Santorini Takeaway Thoughts & Tips

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Getting to Santoini. Ferry or fly?
The ferry rides from Athens to Santorini takes around 5 hours on the highspeed ferry and 8 hours for the slow ferry. I read reviews that this is a good way to get to Santorini if you have time to waste. I didn’t. I’ve honed my staking-airline-carrier-websites-for-seat-sales skills. I was able to score a roundtrip Athens-Santorini flight for €130! Good enough.




Getting Around Santorini
Renting an ATV or a motorbike is the easy option. You’ll just have to bother with parking the machine. *shrugs*. Lots of shops renting out these. In my case, walking was fun. Even though it took us 25 minutes to get from Karterados to Fira. The sun is hot, but it is not humid (unlike summers here in the Philippines, *melts*).



Food
Don’t orderdessert so fast. The Greeks in this island may take a liking for their customers, and they give them free desserts! If you’re charming enough. *wink*



Try out family-restaurants. The food will take a while to cook but the  meal will be deliciouzzzzz. With hefty servings.


The Hike from Oiato Fira
You read that right, this is the reverse route. You’ll deal with the difficult path at first, then ease on the easier one. You’ll also avoid the crowd in Oia during sunset (insert pic). Wear something nice for the photos. Something you can be comfortable in while trekking the long path. Comfortable walking footwear please. Not flip flops. NOT FLIP FLOPS.

Marj wore her boots with the dress, in that weather. Chaka in photos but the boots held her to safety.


Bring water. Don’t drink too often as there are no bathrooms during the trek. Unless you are really desperate, you can probably knock on the gates of the posh resorts that you’ll pass by.

The posh resorts along the way. Let me have a pic with you.


Lather on sunblock, sport your sunglasses, and bring your well-charged camera with lots of space in the memory card. 

Lovely shot. There's just this shadow photobummer.

Souvenirs

I got two small floor mats with Santorini-inspired designs for €1.50 each. I got some nice Santorini accessories for some friends but I ended up keeping them to myself J (€4-7 a piece to €15-20 a set). There are nice good-priced wines but having a baggage limit imposes a shopping limit. You can get some olive soaps for €1 a piece for cheapo souvenir items.

DEFINITELY NOT THESE BANGKOK BAGS.
Price in BKK: 100 Baht. (I know, I shopped)
Price in Santorini: 16 Euros. 
Wag magpaloko.

Bangkok bags that can pass as Santorini bags

The Beaches

We went toPerissa. It was nice. Pricey and nice. Don’t expect powdery-white sand beaches in Santorini. The water is also freezing cold – freezing for someone who grew up in a tropical country. Think Batangas beach.



The city is very safe. Veronica warned us that the “worst” thing that could happen is that a stranger would offer us a life. True enough, someone did. We rejected the cute guy’s offer because we wanted to walk and take pics instead.

Laid-back city. No need to rush to do anything or be anywhere else. Who would like to be anywhere else? I can just stay and munch on some feta and watch the views. Santorini made it to my favourite cities list. 


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