A Trip to Santorini

Hi there! I got back from holiday last night. After 2 hours and 30 minutes of travel you arrive at Santorini airport.. tiny, it looks like one of our bus stops, hehe, from there the coaches leave that take you into the little towns, in our case to the town of Kamari, a small one built on the seafront.. Just think that originally it did not exist, it was an entirely deserted area; the original town was built on the mountain, then they realised it could be a nice spot by the sea and built the whole town at the foot of the mountain. A curiosity… around there there are no streets like ours… (huh?), they use shop signs as reference points or, in our case, the name of the apartment residence (Katrakis), imagine that..

Another curiosity: there everything is very expensive!! Be careful where you go to eat and do your shopping; they can charge you 16.00 euros for a plate of pasta (better to eat it in Italy) or 7.00 euros for a hectogram of ham!!!! What is more, the locals do not fish; if you are lucky it is frozen fish, if you are unlucky the fish has been on display on the trolley at the restaurant entrance for seven days in a row, as we saw during our evening walks along the seafront, so watch out!!! In the morning when we woke up it was beautiful….

dazzled by the sunlight reflecting off the white of the Greek houses, seeing the landscape that surrounded us, so many little houses all white with blue doors and windows, a sky of a blue that here in Genoa has never been seen, without even a single cloud!!! Welcoming us was a local Italian guide who gave us two tips about the most beautiful places, the places to eat and the places not to eat; we rented a scooter and immediately set off for our first reconnaissance tour of the island of Santorini. First stop in Fira (the capital) A little town all built uphill sheer above the sea, under the sun with a bit of shade, created now and then by the shop awnings.. mostly jewellers or various souvenir shops.

Fira enjoys a stunning view that leaves you open-mouthed, on one side the land… on the other a very high cliff and the view of the sea and the volcano right in front of us!!!! If you go to Fira, go to dinner either at Nicolaus or at Argo'; the first is a small trattoria where the menu is written entirely in Greek and is explained by a waiter who knows about 5 languages including Italian, and he will advise you on what to taste.

I recommend: starters: vine-leaf and rice rolls or Greek octopus salad with potatoes first and second courses: an exceptional quantity, I had the moussaka (a kind of aubergine parmigiana with meat and cheese added) a one-dish meal otherwise the squid in sauce with rice (almost always hard… they do not really know how to cook rice) desserts: (if you can still manage) lots of types of dessert, I tried the milk and honey dessert, sooooo goooood!!!!! or the typical Greek yoghurt and lots more….. they are very quick to serve; in case you have to wait there is a comfy little sofa at the entrance to relax on.

Prices within everyone's reach: the two of us, with all that we ate, spent 34 euros for two!!!!! The second, Argo': it is a bit more of a restaurant, very nice, it is near the street of gold by the donkey station, a very romantic atmosphere with the moon, the light of the little alleys and the candles…..very romantic with a view over the town…same things to taste here, but here try the meat….and watch out for the portions (one of their portions serves two), for example the mixed grill where you will find their typical sausages!! Here too you eat very well, it costs a bit more but I assure you it is worth it!!!! Second stop: Red Beach Today we did a very long tour passing through Perissa (on the other side of the island); to get there we had to go all the way around the mountain!!! Nothing particular to report apart from the beach, which towards 5 pm comes alive with people and becomes a m

iniature little Rimini with music, bars and parties. From here we headed towards Red Beach, this time a truly remarkable spot as you will see from the photos I will attach below!!! The most surprising thing is on arrival: you find yourself in front of a hill made of red boulders and on the other side the sea!! They look as if they are about to fall at any moment..

then you walk up a path up the little hill and from the top you see this beautiful beach which looks more like a Martian landscape!!! The strange thing is that you can walk on the water's edge without hurting yourself, unlike Genoa which is all sharp stones… Third stop: Boat trip to the volcano (Nea Kameni) and swim in the thermal waters, island of (Thirassia), sunset at (Oia) This I can say was the most beautiful part of the holiday, first the red beach then the excursion to the volcano, which was something crazy!! You get to the volcano on sailing boats; for those who suffer from seasickness like me, there is no need to worry: the trip is not long from one side to the other and above all the sea is never rough like ours… in any case, if you think you will suffer anyway, take your travel gum with you!!! The trip to the volcano is very tiring; I had to stop about three times to rest and t

hen to drink; there you find neither drink nor food nor shade. You need comfortable shoes, preferably trainers, because the climb is quite steep, it is full of pebbles that roll down, a nice little hat with a cord otherwise it flies away!!! Once you get up to the top it is truly spectacular, you see all of Santorini from above!!!! At a certain point you will hear the sound of a siren announcing it is time to leave for the thermal waters!!! You get back on the sailing boat and go to the other side of the island where there are some thermal waters, which do not stink but stain you quite brown; I advise you not to wear a white swimsuit or one you care about, mine is still all brown now!! Unfortunately the sailing boat cannot get very close, so you have to jump off the boat and swim to reach the thermal waters… it is more or less about 100 metres to swim and you finally reach the fantastic th

ermal waters!!! There was a group of Japanese near us enjoying the warm water and, being close to them, I felt very much in Japan in their thermal waters, the water about 4 degrees warmer than the sea water.. you stay there immersed in the warm water for 10 minutes, a quarter of an hour, then the usual siren calls you back.. and now comes the bad part:-( ( from there, all warm, you have to swim back to the sailing boat, plunging back into the cold water… I assure you it is not at all pleasant!!! From the thermal waters we got back on the sailing boat and made a stop at (Thirassia), a little fishing village that lives only on those few hours a day of tourism that reaches the island.

There we finally had lunch with the local fish (be careful not to get ripped off, a plate of pasta 16 euros!!), recommended to us by the guide, the little restaurant did fish in every way!!! You will see it later in the photos below; my boyfriend even ate an octopus arm (in the photo on the left) that is as long as the whole plate, crazy!! Just think that if you manage to catch an octopus the restaurant will cook it for you for free!! Good fishing to everyone!! On the island you can go and visit the little village at the top of the mountain by mule; we preferred to have a nice nap on the beach shore with the crystal-clear water.