Travel Gem #8: Santorini - A Fairy Tale Island on the hill

If you are looking for a romantic place to go for holiday, plan a trip to Santorini.   This is the most popular island when it comes to island hopping.  We have been there twice and never seem to have enough.  Take a look at the scenery and you will understand why.

Greece seems to be full of sunshine all year round.   

The sky is so clear without a cloud in sight.

And the color of the ocean gives a deep blue reflection that is really breathtaking.

 The town of Oia is at the tip of the island with winding streets lined with whitewashed homes nestling into the cliffs.   Doesn't this look like what you see in fairy tales.  In fact, a lot of people come here to hold their wedding parties.  

The landscape is awesome.  I would love to stay here for one year and write  my books.   There is no where like this in the world where you can sit for hours on these vertical cliffs overlooking the serene caldera. 

In Greek, Santorini is known as Thira or Thera.   Santorini is actually part of the Cycladic group of islands and the coastline surrounding the island stretches to 69 km.  This is what makes this island so unique and beautiful.  The capital of Santorini is Fira.

In ancient days, this island was subjected to volcanic eruptions.   It's volcanic activities had given shape to the island with its magnificent Caldera.  

Travel Hint:  When you ferry arrives Santorini,  be sure to get an accommodation up high in the villages on the island so that you can experience the breathtaking views of the entire island during your stay.  Do not stay low near the ocean at all.  When you get off the boat, a lot of hotel agents will offer you special prices, especially right by the ocean with cheap prices.   Go for the ones that are high up in the villages. They will give you a free ride up the winding path along the caldera hill to get to the top.  The ride takes about 30 minutes.

Another Travel Hint:  When it is time to for you to leave the island to take the ferry, make sure you give yourself 2 hours time so that you will not be late for the ferry.  The ride down winding down is usually congested with traffic.  And there is long traffic jam around the time of the ferry departure.  Allot yourself ample of time because we almost missed our ferry. The taxi driver dropped us off when there was still quite a ways to get to the ferry.  We ran to the pier and arrived there much faster than if we had stayed in the taxi to take us to the pier.

When you miss your ferry, there is no refund.  You just need to buy another one but usually it will be the next day and you are stuck down there by the pier for another night.

In my next post, I will give you more gems about Santorini,

Rosa

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