It takes about 2 hours to fly from Rome to Santorini. But it is feels like a world away. Especially in late October. The main towns on Santorini are Fira and Oia. To save a couple of drachma, we were staying in a hotel called Absolute Bliss in the town of Imerovigli (https://imerovigli-hotels.com). It’s a pretty basic hotel, but our room – the Honeymoon Suite – had an awesome balcony overlooking the water with an outdoor jacuzzi. Perfect for watching one of the most incredible sunsets you could ever see.
This trip to the Greek Islands was a bit of a throw in. We knew that we’d be leaving Europe soon – for a swing through Asia – and we hadn’t yet been to Greece, so we made a hasty plan to get there. We didn’t realize however, that the tourist season in the islands ends in October and we were just catching the very tail end of it in Santorini.
Regardless, it was really beautiful. From Imerovigli its about a 30-45 minute walk to Fira. It’s actually pretty nice in October. Not crowded and perfect weather. We could see how it could be pretty sweaty and packed in the “on-season”. A lot of restaurants had already closed for the year, but we found a place called Rastoni (http://rastonisantorini.com/en/) which had excellent fish, pretty good wine and an amazing view.
Walking through Fira, I also spotted a hotel that I stayed in 31 years ago, after graduating law school, with great friends Dan Hatch and Gary Horwitz. I don’t know how we afforded the Hotel Kavalari (http://www.kavalarihotel-santorini.com). It must have been much cheaper in 1987.
We also took a taxi over to Oia – which has become the swanky part of the island. I can definitely understand why the hotels here are in the $600 and up range. This is a beautiful little village perched on the top of the cliff. Lot’s of high end everything – especially if you are looking for jewelry stores.
Best part of our time in Santorini was a day cruise on a catamaran that we booked at a local tourist experience store (santoriniyachtingclub.com). Departed out of Oia – along with about 7 other mellow guests. Great crew and a pretty nice cat – probably about 50 feet. First stop was the Volcanic Hot Springs on the adjacent island of New Kameni. Maybe these are hotter in summer, but pretty lukewarm in October. If you do go, wear an old bathing suit because the dirt is really red. Also know that this is a pretty touristed site, so boats with lots of tourists are constantly coming in. The rest of the trip was a cruise around Santorini to see the “white beach” and the “red beach”. Also an awesome lunch. It’s always great to be on a boat in a beautiful place.
After three days, we hopped the Sea-Jets high-speed ferry to Mykonos. It takes about two hours and costs about 80 euro per person. After we were dropped off our taxi driver said, “watch, your boat is going to do a pirouette it in the harbor”. We asked, “why”? And he said, “because this is its last trip until next season”. Hmmm. We were not aware that the season in Mykonos actually ends several weeks before the end in Santorini.
Basically, this island was closed. The taxi took us to our hotel, the Cova Mykonos Suites (https://www.covamykonos.com) just above Elia Beach, which upgraded us to a “suite” (not really a suite). It had a wonderful deck, which overlooked the pool and beach, but it was quite cold and very windy – and we were the only people there. Luckily, we were able to rent a car so we could explore the deserted island just a bit.
Most restaurants were closed, but we did find a couple open in the village of Ano Mera. The best was called Taverna To steki tou Proedrou and was in the Ano Mera Square. Actually pretty good and was kind of like a home-cooked meal. We did make it over to the main town of Chora. Looked like it could be really fun in summer, but we saw it almost completely shuttered.
After a couple totally non-eventful days in Mykonos, we were thrilled to get to the airport for a change of pace. Next stop, Dubai!