After the long trip from California to Greece, you’d think my body would welcome every opportunity to sleep. No such luck.
On the second day, after only 4 hours of sleep, we woke up at 1 AM. The flight to Santorini wasn’t until 7 AM, but who needs to sleep until the alarm? We eventually got on a 4 AM bus to get to the airport, and we were off to the Greek island I’d been waiting for.
The sun was rising as the plane took off, and it was a beautiful 45 minute flight over the Aegean Sea.
Flight to Santorini
We had about 7 hours to kill before we could check into the hotel, so we headed to Kamari, which is a beach town on the southeast side of the island. I had planned to walk the 3 miles to the beach, but we ended up grabbing a random shared shuttle, agreeing on a transit price, and catching an easy ride to our destination. Much better idea.
We wandered into a deserted outdoor seating area, and I ordered my first Greek yogurt. It was heaven. I’d never thought to put honey in my yogurt, and wow, what a sweet treat! Add fruit, and it was more like a dessert than breakfast!
First Greek yogurt!
A stray cat tried to be friends with us, until the owner yelled as us for not shooing it away. Lol. I was on vacation, not stray cat patrol!
The (un)welcome guest
Santorini is not known for its beaches. None of them provide soft white sand, but they’re all very unique. Kamari Beach is a black pebble beach. It’s very uncomfortable to walk on, but it’s fine for laying on. Or, if you’re not cheap like me, you can rent lounge chairs with an umbrella for 5 euro.
Kamari Beach
Mesa vouno mountain looms over the west side of the beach, which is the second highest peak on the island (~1300 ft).
Terribly crooked photo with a wet action camera of the surrounding mountains
Kamari Beach
The water was a frigid (to me) 77°. I grew up competitively swimming, and most competition pools are kept near 82°. It’s a little chilly when you initially get in or stand still, but it’s comfortable when you’re woking hard and swimming fast. Anything below 80° to me is ice water. It doesn’t help that I’ve self diagnosed myself with raynaud’s syndrome (thanks, Web MD)! If “normal” people think it’s cold, I’ve likely already gone numb.
Anyway, this was a once in a lifetime trip, and I was going to force myself to get in the water! I had a cocktail to trick myself into feeling warmer, grabbed my snorkel, and headed toward the Arctic, ahem, I mean Aegean Sea.
This island had the most perfect beaches to snorkel from. The first few feet were a gradual slope, and then there was a sudden drop-off. You could easily be in 15 foot deep water, but only a few feet from shore. It was such easy access.
I slowly got in up to my waist and got used to the water. I really had no choice when I got to the drop-off … the ground disappeared and I had to plunge quickly. Wow, it literally took my breath away! After a few shivers, I tried to relax and enjoy the underwater scenery.
BOO! Scary.
The fish were fairly small, but beautiful. I got certified in scuba diving in high school, and I’ve always loved being in the ocean. It feels like I am an intruder in another world.
After a quick nap in the sun, we made our way to a bus stop and headed to Fira, the hub on the island. A mile walk uphill with our luggage brought us to our hotel: Villa Maria Damigou.
Oh my gosh, the view from room 6 is insane. There is an unobstructed view of the sea, caldera, and sunset from high on the cliff. Simply breathtaking.
- Firostefani, from Villa Maria Damigou
Villa Maria Damigou, room 6
A walk to Volkan on the Rocks for dinner completed the day…almost.
Walking to dinner, view of Fira
A famous Santorini sunset REALLY completes the day.
Ready to take on another Santorini day!
That was awesome, Lauren!! I didn’t know you were going. (Although I was gone for a bit) Looks & Sounds like quite the adventure!!
Gorgeous scenery! Thanks for sharing!! Can’t wait for more..!!
Love ya, Doug.
Thanks, Doug! Welcome back, I always love your social media interactions! You understand our news team’s sense of humor in the wee hours of the morning! I was cracking up yesterday with the George/Mark Anthony comparison. ☺
Thabks, Doug!
Lauren,
Great post!! Santorini is a dream vacay spot.. I love the pics, the rooftop view fro Villa Marie Damigou is spectacular. A glass of wine and sunset on the balcony had to be breathtaking.
The snorkeling looks amazing! but cold water, I’m with you, not a taker. I admire you for taking the plunge, after all it is vacation. What types of fish did you see? The Greeks are known for sponge diving, did you see any boats in the harbors drying sponge? it’s a really cool process. The Greek yogurt looks yum, but totally different from U.S.
Thanks for the blog post, I am on vacation, vicariously, through your adventure.
Best,
Erich
I’m not too sure about the fish! I did look up typical fishes of Santorini and found a site that identifies 20 or so species. I could only pick out the saddled seabream and ornate wrasse as ones that I saw, and maybe small damselfish. There were some boat cruises around, but I couldn’t see what they were doing. Thanks for following along, I’ll have another one up soon!
Enjoying your trip so far.
Thanks, Jan!
Enjoyed the pics and the associated commentary again as usual Lauren. 🙂 I was shocked to hear your lack of affinity for the even moderately temperature water. 😉 …didn’t I just see a post from you swimming in an alpine lake?…unlikely that was 80 degrees…not the ones I have swam in anyway. 🙂
Haha, you mean the alpine lake where I only stuck my feet in, and they immediately started burning from the cold and almost fell off? Hehe. Hopefully your backyard lake has been comfortable this summer!
Fantastically composed and narrated. .
😊 Thanks!