Greece - Santorini



Have you ever heard legend about flooded Atlantis? I'm sure that everyone who watched "Little Mermaid" as a child knows what I'm talking about. Anyway, as far as I know, every legend has its real part and I guess that not many of you have known that Santorini island is considered as a basemnt of the myth. Once it was round islad with volcano in the middle of it but in 17th century there was enourmous eruption which made most part of the land flooded. This is also the reason why the island has crescent shape and high cliff on one side. Thanks to its history Santorini made me feel fairily during my 3-days stay. What I realized just after leaving it, was that I really want to come back there in future, more than anywhere else.


I apperciate the oportiunities which let me see this place. I had amazing time traveling with my familly but the atmosphere made me to think personally about "every human big problems" anyway. Deffinitely the most picturesqe place is Oia city during sunset but otherwise the island has much more to offer. Capital city is Fira, located on the west seaside. This is te centre and anything you want to buy or get or know you can find it there. The biggest number of hotels is also there, priced form ca. 15 euro per person on a camping to much higher pirices of 5-star hotels. I personally don't see much sense to spend there whole week because there is not much to do, you can not even go to beach because the city is located on cliff. Much more practical is to sleep in smaller town and just go for a one day trip there or stay for a night. Next place is lighthouse on one headland of the islnd. The view from there is really breathtaking (4th picture from the top was taken there). Beyond typical sightseeing places, there are few beaches worth touring. 


How to get to Santorini?

There are two options - by plane or by ferry. Both leaves from Athens few times a day, flight takes arounr 45 minutes, ferry few hours. I don't know much about flight prices but fast ferry cost 61,50 euro per person. We took the second option and thanks to that we could admire wonderul sunset on sea.


Where to sleep?

As we arrived in harbour around midnight we hadn't any hotel booked yet. Firstly, it looked like finding rooms would not be difficult but few minutes after arrival there were not many people left around. Our idea was to ask in restaurant if they know some places to sleep and that turned out to be good choice. Few minuts later we were eating dinner witing for a men taking us to his apartmets. So if you ever have problem like this don't bother to ask someone for help. The island is not big and everyone knows each other there. In the end we finished sleeping in Perrissa - small town with colorfull promenade and black sand beach.


Where to eat?

During our stay we tried two restaurants in Perrissa and one in Fira - every of them is worth recomendation. What I have learned there is not to trust menu aperarance, it doesn't claim about food quality. The best example is Hellas restaurant. To be honest, when we went inside and saw menu we wanted to leave but such behaviour is not supposed to be so we ordered there. To our big suprise food looked great on a plates and it tasted even better. I ordered seafod risotto and it was trully the best risotto in my life so far. We also tried The Volcano restaurant, located on promenade. What I liked there were fried squids and grilled kalamari stufed with feta, tomatoes and parsley. Sounds delicious, right? 

About eating in Fira ... In restaurants located on the side of the sea proces are very high because you pey for the view. If you want to save some money you can buy ice-cream and admire the same view sitting on a stone railing along promenade and eat in a restaurant without view but with tasty food. That's the way we did it. We tried Two Brothers restaurant and were pleased with our meal. I can recomend you kebab stuffed with tzatziki, chicken souvlaki and greece salad. If you are going to eat there don't forget to ask about their white wine. I don't know if we are so lucky but we were given with few specimens. The stuff there is also very kind and friendly.


What to do and what to see?

As long as you can spend all your vacation on one beach, Santorini is a good choice. The sland is volcanic so sand is black and water has dark blue tint. If you want to rent a sunbed you need to ask restaurat which it belongs to. Sometimes it is extra paid but sometimes it's enought to buy cold drink in this restaurant and you can use it whole day. If you get sick of this almost paradise you can rent a car, scooter or quad to see the island. We've choosed quads as the most challenging ones, price is around 25 euro per vehicle per 24 hours. 

- Fira - Capital city. You can walk there and admire typical for cyclades architecture but on a 300 m cliff. Under the cliff there is old harbour which you can reach by foot or on a donkey's back. Read the text above to get more informations. 

- Oia - Sunsets in Oia are said to be one of the most beautiful and it's hard to disagree. I've only seen it once but it was unforgetable exipirience. So many people are coming every day from whole world to see it. It was quite challenging to choose the best place to watch this spectacle but, all in all, I've finished sitting on old ruins with windmills and horizon in my sight.

- Lighthouse - I've also written about it above. It's worth going there to see that view. Eruption's After-effects and volcano can be easily seen from there.

- Red Beach - Red Beach is a place where ground slumped and left red rocks behind. It's not big and quite crowded with people around noon but if you have never seen red sand before you need to go there.

-Vlichada Beach - Black sand and white stone which looks like in amercan canyon. This beach is located near marina in Vichlada town.


All of this beautiful places you can see in one day trip by quad. That's the way I've seen it and you need to trust me about how 'cool' was that. It was big adventure and one of my best days ever. We've seen many beautiful places located in different parts of island. Last but not least part of thi trip was comming back to apartments, just after sunset, when the sea was dark and the sky was orange-red in bottom and full of stars in the top. Amazing. I wont forget this place for a long time. 





















  



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