My 50th birthday treat to myself and my “carer” Joanne! Greece and Santorini in particular had long been a bucket list place for me and I’d never been before this trip. We weren’t quite sure what the weather would be like in mid/late October. I mean you can research what it’s usually like but that only gets you so far! So we shouldn’t have been too surprised when we arrived to clouds and rain. But over the course of the 4 nights and 5 days we got a fair enough mixture of sun and no sun and came back with a bit of colour.
First off I need to mention our crazy ride from the airport to our hotel in a pre booked, shared minibus! Santorini is a sunken volcanic island or caldera with pretty high cliffs with windy, narrow roads all around so it came as a bit of a surprise when our jovial driver started looking behind him while handing out beers to us two and a girl on her own! Nevertheless, being Irish we gratefully accepted and drank our fill! We were dropped off first which made me wonder if the girl ever safely made it to her destination?? Our hotel was lovely, typically Greek which is just what we wanted and about a 15min walk from Oia town. The hotel food, both breakfast and dinner was fab. We settled in and went for a night time walk through town. What an experience! I’ve never seen a town like it, perched high atop a mountain ridge with incredibly steeply built houses, hotels and restaurants all down it’s side to the sea. Most seemed to have a little pool/hot tub, lit up at night and we seen a few people sitting in them naked, no fucks given!
Day 2 and my actual birthday and I wanted to do something special so we done a fabulous (all lesbian crewed, the island of Lesbos was nearby!) catamaran sunset cruise which included being picked up by bus from the hotel and driven to the harbour, cruise around the island to some hot springs where we had a dip then moored up for a lovely dinner. We sailed back at sunset and watched the sun go down over the Aegean sea. one of the best guided trips I’ve ever been on. We went back to the hotel restaurant for some lovely deserts, a birthday candle and a celebratory Ouzo!
Day 3 and we got a bit of decent sun so after breakfast had a bit of a pool day then I climbed up a nearby hill to a little church and got some breathtaking views over the caldera and back over Oia town. In the evening we dragged ourselves away from the hotel restaurant and browsed through the very expensive Oia shops before settling in at Kastro restaurant to watch the sunset at the most famous viewing point on the island. Us and hundreds of others.
Our final day and we thought we should visit Fira, the capital of Santorini. We got a bus which took the best part of an hour, but no free beers this time! Fira is just like a bigger, busier version of Oia but not quite as nice, clean or quaint. It’s where all the big cruise ships come in but the sunset and views are equally stunning. We watched a spectacular sunset and cruisers as we wined and dined at Lithos restaurant.
All in all one of the trips of my lifetime.
