Santorini

We arrived at the base of the massive cliffs of Santorini sometime after 9pm, after a longer than expected trip from Mykonos (most likely due to wind conditions on the open sea). Our host, Corado, picked us up from the port and took us back to his hostel, Santorini Facile.

It was such a pleasure staying in Santorini, and the location of Facile was truly ideal. Situated right in the middle of Fira, the main town in the middle of the island, we were walking distance from everything in town. The place even had a nice rooftop with a view, though we hardly made use of it and when we did no one else was up there. After grabbing a late bite and a drink, we called it a day.

The next day, we attempted to rent quads but (I) didn't feel too comfortable riding them so we returned them and went down the street to rent a car instead. The main goal of the day was to see the rest of the island--particularly Perissa's volcanic black sand beach and another nearby red sand beach on the south side of the island, and also the famously stunning sunset from the cliffs of Oia on the north side of Santorini.

We spent a few hours in Perissa, at a relaxing restaurant called Tranquilo and then at the nearby black sand beach. I even enjoyed lounging in a hammock at the restaurant for a while. Note to self: get a hammock wherever you next live. We stopped by the red sand beach as well, then headed north to Oia to catch the sunset.

Oia was magnificent; just amazing. Just about every building on the cliffs there were white and simple looking in their splendor, and the sunset was so serene you just couldn't sustain suppressing a smile. There are no amount of pictures that can quite surmise the stunning scene we saw there, but here are a few for now--til the reader ventures to Oia themselves.

After a plethora of pictures were purported, we proceeded to partake in a lovely dinner with a view, complete with white wine and fantastic food. After thoroughly indulging in the many dishes we tried, we snapped a few more shots of the town by moonlight and drove back to Fira for our second and final night at Facile.

We were sad to say goodbye, but our boat to Crete didn't depart until shortly after 6pm, so we spent several more hour that day enjoying the charming center of Santorini. We shopped around town, rode donkeys down to the old port at the foot of Fira, and caught a cable car back up to to top of the cliffs.

We made one last stop at a rooftop cafe bar that overlooked the cliffside and nearby smaller islands and said our last farewells to the island we fell in love with. I will definitely be back someday, hopefully with someone I love infinitely more than this romantic place--but it'll be quite the challenge to out-charm Santorini...