Travel to Santorini…

We decided to fly from Athens to Santorini, where we would spend 4 days. The flight was about 45 minutes and the process was super easy. We only needed to arrive to the airport 1 hour before we boarded. I’m not sure this is the best idea once Covid travel is no longer a thing but it seemed to work for us just fine. We needed to show the airline attendants our Covid vaccine cards, which obviously we had but I would look further into this if you don’t have the vaccine to see what’s required. I will tell you, I think it may be a bit more complicated if you are not. We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel which ran us 35 euros.

BEFORE I FORGET!!! DON’T FLUSH THE TOILET PAPER!!! This was the hardest thing to get use to! On the islands, they don’t flush the toilet paper (no matter the number) and there is a small trash can at the side of each toilet. If you are planning a trip soon, start practicing now!

Where we stayed…

LISTEN!!!! When I tell you we have NEVER stayed somewhere with this kind of service, I mean NEVER!!! We are travel people and super picky about where we stay, I’d say boujee! And though we have been to some pretty incredible resorts, this one took the cake. The views, the room and the service were all unmatched. They were so incredibly accommodating it was unreal. The level of detail and care they show to their guests was seriously impressive. Ok, an example (don’t tell Tj I’m telling his personal business), Tj was not feeling well one morning and had to run off to the room and bathroom a couple of times. One time, even having to make it to the closest bathroom to not cause a scene. The lovely ladies noticed something wasn’t right. They came up to me asking if he was ok. I explained he was having stomach issues and they made him a cup of chamomile tea. They were even offering to make him another concoction of rice water that might help soothe his stomach. They even went as far as to tell our excursion guide and he made sure to let Tj know he could make any stop he needed to make sure he was ok. So so kind! Hotels in Oia can either face the old Santorini or new. Ours had views of both depending on your room. Our hotel faced the old Oia and I still can’t get over how unreal it looked.

Our room was sick and the views are flu like!

White dress linked here

Getting around Santorini

As far as the island goes, it is SUPER hilly. Like, break your neck if you miss a step kind of steep. We had NO idea of the depth of stairs and up and down we’d have to do. Unfortunately, this is not the island for those who suffer from certain aliments that include a limitation to getting around. For video of what I’m talking about, visit my Instagram highlight titled “Greece”. We stayed in Oia (pronounced “EEA”, think Leah without the L), please don’t get over there saying “O.I.A” like my husband!!! There are only 2 parts of the island, Oia and Fira. To get from one part of the island to the other you can do a taxi which may cost you around 25 euros or you can take the public bus and it would only cost you 1.60 euros. Do the math? Tj and I did not get hip to the bus until it was too late. We only went to Fira one night, which I will talk about later but the taxis in Oia will knock your head off. Oia and Fira are very walkable places but as long as you have the right shoe wear. Which brings me to…

Outfit Planning for Santorini

I did not come to Santorini to play ok, HA! I planned all the flowy, longer dresses because I knew the vibe would be much more laid back. I did pack heels for Santorini but quickly realized, it’s levels to this!!! I am not at a place in my life anymore where I am willing to risk it all for an elongated strut, those days are dead and gone. Though I still will be quick to throw some on for a date night, these Santorini streets are not for weak ankles and the way mine or set up, it was a no for me dawg! I opted for a dresser sandals and also a sandal with some heel. Hell is hot and so is Santorini so I’d stay away from anything super clingy because as someone who does not perspire very much, I had sweat rolling down my back. You’ve been warned.

I love this guy!!

Shorts linked here, top here

One of the big draws to Santorini is the sunset dinners so if you are partial to this kind of thing then make sure you plan accordingly. Tj is not the biggest fan of reservations and apparently it’s because I am a stickler for sticking to the plan once we’ve made them. BUT, making reservations here is not a bad idea. We didn’t most nights and actually still got a good look at the sunset for dinner but of course, this is rolling the dice. I feel like we should have done a little more research on food in Santorini so I am not a huge help here but it just takes a quick google search to find the ones most recommended.

We ate our fill in gyros and Greek gelato. OMG!!! I can still taste it!

