Day 4 Part 2 in Santorini: Since this was our last full day in Santorini, we wanted to make sure our last dinner was spot-on. We found a restaurant on Trip Advisor called, Metaxi Mas, which was rated #1 out of 162 restaurants in Fira. We asked the amazing worker at our hotel what she had thought of it and she admitted she had been there numerous times and that it was very, very good. She reserved a spot for us at 9:30 and scheduled a taxi pickup as well. After getting ready, we hopped in the cab and 15 minutes later, we had arrived. The restaurant is not in a touristy area, and it doesn’t have an amazing view of the water. However, it does have a great view of the country side and the city from afar. The atmosphere is very cozy feeling. We weren’t able to get a spot outdoors, but the setting inside was nice. The first thing our servers brought were a small bottle of a white tequila, a spread of olives, cheese, and bread bites. For starters, we had the broccoli soufflé which took about 20 minutes to bake, but well worth it! For our meals, Holly had the beef fillet in Vinsanto sauce with mushrooms and basmati rice. I had the veal with green peppercorns and Portobello mushroom. It was all so delicious. We were so full and couldn’t quite finish so at one point, the server came over and asked if the meat was cooked properly since he noticed I hadn’t lifted my fork in some time. I kindly said everything was perfect but my body size doesn’t allow for portions this large. Needless to say, we were still able to squeeze the complimentary cheesecake (Holly said it tasted just like her mom’s) into our stomachs after the meal… as well as the shots of dessert liquor they poured for us. After that, were were ready for bed ASAP.

Day 4 Part 1 in Santorini: We were exhausted from the day before so we took the day to relax a bit. We hung out by the pool for morning, then walked around Fira for lunch and to do some exploring at the different shops. Our friend, Andrea Gourgaris, sent us an email of places to go and things to see. One of the places she recommended was Lucky’s Souvlaki for the best gyros in Greece! Luckily for us, it was right down the street from us, so we went there for lunch. I had the falafel wrap and Holly had the chicken pita wrap. Both were amazing. Funny how at the start of our trip, Holly was hesitant to even try a gyro wrap and by the end, she was inhaling entire ones to herself. After lunch, we strolled around town, then head back to the hotel to hang out by the pool.

Day 3 Part 2 – After lunch, we had a couple hours before finding a spot to watch the sunset. We drove to find a gas station to refuel just to be sure we didn’t run out of petrol for the drive home. We parked the car, then took some more photos, checked out the shops in the area, and grabbed a couple Fredo Cappuccino’s (Espresso Iced Coffee’s – Thanks Kel for the recommendation) for the walk to watch the sunset. We found a nice restaurant called Ochre with an amazing view for dinner. Usually with such an amazing view, the food is subpar. However, the food was just as good as the view. Holly had the vegetarian spaghetti and I had the rooster with cream sauce and pasta. We enjoyed dinner as we watched the sunset, then took some photos of the unique buildings this place is known for.

Day 3 Part 1 in Santorini: Holly and I rented a car to explore the island. The car was a Nissan Micra, which is basically a miniature version of a Nissan Versa in North America. The beauty doesn’t have much juice but it was quite nimble and easy to manoeuvre. It felt great to be behind the wheel again. Holly even brought along an aux cable so she could pump her Luke Bryan for the whole island to hear. We drove down to the “Red Beach” which is along a rocky cliffside and a small hike from the parking area. The sand is dark red in colour from the type of rock in the area. Holly sunbathed, while I read for about an hour, then we hopped on a boat to see the “White Beach” which was too rocky and rough for us to justify visiting, so we got off on the next stop, “Black Beach” where we relaxed again for about an hour. The beach was a lot less busy than the other beaches on our trip. We took the boat back to the Red Beach where we left our car and continued our drive. The drive to Oia was breathtaking as you drive along the coast overlooking the sea. When we got to Oia, we ended up at the bottom a hill looking for a place to park and on the way back up, we noticed two exhausted girls walking up and we offered to take them back to the top. They hopped in and were very thankful for the ride. At that point, we were ready for lunch, so we opened up our Trip Advisor app and found a place right nearby called Skiza Cafe. The cafe has a rooftop eating area with an amazing view. Holly had the chicken, dill, carrot and leak pie and I had the mushroom, cheese, bacon and ham pie. I also tried a local craft beer called Red Donkey.

Santorini Day 2 Part 2: After the hot springs, we arrived along a small island where we anchored in the water and had dinner on the boat. Dinner featured greek salad, rice, lemon roasted potatoes, pork, chicken, watermelon and wine. Everything was delicious! After dinner, we sailed to watch the sunset. We were able to follow the sun almost until it hit the water, as there just happened to be a set of clouds to hide it out of sight. The captain said for the past 70 days, there has never been a cloud in the way except for today. Oh well, we still managed to experience a breathtaking view that looked straight out of a magazine. I can’t even put into words how incredible the sights were as you looked around. There were no other boats nearby, and we were gazing into nothing but water and the sun (and a bit of clouds) with Santorini at our side. On the way back, the boat turned into a dance party with a super fun group of people from all over of the world. The CD mix played 80s and 90s dance songs and everyone was dancing and singing aboard. It was so much fun. By the time we docked and returned to our hotel, it was time for bed.

