Tag Archives: Santorini

Europe 2022 – Santorini and Mykonos Day 12

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We started the day by leaving our AirBnb in Thira (Santorini), and heading to the docks slightly south of where we are staying over in Athinios (only cost $30 to bring all 5 of us).

I think the most interesting part about the the ride is that since the west side of Santorini is basically on a cliff, there is a road that descends I would say about 500 meters down. Pretty cool.

We then grabbed lunch at another Mediterranean place while we waited. Details found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/08/05/athinios-restaurant-cafe/

Fyi, for the ferry, booked it the day before using ferryhopper.com. It was only $89. I would recommend getting there really only 30 minutes before departure (and it was easy to get in front of the line). Line was a bit chaotic, but going inside the ferry itself was fine (and seeing cars go into the ferry was kind cool). Also, the interior of the ferry was more upper scale than I expected. Definitely a good experience.

Along the way we stopped by the islands Ios and Naxos. Ios didn’t seem too interesting, but it did have more “rectangular” looking buildings, but still white and blue (but obviously judging the “interest” tfrom the boat isn’t the best). Naxos looked pretty cool though (looked fairly modern and lively). Think that may be a good place to visit next time.

When we got to Mykonos, we ordered an “Uber” (it’s a van contracted by Uber) to the Airbnb. Interesting thing is that Mykonos itself is a walking city, so the Uber can only drop you off to a street that is “close-ish”.

As we got dropped off, I did notice that Mykonos I less hill-y than Santorini, and a bit more upscale, but has more space (same crowdedness).

After going to the AirBnb, we ended up going to a beach nearby (Paralia Choras Mikonou) for about an hour. The beach had a bit too much small rocks (not super sandy). Probably wouldn’t go back to it (although it did have a wheelchair accessible beach contraption).

We then went around town to shop. I actually a couple of things. I got a Greek type shirt, and also some Ray Ban sunglasses (to replace the ones I lost).

Afterwards, we ended up going to a restaurant that is right below our AirBnb called Eva’s Garden. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/08/06/evas-garden/

After dinner, pregamed at the Airbnb (learned a game called shoot the dealer).

We then ended the night at Cavo Paradiso, where Afrojack played. Some key notes is that shirts and shorts are allowed in the club, DJ came on at 2:30am, and they don’t check ID. Also, grabbing a (didn’t use Uber) taxi costs $35 (although kinda got scammed since he said $25 initially). Overall, people were good to talk to, and had a great night.

Europe 2022 – Santorini Day 11

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We spent a good part of the day sailing on the south and west part of the island.

We booked the tour from the host of the AirBnb (which they booked from this website: https://www.santorinivipsailing.com). The port was from the Vlychada marina (south part of the island).

Along the way, the captain pointed out the Red Beach, which looks like there are two entrances. He said one of them is really dangerous because one of the rocks on the path could break off at any time.

After, we continued along the way westward before we started going up north towards the caldera (aka the mouth of the volcano). What I learned from this is that the caldera is under the water (boat was on top of it), and it spirts little bit of lava every year, and a part of a new land is formed on the caldera island (not sure of its actual name). The volcano is what made Santorini. Another fun fact is that like magnet, the rocks from the lava are made of iron, so that is why they are red (because they rust… apparently from the inside).

By the way, all the sand beaches in Santorini are in the southern part of the island, and also near the airport.

Note: always make sure you have enough cash with you to pay for the excursions (ended up paying with a mix of euro and American dollars).

After the boat ride, we checked into our new AirBnb (also in Thira) which is right by the water cliff. (Could also book it probably off AirBnb. The place we stayed at is called the Porto Fira Suites).

An EDIT from my previous post. Although the AirBnb closer to the water is pretty sick because of the water pool and view, it is a good flight of steps lower, so it’s a bit more of a walk up if you want to get anything.

After getting settled, stopped by McDonalds to get a bunch of chicken nuggets, then shopped around for a bit.

Found some sun glasses from a company called Blackfin that I plan on looking up later (see pic below).

For dinner, we wanted to try some Gyros, so we went to a recommended place called Luckys. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/08/04/luckys/

We ate dinner at the Airbnb. Afterwards, spent the rest of the night at the Airbnbto take golden hour pics, playing some games and hot tubbing.

Europe 2022 – Athens and Santorini Day 9

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Fortunately our AirBnb was close to the main thing I wanted to see in Athens, which was the Acropolis (only 14 minutes way).

Got to the Acropolis by 10am via Uber (Uber in Greece just actually calls a taxi, but fortunately you don’t have to deal with catch, unlike if you just use a taxi directly). The crowd definitely picked up by the time I got there.

For taxi drop off and pick up, there is only one area that this can happen. Also, for tickets, it is highly recommended to buy them online (although even though it says online that you skip the line, there was a small line at the entrance). Got the tix from this website, which included a useful audio tour on your phone (although you don’t necessarily start from “1” that is on the audio tour map!): https://www.getyourguide.com

Some areas of interest visited in the Acropolis are include: Temple of Athena Nike, Pantheon, Theatre of Dionysus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, The Great Staircase.

Afterwards I headed to the airport to catch a flight to Santorini! (Note that ATH is only one terminal, but Hall A is really far away from the departures drop off).

When I arrived in Santorini, getting an Uber was pretty easy (they actually outsourced it to another company). However, the AirBnb location itself wasn’t easy to find. Walked around for 20 minutes with my luggage until I found it.

After finding the AirBnb, we chilled at the top of our Airbnb drinking some wine. Then headed out to dinner at a restaurant called Idol. Had a great view. Details can be found here:

http://food.johnmatienzo.com/2022/08/03/idol/

After dinner, we explored the shops around Thira (there were also a lot of bars I would’ve checked out. There were pop up bars that I did go to, where you can order alcohol drinks to go).