Sapphire on the Aegean – A Review of the Greek Isle of Santorini June 25, 2012 – Posted in: Uncategorized

 

Sapphire on the Aegean – A Review of the Greek Isle of Santorini

When you hear the words, “Greek Isle”, what comes to mind? Is it whitewashed villages high atop cliffs and sapphire domes? Guess what? It’s all true.  Sailing into Santorini was nothing short of majestic.  The island jutted out of the Aegean Sea as if it was the backdrop of a movie dream set. From a distance, the dotted white villages of Fira and Oia (pronounced “ee-ya”) were perched atop the cliffs of Santorini like clusters of white pearls. It was everything that every postcard and painting had ever depicted! Rumored to be the lost city of Atlantis, it’s easy to see why such mystery and magic surrounds this world renowned island.

 

 

Similar to what can happen in various ports due to the infrastructure of a port or overall maritime traffic, we had to tender. Tendering is when the ship anchors away from the island and arranges boats for passengers to be picked up from the ship and delivered to the actual port. The downside was that we were in line for the cable car for over an hour to reach the town of Fira at the top.

Note: This happened to be a much scarier cable car ride in my opinion than the one up Table Mountain in South Africa. I’d like to thank the sweet Irish woman who practically bear-hugged me the whole way up 🙂

We reached the top {and I nearly kissed the ground}. We walked about 15 minutes to the bus station that would head to Oia. This happens to be the town where the most internationally recognized photos are taken {see: whitewashed village + sapphire domes above}. Thank God for an actual seat on the local bus! The route from Fira to Oia was carved out by an extremely narrow and windy {at times blind corner road} coupled with views of the hills that plummeted down to the coastline.  It was as if a giant swirling necklace had been draped around the island and was serving as its highway. The switches, twist and turns made it both a stunning and exhilarating ride to say the least.

 

{Red-i tip} a cruise will always offer to sell you a transfer into Oia which can be in the $100+ range per person. If you’d like to go to Oia; I highly recommend taking the bus which is mostly used by fellow travelers that will set you back around $3 r/t.

 

We leisurely walked around the village, took in the breathtaking views and snapped about a billion photos {yes, including some with barefoot sandal-laden feet :-}. Next on our agenda was to simply choose a cafe with a gazillion dollar view.  That didn’t take long and we were soon seated in what we felt was the best view on the island. We ate hummus {obviously} sipped wine and beer and plotted our new “Summer Home.” We chose which apartment that we decided we’d love to live in for a week {or forever}.

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately the hour that we needed to catch a bus back to Fira approached way too quickly. We jumped back on a bus full of Santorini sunshine and realized it was our turn to experience the island in a different way. That’s right…no seats! Remember those narrow, windy, blind turn roads? Add in a standing room only component and needless to say, it was a memorable ride. You think you’ve had a calf workout until you’ve stood and held on for dear life while a bus swirls around a Greek mountain road!

 

Note: Prepare for a person to walk down the {standing room only} aisle to collect bus fare. This person in our experience happened to be a man who didn’t seem to love people and mumbled something about Socrates.

 

After returning back to Fira with a little time to spare, we strolled up and down the cobblestone hills as the golden sun melted into the sea. We took the cable car back down to our tender boat and said goodbye to a piece of heaven.

Talk about handcrafted jewelry inspiration! Santorini, I feel quite confident that we will meet again!

Have you dreamed of going to Santorini or have you already been? Leave a comment and tell us about it!
A fabulous golden bride wearing Red-I by Chelsea barefoot sandals at Le Reve Hotel & Spa for her trash the dress session…on a board no less! “Have Jewelry, Will Travel” – Tulum-style!