Santorini Sightseeing

I was told, Sush had been wanting to visit this Island for standard seven and her dream destination it was. Like I mentioned, earlier, Santorini was the main place we had zeroed on with other places added on later.

There is a reason why the Greek island of Santorini is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. It was pure magic. There are very few places in the world where one can stand on a cliff, amidst some of the most stunning and charming architecture in the world, and be even more amazed at the turquoise waters swirling below. Santorini, for all intents and purposes, is the stuff tourist dreams are made of.

We arrived into the Airport at 11am, and were picked by the Hotel Airport transfer. It was more than a week since we had Indian food in Indian restaurant. Not in our wild dreams, we had imagined we would find an Indian restaurant in Santorini. The Jaipur Indian restaurant was reachable on foot from our hotel and we went there after fresh up. The owner Manu was very courteous and prepared as per our needs. 

We rested for a while and then started walk towards Oia which is done by almost everybody. From Fira, to Ois it takes, 4 hours at the least and it depends on photo point and refreshment stops which actually can consume more time. The villages en-route are Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia. We went till Imerovigli and to the famous photogenic Blue Church. We were mesmerized by the white washed buildings and blue domes. 

the next morning woke up to sunshine and a dreamland out our window. We rented an ATV (which is very common on the island so that tourists can keep stabilized on the very steep slopes!). We set out into the picturesque town of Oia, and spent the day being mesmerized by the white washed buildings and blue domes. 

Oia is supposed to be the absolute best town on the island! Even though it is tiny, there is so much to explore. The hotels here are very expensive for the same reason.

For Dinner again we went to Jaipur Restaurant. :)

Next day, we hired two wheeler and went to Kamari beach which is on the Black sand beach. Other being Perrisa. Next up was Red beach through the Pyrgos village . The drive along countryside with intermittent cloudy and sunny weather was memorable. Sush enjoyed the ride , with me the navigator. 

We had booked volcano and hot spring tour at 2 PM. We had lunch and started walking to the Old port. The path is filled with donkey shit and riding atop donkey is one of the activity here. We walked down and our vessel left at 2.15 to the volcano.

The volcano is active one and last known activity was in the 50s and it was a mild one. Here we need to hike for a mile to see the active volcano. Not the lava bubbling sight, but just a vantage point.:)

Next stop was the hot water spring with option to take bath. People who did, said the experience was good.  We reached port by 5ish and took cable car to the top. 

The sunset view from Oia is the best and world famous. We hit the road again  with Sush behind the wheels. The drive was spectacular along coast and we were chasing sun. It was lonely but lovely. 

We just reached in the nick of the time and captured some beautiful moments. We reached Fira citi centre by 8 and went to Jaipur restaurant again.

We had flight to Athens, the next day at 12.30 AM and so we left hotel at 10.30 PM. The drive was short and reached airport in less than 15 min. Finished formalities and waited for the flight.

I hope that everyone gets a chance to visit this island some day. Enoy the photos.