My Favorite Locations –Santorini

Looking out over the steep cliffs during a peaceful evening on the Agean Sea and enjoying pefect Greek cuisine is difficult to beat. The island’s small towns dot the cliff faces with their white walls and spotted with blue domes make Santorini an icon of Mediterranean travel. The quiet and relaxed environment with few cars and donkeys trekking along the various routes make for a rustic feel that still isn’t far from the modern comforts we enjoy in our travels.

Santorini is one of the famous places to travel to that live up to expectations and then somehow manage to go beyond them. I had been looking forward to this place my entire trip from Athens to the many other islands in the Aegean that the cruise ship stopped at this was the one that I was most excited for, and it is easy to see why with it looking so surreal in images online!

The island’s iconic shape and cliffs was created when the volcano erupted thousands of years ago. The volcano has since gone dormant and the only thing that remains of it is a pile of black rock in the center of the island’s natural bay. The cliffs surround it going up hundred of feet with the only ways up for most people being donkey, cable car, and feet. I chose the only option which was free, being my feet. It was a workout for sure using the same trail that the donkeys use, but I was in good enough shape to be much faster climbing up than the donkeys were! 

After getting a workout in, I went around the island looking at the various sights which there are plenty of and you could easily spend a full week traveling around the island and enjoying days around the cliffs, towns, volcano, etc… The food was next on priorities and this is another thing that was shinning on the island. We were able to get different kinds of foods from pizza to octopus and anything in between and for the group I was in, everyone enjoyed it thoroughly.

The last thing I would talk about that I enjoyed a lot is probably the best thing to do on Santorini. Enjoying the sunsets and evenings is the number one thing to do here because they cannot be beat! The sun will start to dip and the colors will start to pop with the yellows and orange in the sky to the deep reds in the cliffs. The blues in the ocean and white walls and blue domes in the towns the sunset will mix them all together for a fantastic show. Don’t leave when the sun does though because it gets better! The blue hues will begin to show up everywhere with deep navy blue water to the sky being darkened slowly. The colors will fill in around the rest of the island making everything go from light blue to darker and every shade in between. The sight is truly a unique one that sums up Santorini a true gem and must see for anyone traveling around Europe’s best locations.