Because Santorini is such a chill spot, I will say that splurging on our hotel room was the right move. We absolutely loved chilling on our balcony and soaking it all in. We did actually get in our pool one night which we hardly ever do or have the time for.

Excursions

During our 4 days in Santorini, we decided on just two excursions. One of them was a 5 hour tour with a private tour guide. The tour was recommended through our hotel and the price was 350 euros for the both of us, this price included two winery tastings. Our tour guide was freaking awesome. He was incredibly knowledgeable about the island and took so many pictures of us! The tour and experience was well worth the money to us.

Let me touch on the drone disappointment real quick. Y’all I was SO SAD!!! I thought I was going to come out of Santorini with all this awesome drone footage of the coast. Yeah, naw!! The signs for “no drones allowed” were pretty heavy on the island around the hotels and we learned from our tour guide that you needed special permission from the government to even use one. You have to be a professional and even then it can be hard to get. I could have tried that but the minute I got that drone up in the air with all the jerking motions I make as a rookie, they would have spotted me from a mile away. I mean honestly, I could have tried it in that area anyway and took the chance but then I’d chance not being able to write this from a Greek jail. JK, but I’m seriously too scary to chance getting locked up abroad. So the above picture is what I could get!

The second excursion we did was a catamaran boat around the island. The company was Caldera Yachting and the experience was amazing. We saw all the most popular beaches, swam next to the active volcano (ok, you know I didn’t personally do that) and had the yummiest lunch made by one of the boat’s captains. These guys personally chartered boats for Justin Bieber, J. Lo and many others if you care about that sort of thing. The boat ride was about 2.5 hours long and the perfect amount of time.

We made our way to Fira one night and definitely realized that it was the part of the island where the action was! After we ate dinner at Kokkalo Fagopoteion, we headed to of couple places to check out the atmosphere and grab a drink. I’d say the coolest spot we went to was Koo Club. The place was completely outside and just had a really cool vibe.

Instagrammable Shots

So, the possibilities are ENDLESS!!! Lurking around every corner of this place is a spot to take a picture! The alley ways are gorgeous, the views are something from a magazine and of course, there’s the blue dome churches…

I think the key to getting the perfect shot here is the lighting. There is so much white that I think it can be really harsh. I really didn’t have to edit much in these shots. I made sure not to over expose so that I could bring out as much highlight and color in post production that I wanted to. The golden hour here is sick but of course it depends on which direction you’re facing. Because I am still fairly new to using my DSLR, I have to play nice with the sun to get the results I want. I told Tj to just snap away as I moved up and down the stairs. I came out with hella options and thankfully it only took about 3 minutes to get all these, with directing my photographer and all! I wanted to make sure to be aware of the people waiting behind us.

Dress link here, hat linked here

These are the shots I wanted most of all but if you are there to snap it up in every possible spot, do your thang!!! My husband did amazing at taking these for me but I know his limits and I wasn’t going to turn this whole trip into a fashion shoot, though I totally wanted to! Now I will tell you some of these spots will require some patience. This shot of me at the domes was no wait because we went while most people were eating dinner but other times we could see from our hotel balcony that there was a line of people waiting. None of these places are really marked so look down every alley you walk past and if there is a line, you probably found the pot of gold. Some spots are more popular than others but this place can turn out magic any place you snap!

For our last night in Santorini we switched to Oia Castle, the sister hotel of Aspaki Exclusive where we spent the other nights. Oia Castle is situated at the end of the old or “traditional” side of Oia where the sunset views are completely unobstructed. We were able to see the most beautiful sunset right from our rooms terrace. The room came with the largest cave pool the hotel had to offer, swim worthy. The style of the rooms are definitely more traditional cave style and gave a very different feel than Aspaki. I will say I am glad we did it this way because the views the Aspaki gave were more of what we wanted for our stay. Oia Castle was cool but we are glad we just spent the one night there.

I could probably go on and on and on about Santorini so I’ll just add a few more pictures here and say that if I forgot anything look up Santorini Dave! The dude is the TRUTH! He gives you everything you need to know, not only about Santorini but Greece in general.

See you in Mykonons!!

Leah <3