Santorini, Greece

November 23 - 30, 2019

Santorini, one of the most popular vacation spots on earth. The island has gained its shape through several volcanic eruptions, and it has so much to offer for a small island, from beaches and catamaran tours to caldera views, volcano hiking and even a small “Pompeii of Santorini”. We visited in November and had a blast, although many shops and restaurants were already closed for the year. We’ll have to make it back during shoulder seasons to enjoy it properly.

Day 0 - Ferry to Santorini

Day 1 - Fira and Oia Part 1

Day 2 - Kamari Beach and Akrotiri

Day 3 - Hiking from Fira to Oia

Day 4 - Volcano, Amoudi Bay & Oia Part 2

Day 5 - Catamaran

Day 6 - Pyrgos & Donkey Beer

Day 7 - Fly to Cairo

Voyagers tips: Shoulder seasons are the best time to visit Santorini. It’s too crowded during peak seasons, whereas it’s so dead in November when we visited that many shops and restaurants had already closed for the rest of the year. A car is a must, as taxis are difficult to get. It’s best to book a rental car at the airport even if you arrive by ferry and take a taxi to the airport to pick up the car. Accommodations on caldera-facing hills are beautiful and cost a premium, but they are only accessible by foot, so be prepared to carry luggage up and down steps. Book the volcano tour and catamaran tours in advance during peak seasons. Ferry to/from Athens is a great experience and should be done once.

Day 0 - Ferry to Santorini

This is our ferry to Santorini. It’s massive.

We woke up to pack and clean up. We’ve been disappointed by several places we’ve stayed at, but we loved our apartment in Athens.

It’s a car ferry also.

We knew we’d be sleep deprived so we booked two cabins to store our luggage and to take naps. This is the regular cabin. It can fit up to four, which wasn’t enough for the five of us.

We booked a lux cabin also to compare the inside. The lux cabin was a nice upgrade but only fits two people.

The sky was dark when we first got to the boat.

The sky lit up as the Ferry was heading out.

The economy class was pretty crowded even in November. People get on early to hog a table for the entire ride.

Business Class is more spacious and comfortable. The upgrade price was very reasonable.

Business class lounge. Cabin reservations automatically get you access to business class lounge. For a 7.5 hour ferry ride, I think the upgrade was a great value and totally worth it.

The card games, meant to be relaxing, got pretty intense.

The outdoor area was pretty empty as it was windy and a bit chilly.

We're approaching Santorini.

The port is pretty crazy, but the island is actually so empty this time of year, many businesses already shut down for the rest of the year.

We woke up early to take the ferry from Athens to Santorini. 7:25 A.M. ferry meant waking up at 4:30 A.M. We said goodbye to Athens and hopped on the 7 hr 30 min ferry, which was actually quite nice.

Voyagers tips: The ferry is a great experience, but it does take up a whole day. We opted to ferry from Athens to Santorini, but take a plane from Santorini back to Athens, just in time for our next flight from Athens to our next destination. By doing so, we also avoided the hassle of finding transportation from the port to the airport.

Day 1 - fira & oia part 1

fira

oia - first visit

fira

Fira (Thira) has many nice houses and hotels on the cliff side. Fira is very pretty, as shown here, although most postcards are probably taken in Oia, with even nicer houses.

These “tomato balls” started out as poor person’s meatball are now a famous local dish that cost a premium. Each tomato ball costs as much as a whole souvlaki.

We decided to walk down the zig-zag donkey path (white squiggly lines) to the port and ride the donkeys back up. You can also ride cable cars up.

There are lots of donkey land mines along the path.

Time to ride up!

Maren led the pack.

Ashlyn, Allison and Megan’s donkeys follow behind.

Eh...

This is a busy part of Fira. These frozen yogurt were not nearly as good as the ones we had in Athens though.

This is the prettiest part of Fira. This pretty part is all residential, hotels and apartment rentals, only accessible by foot.

Fira, the biggest town on the island, is close to the port and has many great restaurants and shops.

oia (first visit)

This fancy pedestrian-only street is on top of the picturesque caldera-facing houses.

There are only residential houses and hotels on the slope, only accessible by foot, just like Fira.

We walked down to see some of these fancy houses. They all have great views, many have private jacuzzis. But most of them seem empty.

Too cloudy for a sunset view, which Oia is famous for. It was pretty nonetheless.

Getting dark in Oia.

Oia, the second largest and the richest town in Santorini, is a great place to stroll, enjoy the view, and watch the sunset.

Day 2 - Kamari & akrotiri

kamari beach

akrotiri archeological site

Beach in Akrotiri

Red Beach

Lighthouse

Akrotiri is mainly known for the archaeological site, but we really enjoyed exploring the whole area. Kamari Beach is popular in the summer but very quiet this time of year (November).

kamari beach

Cartwheel time.

Maren and Ashlyn were ambushed by a high wave, Ashlyn's shoes and pants got drenched.

We got a small car this time.

First stop - Kamari black sand beach. It’s pretty dead this time of year. The waves are big, we’re a bit worried about our upcoming sailing trip.

akrotiri archaeological site

A model of the ruins.

Some original potteries were restored and placed at the site. They also had two-story homes with city sewage systems built in...very advanced for a society 4,000 years ago.

Google maps has steered us in wrong directions many times on this trip. It insisted on taking us up here into a narrow dirt path painted “private / stop”.

Nicknamed the Pompeii of Santorini, Akrotiri was a town buried by volcanic ash and abandoned in 16th century BC. The excavation work is quite impressive, although there was little information available to help visitors better understand the history here.

Beach in Akrotiri

We decided to join in on the fun. This shot took way too many tries. Coordinating four people’s jumps turned out to be much more difficult than we thought.

