We still have a few more places in Italy we want to share with you, but we had such a great time in Santorini, Greece that we couldn’t wait to share.
Santorini was a dream. Seriously, it was absolutely gorgeous and romantic and we loved it.
Since the beginning of our travels, we’ve grown weary of destinations that are overly saturated in travel magazines and on Instagram. So often these places are overhyped, overrun, and by the time we get there they are so inundated by selfie-taking tourists and drones that they are hard to enjoy.
We did not find that to be the case in Santorini. Within 10 minutes of arriving in our rental apartment, we ran out the door and walked the narrow, winding, whitewashed streets until we found a quiet overlook to enjoy our first Santorini sunset. It totally lived up to the hype. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets we’ve ever seen.
We spent four days wandering the island, getting lost (and getting an amazing workout on all the steps!), enjoying amazing Greek food, wine tasting, beaching it up on our first black-sand beach, people watching and overall having a wonderful time. Yes there were tourists, but we never really felt overrun or overwhelmed.
To save money, we limited ourselves to one nice meal out per day, eating breakfast at home and having a $3 gyro for the other meal. For those nice meals out, we asked around and researched and ended up eating at a few fantastic places. Our favorite meal on the entire island was at a place called Melitini, where our servers were very kind and made sure we had the ultimate Greek experience. We had small plates (mezze) of Greek dips, lamb meatballs, spicy sausage, and stuffed peppers. It was all enjoyed with delicious local white wine served in a tin cup and finished with the Greek aperitif ouzo, which tastes like super strong licorice. We enjoyed all of this on a rooftop overlooking the caldera (volcano) all for about $35.
Melitini
If you can’t tell, we were totally charmed by Santorini and can’t wait to visit again. Next time, we’ll be renting a 4-wheeler to explore the island. This time, we stuck to the bus and walking, which was probably safer for all parties involved.
Love from Greece,
Cathleen & Christopher
Is it the town center of Santorini? I’ve never been there but most of Santorini pix I’ve seen are taken there. 😀
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The ones looking towards the sunset are typically Fira or Imerovigli (we stayed in Imerovigli and LOVED it). The ones looking back towards the caldera are typically taken from Oia, which is also gorgeous and about a 20 minute bus ride from Fira. It seems that most people stay in one of those three areas.
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utterly breathtaking- I think you should definitely be a professional photographer when you come back. National Geographic would be lucky to have you!!
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