The second stop on our trip is the Greek island of Santorini for 4 nights.
We investigated how we could get to Santorini from Istanbul by train and ferry. After realising that we would be too old to enjoy it by the time we got there, we decided to buy some plane tickets. It was very relaxing to jet over to Athens and then transfer onto a prop plane to the island, but it cost us €200 each.
Santorini is very spectacular. It is actually an active volcano with an island around it. The volcano side of the island is full of 300m cliffs with white buildings sprinkled along the top of them, while the other side of the island is beach - black-sand beach, that is.
The place we stayed was is Perissa, which is on the beach side of the island. I thought the beach would be too hot, but it was actually perfect. There are banana lounges and umbrellas for you to lie on, and the water is beautiful and crystal clear. Sharon loved it.
We went on a tour one day in which we got on a sailing boat and explored the caldera. The boat first took us to the volcano for a hike, and for a swim in the springs that come out of the side of the volcano.
It was cool to see the guide dig 30cm down in the volcano dirt and watch steam come out of the hole.
The boat then took us to one of the other islands called Thirassia. Finally we got taken back to Oia to watch the famous sunset. It was a very long day, but it was great.
Santorini (and the rest of Greece, from what I can see) is very hot and arid on the inside. It is almost like a desert. And extremely windy also. We would be walking along on our way to the beach and a huge gust of wind would stir up a mini dust storm and pepper us with it. The wind could get so strong on the beach that it could send chairs and debris flying everywhere.
I think that Perissa was a great place to stay. A lot of people stay on the caldera-side for the views, but I think it is much better to stay on the beach side. The island is so small that it is easy to trip over to the other side when you need to.
There are lots of great (and cheap) bars in Perissa, with €3 cocktails. :)
There is a plague of scooters on the island, I seriously thought we might have been the only people not to have a scooter. Not as many English people as I thought there might have been - lots of Greek and Italian people there on holidays. Santorini has to be one of the coolest places - I would definitely go back there.
Next we somehow figure out how to get to Croatia via Athens.