Megan showing the girls she can still do a cartwheel.

There was a fun beach right by the Akrotiri site. It was perfect for some silhouette shots.

Red Sand Beach

The red sand gets its color from iron in the sand.

That's Ashlyn up there.

This cool structure is at the entrance to the Red Beach.

Red sand beach. A popular stopping point, but the lower part is closed due to falling rocks. This is as close as we could get.

Lighthouse in Akrotiri

The Lighthouse in Akrotiri was a recommendation from our shuttle driver, and it was one of our favorite spots. We got to be at the southern tip of the west-facing crescent-shaped island, with the lighthouse perched on the cliff and very few tourists. Oia, the northern tip of the crescent shape, is the most famous and popular sunset spot, but this is a much nicer place for sunset in November. It was too cloudy for sunset on the day we were here; however, the glow across the clouds was beautiful nonetheless.

Day 3 - hike from fira to oia

The hike connects the two largest coastal towns, starting in Fira and ending in Oia.

The scenery was absolutely beautiful even in the poor weather.

The high wind gave Maren a cape. This view was lookin back at Fira.

Looking ahead at Imerovigli.

Imerovigli is pretty.

We got to this point before deciding to turn back. I really didn’t feel like walking in wet shoes in the rain for 2-4 more hours.

Heading back to dry up at our apartment.

We had the ambitious plan to hike from Fira to Oia, but it wasn’t meant to be. Despite the forecast showing five hours of clear weather, it started sprinkling as soon as we started hiking, and got progressively worse. We walked for half an hour before turning back and calling it quits. It’s good we turned around, as it started pouring on our way back.

Day 4 - Volcano, amoudi bay & oia part 2

volcano nea kameni

amoudi bay

oia

We climbed the main volcano in the area, took the cable car back up to town, stopped at Amoudi Bay, and watched the famous Oia sunset. Another fun day in Santorini.

volcano nea kameni

We took a boat to see Nea Kameni, the volcanic island next to Santorini.

Nea Kameni is a tiny part of the bigger volcano, much of it being under water. We hiked to the top.

We stopped by the hot springs area where people can jump into the cold water to swim to the hot spring. We'll do it with the catamaran cruise instead.

We see donkey riders on our way up in the cable car.

Heading back to the coast.

We came back to port and took the cable car back up to Fira.

The volcano is still active, as evidenced by the smoke coming out near the top. The last eruption was in 1950. I put my hand near a smoking hole, you can definitely feel the heat.

The guide took two rocks out of a smoking hole to let people feel the heat. Should’ve brought a few raw eggs to cook in these holes.

These solar-powered equipment is used to monitor volcano activities.

Nice view from the top of the volcano.

Santorini used to be one big round island. The Minoan eruption in 16th century BC was the second largest eruption in human history, spewing enough materials to kill all the people in the island and caused a 2-year long winter in the area. After the eruption, the volcano collapsed, a large part sinks into the ocean, giving the Santorini island group its current form.

amoudi bay

Still beautiful despite the lack of visitors. There is a staircase up to Oia.

I’ve never seen floating rocks before! Turned out they’re pumice (hardened foam of lava from a volcano). Very cool!

Everything's closed.

We kept walking to the end, not much here other than great scenery.

A popular swimming spot in the summer, it’s now a ghost town, all the shops and restaurants are closed for the year.

oia - 2nd visit

We got to Oia in time to walk around before the sunset.

Allison found her chilling spot.

Oia is the most picturesque place in Santorini.

The tip of the crescent is the popular spot for viewing sunset.

We walked down the slope and found a nice platform to wait for the sunset.

Time to head back.

Fireball!

Random picture - The girls had fun with the neighbor's cute dog.

Sunset at Oia is very popular, so we headed to Oia to wait for the sunset.

Day 5 - catamaran

Heading out to sea.

Best seats on the boat.

White Beach.

The catamaran stopped near the "hot spring", heated by the volcano. We jumped into the freezing water to swim to the hot spring.

It was cold, the girls and I were the only ones crazy enough to jump in. "Hot spring" turned out to be sporadic streams of barely lukewarm water flowing by. Not hot at all.

We stayed out at sea until sunset. Too bad the clouds prevented a nice sunset view.

We're back! What a fun day!

Catamaran tour for Thanksgiving. It was wavy, chilly, and loads of fun!

Voyagers tips: The number of catamaran operators and tour options are very limited in November. If visiting Santorini in peak season, be sure to book ahead. In November, we didn’t need to book in advance.

Day 6 - pyrgos & donkey beer

Pyrgos

We found churches along the way.

Maren honing her selfie skills.

Finding our way to the best viewing spots. This path turned out to be wrong.

Found it! The panoramic views from up here is amazing!

Random pictures -- Normal wheel barrows don't work well on stairs, so they use the motor-powered, tank-wheeled barrows to navigate up and down steps. It even dumps the load at a push of a button.

Pyrgos, known as a traditional village with the best views of the island. It took us a while to find the viewing spot, and our effort paid off. The view is amazing!

Donkey Beer

A lazy ass enjoying a lazy ass.

Interesting beer names.

Beer tasting starts with an introduction of ingredients and the variations between beers.

Only Allison and Ivan went to the tasting. The other ones showed no interest.

Slow Donkey, their limited edition. This year's edition is brewed with honey.

At 9.8%, this is probably the strongest beer I've had. At 10 euros a bottle, it's probably also the most expensive one I've had.

Random pictures... their trash bins have foot pedals! Ingenious! Why don't we have these in the U.S.?

Donkey Beer, the only brewery on the island. The beer is good, worth a visit.