Next stop: Santorini!

On Saturday we woke up on Naxos, packed up all of our things, checked out of our hotel and sat down at a restaurant just by the beach for breakfast. We then enjoyed the sun and the lovely weather until we had to walk to the center and to the port. Anna was going to stay with the other girls for yet another night on Naxos, while Mia and I were heading off for two nights on Santorini. 

The ferry took two hours (12:55-14:55) and once again I took the opportunity to do some studying. 

Santorini (officially Thira) is a lot different from the other Islands. It was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history that occurred about 3,600 years ago. Some say that the eruption led to a tsunami which caused the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, and another popular theory is that the eruption is the cause of the legend of the well known "Atlantis". What remains today is a water-filled caldera, and therefore the island is basically a single large cliff. 

So when you arrive by the port down by the water, you face a big mountain wall that is nearly impossible to walk up, at least if you have luggage... And you then have 3 options: 

1. Face the chaotic situation, find the right bus, pay €2, throw in your bag (and pray to god that it won't get crushed) and hope that the same bus will have a seat available for you. 
2. Rent a car. I don't know about the prices, but it is for sure a good option! Down by the port you have plenty of places to rent a car and as long as you manage to drive up the steep serpentine road, the rest of the roads are good! And then you'll be able to drive around the island before returning your car when it's time to take the ferry home again. 
3. Take a cab... And be prepared, because they can charge you exactly anything for this. There are mostly young boys working there, everything is chaotic and has to happen QUICKLY and I guess most people are willing to pay almost anything in the fear of being stuck at the port. Haha...

Can you guess what we decided to do? Well, since our hotel was outside of the city and i was terrified of the steep serpentine road, we took a taxi. He first wanted to charge us €50 for it, but Mia was able to get it down to €20 for both us together. The "taxi" was a mini-bus which they filled with people and then drove from hotel to hotel. An easy way for them to make money, and we were not so happy with out decision afterwards...

A good advice: take the bus.

When we came to our hotel we were introduced to the hotel owner Stavros who were extremely kind and helpful. Since the weather was wonderful that day, we wanted to go to Oia and see the sunset, and asked him about how to get there. He told us that the only way to get there in time was to book a cab, and I don't remember how much we payed for that one... but after that we only walked or took the buses for the rest of our time on Santorini.  

Anyhow, we got to Oia -the well known city for the most beautiful sunsets. And according to me, Santorini is the most beautiful island of them all if you see to the buildings and the views. Definitely a "must-do" when in Greene. 

After walking around for hours and looking in all the different stores we found a place that had really good pizza that didn't cost a fortune and we sat down with the view over the city and sipping on our Aperol Spritz. 

Shopping on the islands is honestly useless since there is mainly touristy shops that charge four times as much as other stores further away from the main center or in the city of Athens. And you will notice that you can find one dress for €300, and then the exact same dress just some blocks away for €50 or less. With that said, we didn't do any shopping, but we both still found it interesting and nice to walk around and see the different stores. And every shop has it own smell, since the whole island focus a lot on stimulating the different senses in order to make people spend more money. They aren't stupid... 

I did buy one thing though... something that I've been searching for since I came to Greece: a coffee cup. This one was hand made by a lovely woman that had the most incredible shop full of ceramics. This cup will bring me happiness with every sip of coffee, and always remind me of my lifetime in Greece...

With love, Elsa ♡