I was blown away by Santorini. All I knew of it before we went was that it had some beaches and churches with blue roofs.
The first morning as we walked up the steps to the cliff through the narrow alley lined with tourist and kebab shops I didn’t think it was different to other similar places. Then we turned a corner and saw the view of the volcano ahead, the town of Oia on top of the cliffs to the right and islands off in the distance in the early morning light. I don’t know if I’ve seen a better view.
The scenery is magnificent from all over the island, with stunning views out to sea. The people are friendly – the local corner store was left empty but open, the owner was up the road renovating his hotel and popped down to the shop if he saw anyone. In the meantime anyone could have taken what they wanted and walked off. Our host at the hotel was great, giving us a carafe of wine on arrival and dropping us off at the airport at 05:30 in the morning.
Almost all of the buildings on the island were immaculate, clean, and all look freshly painted. Considering that they are mostly white, that’s quite an achievement. A lot were being renovated and painted in preparation for the Summer.
We only spent 2 days there but managed to see most of what we wanted, the highlight for me the sunset from Oia.
I think Santorini is one of the best places I’ve been for natural scenery. If you ever travel to Greece, make sure you take 2 or 3 days to visit Santorini, it’s wonderful.
I personally think that we picked the best time to visit – it was busy but not crowded. The buses were full, as was the boat to the volcano and the sunset area, but we could see everything and had no trouble. In peak season it may be a different matter, beaches packed and difficulty booking tours. The weather for us was perfect – we don’t like it too hot. Chilly in the morning and evening but t shirt temperature during the day.
We’ll probably be coming back, if not to Santorini then one of the other islands.
I had a fantastic time.
