2017 - Greece (Summary)

Duration: 15 days
Locations: Santorini, Crete, and Athens Greece

In June of 2017, we visited Greece and here is a summary of things that I enjoyed the most, one for each location that we visited which are Santorini, Crete, and Athens.

Highlights

Fira to Oia Hike (Santorini), with clear signage and it being the #1 thing to do in Santorini on TripAdvisor (as of September 2017), you aren't really go wrong here. The hike itself is free, no money required, however, there is no shade on the way, so bring some sunscreen or stay covered and there are also no stops for water, so make sure to bring enough of that as well. There will be plenty of people along the way (at least when we went in June), so don't worry too much about getting lost and just enjoy the hike which takes roughly 3-4 hours. Try to start early, that way you avoid the high afternoon sun (unless you like hiking in the heat).

Samaria Gorge (Crete), a great and quite strenuous hike which does have an admission cost, but it was pretty low for us when we went at roughly 25 euros per person and this included all the transportation as well as a guide for the entire trip. You have the option to go from the bottom to the top or the top to the bottom which is what most people do. The hike itself will take all day with a start time of roughly 6:00am to an end time of roughly 8:30pm. There are plenty of water refill stations here, but do bring some hiking poles if you don't like going down. Make sure to enjoy the nice views!

Meteora (Athens), a long day trip from Athens, we did it as a 2 day trip and it was wonderful. Meteora is a collection of monasteries that appear to have just dropped from the sky and landed on top of mountains that literally just appeared out of nowhere. You'll have to see it to believe it. What's even more impressive to me was once I went inside one of them, it was like I was in a normal monastery on land. A must see if you are in the area and you have time to do this.

Lowlights

Nothing was particularly disappointing on this trip. The only part that was disappointing was that we started in Santorini, did Crete and then ended up in Athens where the environment and vibe completely changed. Depending on where you are, you can see that the city has/is undergoing some difficult times.

Food Suggestions

Lucky's Soulvaki (Santorini), a tourist favourite (or local, I can't tell). We ordered the pitas on several occasions and the plate and every one that we have tried were excellent. Bare in mind, this is compared to what we have in Toronto, Canada which I think is already quite good. The food here is great, quick, and fairly inexpensive. The only downside would be that it lacks seating. There are mainly just bar stools, no real sit down tables.

Paralia (Crete), a restaurant right by the water where they serve freshly caught seafood. Enjoy the food, the sights, and the sounds while here.

Thansis (Athens), come for the kebabs, they were amazing! A must try in my mind and very reasonably priced since the street that it is on is actually full of restaurants fighting for customers.

Tips

While in Santorini, rent an ATV. You may worry about the safety, but Santorini in the main areas seem to be littered with ATVs, so don't worry about being run over by cars. With ATVs, it also is a lot easier to park since most people just park on the side of the road and you don't require as much space as a car.

Final Thoughts

I can see why Greece is a place for tourists to visit. There is plenty of variety of things to see and do and it really is just an island hop away. I liked the food variety that was available and was shockingly not bored by the end of the trip which is a common issue that I noticed while travelling.

Until our next trip!

Past POIs - Fira to Oia Hike [Santorini, Greece]

During our trip in Santorini, Greece, we did the hike from Fira to Oia which is a 10km hike with an estimate time of 3 hour hike. You can also do it from the other direction (Oia to Fira), however, it is easier from Fira to Oia since you'll be walking mostly down instead of up.

Signage from Fira about potential hikes and duration.

The time it takes is really dependent on your ability and I would say how many stops and detours you take. It took us roughly 5 hours to do the full hike, but we got sidetracked by things like Skaros Rock which took us about an hour to do and just where you decided to take breaks and enjoy the scenery.

Skaros Rock (view from the bottom looking up at Fira)

I would say that as long as you are in okay shape, you can do the hike. We saw all types of people doing the hiking and nobody seemed to have any issues doing it.

Skaros Rock (looking down from Fira)

Note, the hike itself is out in the open for the full hike, so do prepare yourself accordingly. Make sure that you bring enough water for yourself since there really aren't many shops that you can just stop at on the way. For the most part, once you leave Fira, it is fairly empty with no shops until you get to Oia. Bring sunscreen or an umbrella depending on the weather.

Panorama between Fira and Oia

Overall, I'm glad we did the hike, it was a great experience.

Come back next Friday for another Past Point of Interest!

2017 - Greece Summary (Santorini)

Duration: 4 days (Saturday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon)

Highlights

Volcano tour - I know that a lot of people won't like tours, but I thought that the volcano tour was a very good way of covering a number of spots while at Santorini and I don't believe you can visit these places on your own.

Fira to Oia hike - Again, probably not for everyone, but I thought it was very enjoyable, although do note that there is no shade available during the entire hike. Plan accordingly.

