visiting
MY GNOME LITTLE WORLD.
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My Gnome Little World 