JedFonner.com

After a quick ferry from Naxos, we arrived at Santorni and were greeted by its amazing geography. What a change a 2 hour ferry makes - Santorini is high, mountainous and extremely active. What really defines Santorini are its wonderful views - a gift from the ancient volcano which exploded 3,600 years ago. All of the cities are perched on the rim of the caldera left behind by the volcano. As an example, our trip up from the ferry dock involved over half-a-dozen switchbacks to get to the top.

We spent our days enjoying our pool and exploring Oia, doing some shopping, eating, and of course catching some of Oia’s picturesque sunset views. We also rented a Smart Car for a day and drove around to some of Santorini’s beaches. Unlike Naxos’ soft, white sandy beaches, the beaches on Santorini are almost all volcanic in nature - which makes them very interesting but overall I prefer white sand. Aside from the wonderful views and crazy beaches, the highlight of our trip was probably our visit to the Santorini Mou tavern where we ate wonderful food, were serenaded by the owner, and generally had a great time. They added our picture to their big book so we’ll have to go back in 10 or 20 years and find our young selves.

To download the full resolution versions, check out my Santorini Gallery page.

We stayed at the wonderful Volcano Villas hotel right outside Oia on the north side of the caldera. They gave us a great room with a deck and wonderful view of the caldera and their lovely pool. If you don’t mind being a little outside Oia (about a 10-15 min walk from town), Volcano Villas is a great place to stay.