Santorini


I’d seen so many pictures of Santorini from M’s blog but I didn’t realise they were mostly of Oia.. imagine my surprise when I arrived to high, imposing cliffs on a ferry I thought was big when I left Mykonos but felt quite small sailing into the port.. the smattering of white buildings clinging to the tops looked like snow from below.

The entrance to Perivolas Suites (we didn’t stay there):

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants house:

Miss M and I spent ten days on the island and it felt altogether too short. I didn’t think the Cycladic islands could differ so much from one another but they do. Coming from Mykonos it wasn’t a big change, but leaving Santorini for Naxos was a bit of a mistake..

Some people told me that ten days was far too long to spend in one place. We found plenty to do, places to explore, food to eat.. in actuality ten days wasn’t quite long enough. In fact my entire trip was just over three weeks, in one country, and even that was quite short. There are so many things I’d love to have done and places I’d love to have visited but I guess there’s always next time. Greece is such a beautiful country, with amazing people, and so much character and history that it’s quite hard to absorb everything in a short holiday. I don’t think I will ever understand people who go on those crazy tours that take you to 10 countries in 14 days..

Food was amazing throughout. The sun and the lava-rich environment does some crazy things to the local produce.. it was here I discovered Vinsanto, a traditional Santorini wine (different from the Italian Vin Santo) and given my love for dessert wine made me a little crazy too. I love the Mediterranean diet and Miss M makes a great breakfast/lunch/dinner/supper date!

Goats cheese and filo pastry starter at Nectar and Ambrosia:

Eggplant, in a million incarnations (here, baked with feta):

Seafood, by the water (and what a view that is):

A local specialty, Santorini fava:

And lots of love to Greek bakeries throughout.. so many amazing pastries, biscuits, all kinds of heaven!

It’s one of those places you have to go at least once in your life, to see it in person, but the problem with that is that once you’ve been there, it forever sticks in your mind and you will want to go back again..

The most amazing bookstore:

I had quite a lot to say about the island but I guess the pictures can do the talking. I took over 3,800 pictures in three weeks.. excessive! Thankfully I have the sense not to make anyone sit through them :)

You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, I told him, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again”

-Azar Nafisi from Reading Lolita in Tehran

My other Greek post: Καλοκαίρι στην Ελλάδα - Summer in Greece