The Professional Cinderella

After a flight delay, we arrived in Santorini at 2.30am. Like Positano, Santorini has long been on my bucket list after seeing everyone’s serene pictures on instagram.

Santorini at a glance-

Where we stayed

Airbnb

Food recommendations

Roka

Karma

Pitogyros

Lolita’s Gelato

Must-do activities

Get up to watch the sunrise

Walk down to Ammoudi Bay

Jarrad is constantly telling that not everything is as it appears on the internet, and in none of the places we visited was that more true than Santorini.

There are a list of things on this trip that we have absolutely nailed, and a list of things we would never do again. The best thing about our trip to Santorini was our accommodation. I knew that if you wanted to see the sights that you see in everyone’s photos online, you’d need to stay in the town of Oia. Up until a few weeks before we left, I had booked a place in Ammoudi Bay, which is in Oia, but it’s down at the bottom of the cliffs and requires quite the hike- especially in the afternoon when the sun is setting directly on that side of the island. I’m so grateful I did some more research and decided to change it to somewhere that was up in the main part of town.

This Airbnb is probably the best we’ve ever stayed in. Not only was the location incredible (four minute walk to the blue domes and any restaurant), but our hosts were so helpful. They booked transportation and a porter from and to the airport for us, and were in contact about a month beforehand to ask if there were any tours, wineries or boat trips they would like us to book in.

We had decided right from the get-go that the Santorini leg of our trip would be all about the relaxation, and thank goodness we didn’t have designs on doing anything else. Santorini has a population of 20,000, and almost every day, five large cruise ships with 20,000+ passengers pull into the Caldera and come ashore to explore. Add in the regular tourists staying on the island, and you get pandemonium. The streets are narrow and cobblestones, built only for foot traffic, and the first time we ventured out to find something for lunch, it was like being in grid-locked traffic. Add in the 35°+ heat and virtually no shade (Santorini is almost completely comprised of volcanic rock, and not much grows there apart from bougainvillea and the odd cactus), and we were completely detoured from leaving our little haven unless it was time to eat. By the second day, we’d stocked up at the local supermarket and were making our breakfasts and lunches from home, and only leaving for dinner when a few of the cruise ships had departed and the crowds were manageable.

As previously mentioned, we had fantastic views from our balcony of the famous blue domes. We had been told that if you wanted a photo, you’d better be prepared to be up at sunrise, and judging by the queues we saw snaking through the streets in both directions just for the money shot, that was absolutely true.

We did eat some incredible food during our stay. After a terrible gyros experience the first day, we found this website and found it to be a very accurate guide. The gelato from Lolita’s was just as good as it had been in Italy, and we were able to find much fresher and less carb-heavy food options at Roka, and typical Greek meze from Karma (I’m currently pregnant and almost all the salads and fresh food options in Italy contained unpasteurised cheese, so I had to steer clear. Most of the cheeses in Greece are pasteurised, and we found the restaurant staff incredibly kind and helpful with this).

If we come to Greece again, I would either come in the fringe seasons, or look at one of the lesser-frequented islands such as Naxos or Milos. Santorini is as striking as everyone says it is, but when the crowds are so intense that it really impacts your experience, it’s hard to feel like you are at peak enjoyment level.

Heidi xx