Lowlights

Nothing disappointed me here. I did find Santorini very resort-like so it seemed a bit unnaturally friendly and clean depending on where you visit.

Food Suggestions

Lucky's souvlaki - not quite sure why we liked this place so much, but we did end up here a number of times. The souvlaki tastes very good and is very inexpensive.

Trani Taverna - very good food and if you luck out, a nice view to boot.

Tips

I think our duration was a bit long based on what we did. You may like to relax a bit more, but based on the things we did, I would suggest the following:

Day 1: Rent an ATV and drive the southern half of Santorini
Day 2: Do the volcano tour
Day 3: Do the fira to oia hike

That was sufficient for us in terms of things to see and do there. There are more things to do there, but that was enough based on our experiences.

Final Thoughts

Your duration is based on your interests. If you want to just relax, I would suggest a nice hotel with a view, otherwise, I think 3 days is a good amount of time to spend here.

2017 - Greece - Day 3 [Santorini]

Today, we do the hike from Fira to Oia, which is expected to be around 3 - 4 hours long with basically no shade (sorry, I wrote that we would be doing the boat cruise in the previous post).

Signage of various hiking routes

Breakfast was the same this morning with a slight change to the Greek items at the end of the table. Still fairly good in my mind.

Some vases from the Preshistoric Museum of Thira

Our first stop was the Preshistoric Museum of Thira. We were told that it would be an hour long but we only took about 30 minutes. It really depends on what your interest is, it isn't very large. There are a lot of old pots, vases and we didn't seem to keen on them. The museum is located on the southern side of Fira and costs 2 euros but was included in the museum pass.

Random Santorini pic

This morning, we were debating about which boat tour to take and walked to several different tour companies and ended up with the one that the hotel is connected with, however, since we were talking to the tour company in person, they told us that the hotel normally gets a commission and if we booked with them directly, they would reduce the cost since they didn't have to pay the commission. The company was Kamari Tours and the tour will consist of us visiting the island volcano, the option to go swim in a hot spring (this is included but optional), visit Thirassia Island, drop off at Oia for dinner (at your own expense), time for some sunset pictures and a bus back to our hotel. It cost us 40 euros and will last basically the entire day.

Skaros Rock from above

With that completed, we did the hike to Oia and it took us about 4 hours to complete. There are a few major climbs and descents, so do beware. Also, there is basically no shade, so wear enough sunscreen and try to protect yourself. We lucked out that we had a bit of a breeze while doing this hike, without it, I think it would have been much more grueling. Overall, it was a very nice hike to do and it isn't very hard, just long. There are lots of people doing the hike which means, you shouldn't get lost and there was sufficient signage in cause you are worried.

Santorini

Oia

Santorini

Santorini

When we reached Oia, it oozed upscale when compared to Fira. The walkways are nicer (cobblestone in Fira vs granite/marble in Oia), the roads were cleaner, the shops are nicer, there are brand name shops here and people were even dressed nicer here.

Skaros Rock (view from the bottom)

Panorama of part of the hike

After our hike I knew that we needed a snack since it was still too early for dinner and we ended up at Karma where we ordered mussel saganki, tomatokefdes, and watermelon with feta which came out to 32 euros. Food was okay, due to our time, the service was a bit lacking since it was between lunch and dinner time.

Mussel saganki top left, tomatokefdes top right, watermelon and feta on the bottom right

With our stomachs a bit filled,we wandered Oia a bit to take in the scenery and get some pictures and ended up at Amoudi Fish Tavern for dinner which is at the bottom of a steep zig-zag staircase which has an elevation drop of between 230-330 feet (70-100 meters) where there are actual donkeys at the bottom which are offered (at a price) for people who don't want to do the climb. The steps are uneven, cobblestone, and covered with donkey/horse poop, so, do wear proper footwear.

Look at all these donkeys!

Oia

At Amoudi Fish Tavern, the server showed us the fresh fish that they had and we picked a 0.5kg sea bream and also ordered fried zucchini and loukoumades for dessert, total came out to 40 euros.

Fish selection 

Fried zucchini

Our grilled sea bream

Loukoumades (basically, fried dough with honey and walnuts on top)

With our bellies full, we walked over to a spot that the server suggested for looking at the sunset which we did. After that we walked up the steps and made it to the local bus which cost us 1,80 euros each which would take us back to Fira's bus terminal. Fira's bus terminal is the last stop, so there was no announcement, but we noticed that everyone left, so we did as well. Check the bus schedule beforehand since it changes quite frequently.

View from Amoudi Bay, if you look closely at the top wall, it is full of people watching the sunset

Close up of the wall and sunset viewers

Again, look at all these people!

Oia sunset

Tomorrow, we do the boat cruise for real this time!