Santorini was by far our favorite island from the trip. I think the local we met in Paros said it best…”Santorini is just magical”.
As corny as that sounds, it’s absolutely true. It’s like no other place I have ever seen! Unfortunately, we only had about 2 ½
days there, so I do hope that we return sometime in the near future :)
I think the magic started as soon as we spotted the island
from our ferry. Sitting high up
top on the cliffs, you can spot the white-washed buildings in all their
glory...
We were lucky enough to stay in one of the three cave houses that
makes up Katerina’s Ifestio Villas.
She was definitely our most favorite hostess of the trip! There are so many stairs leading down
to the villa (believe me, each step is well worth it!), that she sent a porter
to help with our bags (I think the boys were definitely relieved!). And then Katerina was down in our
villa, waiting to welcome us with a huge smile on her face…immediately making
us feel like family. After a
quick tour, she left us for a while, so that we could get over the shock of how
beautiful the place/location was (overlooked the Med and the caldera), and then
she was back to give us a history lesson of the island. How cute is that?! She is so passionate about everything
that is Santorini, that she wanted to share it with us, and educate us about
the place she calls home. We all
loved it! We arrived to the island
pretty late in the day, so we had a lazy evening, exploring the adorable town
of Oia.
View from our cave house
Caldera view
We took full advantage of the next day, heading out early
for a little boat ride/tour of the area.
We started off in the port of Oia, and from there, the boat took us over to the
caldera for a guided tour of the volcanoes (some amazing views!). After the hike around the
caldera, the boat dropped us off to do a little swimming in the hot
springs, and then for lunch, they took us over to the island of
Thirasia.
Exploring the caldera
View of Fira (the other town in Santorini)
View of Oia
Our mode of transportation for the day
Jumping from the boat in order to swim to the hot springs
Hot springs
That evening, since it was our 3rd
Anniversary, we all decided to split up and have a couples night :) Katerina was so sweet, and helped Grant
plan out everything for the evening, it was just perfect! We started off with a cocktail in town,
then had a wonderful, romantic dinner at Ambrosia, where Grant had a bouquet of
white roses, and a card waiting for me – too sweet. The view from dinner was breathtaking…I’m not sure we’re
ever going to be able to top this anniversary celebration!
Cheers to 3 years!
On our last day (so depressing!), we started off at the pool
bar, which was incredibly nice and relaxing. We didn’t have enough time to
get to the beaches on Santorini, but hey, we couldn’t fit everything in, or
else we would have no reason to return! After
that, we decided to make the trek out to THE cliff that everyone jumps off of
in Santorini. I’m not going to
lie, it was pretty scary! The
water is so clear, that it looks like you’re going to hit all the rocks below
the surface…it doesn’t look THAT high, but wow, looking over the edge was NOT a
good idea. I sat there for a
while, about to chicken out, and then just went for it (I made them count to 3
for me…that always works!).
Kaila and I at the pool bar
BEST photo bomb I have seen! haha
Swimming out to the cliff!
Contemplating...
Off goes Grant!
No turning back now (look at that form!)
I did it!
And probably the BEST part of the trip…our ride back up into town (so we didn’t have to take the hundreds of steps back
up!). The donkey ride...it was hysterical! I’m sure you can imagine the 6 of us
riding up together, and the commentary that followed. Well, we were all laughing (and
screaming!) as the donkeys made their way up…no one was leading them, the guide was behind us, so it was kind of a free for all, and boy do they love to hug
the edge of the walkway; so you’re literally holding on for dear life. Well, turns out, we kind of freaked
them out because we were so loud, so they started racing each other; I’m not
kidding! Somehow, I ended up on
the donkey usually referred to as the thoroughbred (he was HUGE), and did he have quite the
pep in his step! He took off
RUNNING up the stairs, winning the race by a huge margin, and I was freaking
out/laughing so hard that it was the silent kind of laugh. I’m seriously chuckling as I’m typing
this out, remembering that ride up the cliff.
That's me in the middle...on my GIANT donkey, who is about to cut Kelly and her donkey off - they were not very nice to each other!
Slow pokes!
Back on our feet, and a little shopping later, we headed out
for our last dinner at the Sunset Tavern (a great spot to watch the beautiful Santorini sunset). After a
delicious seafood dinner during sunset, we ended up at our favorite little bar on the island, which served the donkey beer (we were big fans!), then called it a night…6 am flight the next morning to begin our
long journey home. It was an
unforgettable trip though, and I’m already looking forward to heading back someday!!
Katerina!!!
Donkey beer is excellent!
It was so scary walking past the donkeys...you never knew what their next move was going to be!
*Many photos courtesy of Mike & Kelly Faillo