Day 2 Part 1 in Santorini: After breakfast at our hotel, we asked the hotel staff for things we should do during our stay. Our friends, Chris & Christine from Mykonos had highly recommended the volcano island tour so we were already leaning towards doing that. The hotel staff also recommended the tour which starts at 2pm and takes you on a boat to see the volcano island, the hot springs, dinner on the boat, and to see the sunset along the northern point of Santorini. Hundreds of people gather to this area to watch the sunset. You need to be there 2 hours before just to find a spot to view. Before the tour started, Holly and I quickly zipped into town to grab lunch (Gyros and Greek Salad) and returned to pack our stuff. The bus for the tour picked us up from the hotel, and we joined a few other groups from other areas. The boat had amazing character, with all wood panelling and sails. We departed out into the sea and shortly after, we docked at the volcano island. The island is completely uninhabited and it’s a steep climb to get to the top. Luckily it was a breezy day and we brought water, otherwise it would have been unbearably hot. The views are stunning, with massive rocks and boulders in various shapes. We spent about an hour there, then made our way to the hot springs. From the boat, we swam to the springs which is located along a cove on a small island. The water was brown in colour, and the temperature was a tad warmer than the sea. The island is rocky and there were mountain goats peering down from the side of the cliffs. Too bad I couldn’t swim there with my camera to snap a pic!

Day 1 in Santorini: After checking into our hotel, we had a quick nap to recharge since we were out till the early morning. We then walked into the town of Fira. Our hotel is located right down the street and the town has many shops, restaurants cafe’s, supermarkets; you name it, the town has it. It’s also a tourist destination since many of the restaurants are cliff-side, overlooking the water. The place we were wanting to eat at was full so we found a place right beside with very good trip advisor reviews also. It was a very charming, low lighting setting with vines that covered the front so it was very private. We got there early enough to beat the rush of people that later came. To start, we had the deep fried feta with a sweet wine sauce over top. Holly had the spicy chicken with peppers on top of fresh bread. I had the pork meat cooked with mushrooms and peppers with potato and rice on the side. Everything was very good but we were so full! For the walk home, we, or should I say, Holly, was craving gelato, so we picked up a cone with coconut and black cherry. The sizes in Greece are double the size of Italy!

Day 4 Part 2 in Mykonos: On our walk to the bus stop, we walked by our new Austrian friends’ airbnb apartment and said “Hi” through the window. Philipp excitedly invited us in to show us something. We were expecting to see perhaps a large bottle of alcohol or tickets to a big DJ. Instead, it was a newly installed water heater for their bathroom. Yes, it was a brand new water heater that they were celebrating. Before we left their house, Philipp, Stephan, and Jacob said they were heading into town for drinks and insisted again for us to join them. They told us the spot where they were going which was along Little Venice and we said we might join them after dinner. We then continued our walk to the bus stop.

For dinner, we came across a fresh pasta shop near the bus stop. The pasta is made on the spot with your choice of 5 different toppings. Holly had a spicy carbanara and I had the bolognese. It was a nice change from all of the gyros and souvlaki we had been enjoying non stop. We then walked around town to visit all the little stores and cafe’s. We were also on the look out for a good crepe shop since Chris and Christine (our friends from Australia) highly recommended the nutella, strawberry and banana combo. Holly had never tried Nutella before and was very impressed! I think I had about 3 bites and Holly inhaled the rest. After the crepe’s we continued walking around through the narrow streets.

Since all of the buildings are white, the town starts to feel and look like a maze. Then, out of nowhere, our Austrian friends tapped us on the shoulder as were were walking and said “Hello.” The chances of them running into us in the middle of a busy town are slim so we were shocked when we saw them. They were on their way to grab drinks and insisted we join them for “just one.” I politely declined the offer, just wanting to head back and rest before our flight to Santorini the next day. However, Holly, being the social butterfly that she is, figured it would be harmless to have one drink.  The boys lead us to a small little pub style place in Little Venice; it was small (only 2 tables outside) but had the most amazing view.  We settled in for what we thought would be one drink and a nice visit with some new friends.  Well several tequila shots, vodka’s, Mythos and laughs later the three musketeers had convinced us to head to the club with them.  They were going to Paradise Cluba where Nervo was playing.  Brandon (yes this is Holly now) didn’t want to pay the 100 euro cover so he convinced me to pretend I was a fashion blogger from Canada and he was my photographer.  I had my doubts but was a few drinks deep and thought if it doesn’t work it would be a good laugh anyways.  Well sure enough we walk up to the VIP door guy and I confidently say, “Hi! I’m a fashion blooger from Canada!  I talked to Tina and she told me to come here. This is my photographer, Brandon and we are here for a story.  When he asked which blog i stumbled over my words and Brandon quickly recovered saying Pure Clothing… and pulled up my photos from the blog that I do in Regina.  I’m not sure if he actually believed us or just thought we were hilarious but it worked!! We were so stoked we celebrated with more shots.  The night got away on us as we ended up dancing until 6:30 am (which is the norm in Mykonos) I had no idea it was that late, or should I say early, until I noticed the stunning sunrise over the sea.  The six of us looked at the sunrise, then each other and agreed it was time to leave.  We caught a bus back to the town on Mykonos and prayed we would get a taxi back to our area of the island (there are less than 20 taxi’s on the whole island. )  Luck was with us since Stephan flagged one down and we scooped one right away. 

The next morning, we were hurting pretty bad and packing for our noon check out was painful. We managed to get everything together, then laid by the pool until our shuttle to the airport. Up until we got to Mykonos, we were debating taking a ferry or airplane to Santorini. The high speed ferry costs 59 euro per person and takes 3 hours to get there. Flying on the other hand, typically costs triple the price but gets you there in 25 minutes without the risk of sea sickness. Luckily, I was doing some googling around and found a local Greek airline, Sky Express, which operates domestic flights within Greece. They have flights from Mykonos to Santorini every Thursday and Sunday; for our dates, we were able to purchase tickets for 50 euro per person! The plane wasn’t very large but there were only about 10 people on board.  We got to the airport for our flight at 4:35, and by about 5:30, we were at our hotel in Santorini. Worth every penny!