Apologies for my absence, I’ve just been away for a bit. The first photo in this post was probably one of my favourites from the entire trip. Prior to visiting, I’d heard that the sunsets were amazing in Santorini, but never had I envisioned them to resemble beautiful strokes of oil paint. I’m really enjoying going away at the moment because I feel like with each trip I’m becoming more familiar with my camera, finally. This time around I tried to focus on avoiding overexposed sunset/sunrise pictures, and I feel like I’ve learnt a lot from that alone.
It was my first time visiting Santorini, and I absolutely loved it! It definitely has a different feel to it than the other Greek islands – but I can’t quite put my finger on what. The famous white villages were beautiful to finally see and explore in person. Apparently, they were built by people making caves in the cliff side. By living in these caves they were protected from the harshness of the sun during Summer months, but relatively warm during the Winter. This explains why the buildings were painted white and remain that way today.
In the early days they would also use these caves to store animals in. In some of the ceilings of the older hotels, you can see the remnants of roof openings. These would have been used primarily to throw food down to the animals inside. It’s kind of strange to think that these former caves have undergone such a huge transformation – which has lead them to becoming some of the most renowned, luxury property in the world.
If you ever go to Santorini in the future, the two main villages you’ll definitely need to visit are Oia and Thira which have beautiful views onto the Caldera. The Caldera’s name comes from the adopted Spanish word for ‘Cauldron’. It is aptly named due to the shape of the Island – Santorini actually used to be a volcano. The island that exists today is essentially the outer-edge that survived.
If I could help make your visit in the future a memorable one I would say:
Visit the only Mexican Restaurant on the Island. It’s called Senor Zorba and is situated in Pyrgos. The view from that side of the island is spectacular. Plus, it’s kind of in the hills, out of the way, so it isn’t overcrowded at all. The last photos in this post were taken from there.
Secondly, if you can, book a Catamaran trip with Caldera Yachting. On the day of our excursion, it was slightly overcast. But the small crew of three were so friendly and really took great care of us all! It was a great day despite the weather and the lunch they cooked on board was delicious. Would 100% recommend/do again.
Take a cardigan as the temperature can drop quite a bit at night!
Try Mezzo, a dessert wine. I’m no wine connoisseur but it’s quite sweet, super refreshing and available at most restaurants. It has the flavours of a mulled wine but served chilled.
Let me know if you have any favourite spots in Santorini and click here for more travel posts. Have a great week everyone! 🙂
I love Greece. It's probably one of my favourite places to visit, and I'm pretty sure I'd like to eventually live there!
Stunning pictures 🙂
http://www.alittletwistof.blogspot.co.uk
Your photos of your holidays are always stunning, this is no different! Those sunsets looks incredible!
A short cut
I agree! I've not really ventured around much of Europe, but I think that's because I always want to return to Greece! 🙂 x
Awww thank you so much Amara! Your name is lovely by the way! 🙂 x
I'm dying to go to Santorini!
Gold Dust
x
I really hope you get the chance to experience it yourself one day! We stayed on the Island, but not in the villages (way too expensive). Instead, we booked a place in Kamari which is the opposite side of the Island. But it only took 20 mins on the bus to get to the main touristy places from there, it's quite a small island really. Kamari is good for reasonably-priced accommodation. There's also a great selection of restaurants!
I'd always ruled out visiting Santorini on the grounds that it would be too expensive, but booking accommodation in Kamari definitely helped a lot. 🙂
Keep checking for deals, we were lucky enough to find one. You might too! 🙂
I don't think I've ever wanted a holiday as much as I want one right now, purely because of this post. Those skies!
Charlotte xx
Smudgeness
I say do it!! 😉 x
Maybe I will!