【Travel】Santorini .::Heaven on Earth::.

Santorini is definitely a place for lovers.

This classic Santorini view was taken from the doorstep of our cave house in Oia (pronounced “yee-ya”), home to the best sunset in the world.

• Click ||here|| to see my review on the Residence Suites.

This is the main church in Oia.The Greeks are quite religious and we saw a lot of churches in this small island. Most churches are built with white walls and a blue roof, which gave me a sense of purity and peace.

Tips:

• If you are facing the main church, the sunset viewing area would be in the direction to your left. Keep walking until you can see the windmill and the stone sunset serenade point.

Even the poles were white and blue.

Some of the other beautiful churches that we saw during our trip.

Speaking of the Greeks being religious, we were there during the Easter holidays and the town of Pyrgos got lit-up with candles on Good Friday! The candle-lit hill twinkled and blinked and we could see it clearly even from Fira. If you looked closely at this photo, you could even see crosses made of candle lights. It was such an amazing sight, and being the highest point in Santorini, I’m sure it means a lot to the locals on this special day.

 

The Aegean Sea & the Caldera

I absolutely adored the view of the Aegean Sea and the Caldera from the Oia village.

All of the shops and resorts/residences that we saw in Oia were decorated tastefully and artsy.

Oia street scene.

The sapphire Aegean Sea and the resorts/residences on the cliff. Can you spot the pool?

Apart from the stunning view of the Aegean Sea, the Caldera and the white & blue, I really loved Santorini for its chillax island lifestyle.

There are not a lot of ‘must-do’ or ‘must-see’ in Santorini, what Santorini is all about is to take some time off, take it slow, and just enjoy. When I was there, it’s as if none of the hustle-bustle back home mattered anymore, at that point in time, it was just myself and my loved one, sharing a jug of white wine and taking in all the magic of the Aegean.

The guardians of the island, cute little cats!

 

Red Beach

There are many different beaches in Santorini (black, white, red, even pink). However, due to the weather being too chilly in April, we didn’t plan any water activities. But we did make a trip to the Red Beach. Well, we didn’t see much of a “beach”, but we could totally understand why it’s got “red” in its name.

It was extremely windy on the day and boy the waves were scary.

The easiest way to get around in Santorini is by car. The smaller the car is, the better – because on a small island like this, some roads are inevitably narrow.

We didn’t book our car in advance, we just rocked up at Pagonis Tours in Oia, and the staff took care of it for us. The staff there were really friendly and helpful, especially Stephen (I think), who spoke perfect English and helped us with our car rental and Volcano tour booking. We actually stumbled upon Pagonis Tours by chance – we first tried the tourist information office (in front of the Eurobank ATMs and toilet near the carpark area), but the lady was cold and didn’t seem interested in helping us with our options, and the quote she gave us on the car rental was a lot more expensive. I wasn’t impressed so we walked out, luckily Pagonis Tours was just nearby and they got our business!

So Stephen called the guy from Vazeos car rental and asked for a quote (40€ per day for a Smart), and he even helped us to ask Vazeos if we could take the car for an extra morning to drive to the airport. In the end, we got 90€ for 3 days including all insurance.

• Click ||here|| to see my review on our Volcano tour.

{Pagonis Tours}
Website: http://www.pagonistours.gr/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PagonisToursOia/timeline
Address: Oia. On Google map, it's between the green building and the pizza place.

 

Our 30-sec video highlight in Santorini

<3 My love for Santorini is eternal！

 

Eating in Santorini

Here is a list of the local Santorini specialties & produce that you should try when you’re there:

• Fava (bean puree).
• Tomatokeftedes (fried tomato balls).
• Capers.
• Chlorotiri cheese.
• Kalamata (olive).
• White wine.
• Donkey beer.

 

Above: Santorini white wine, fava , Tomatokeftedes, fried cheese.

Blue Sky @ Oia

Blue Sky restaurant was just behind the main church in Oia. The resort guy that helped us with our luggage took us there. If you would like to have a decent sit-down meal with a reasonable price tag, you can consider coming here.

{Blue Sky}
Website: http://www.bluesky-restaurant.gr/

#Food Bar @ Fira

In Fira, there’s a souvlaki kiosk right on the main street called #Food Bar. We ordered the 2-person mixed grilled and we got 2 x pork skewers, 2 x chicken skewers, 2 x veal, 2 x sussages, 4 x small pitas and fries — all for 13€. Mike was so impressed and kept on saying “This is value. VALUE!”

 

Oia Sunset

One of the perks of staying in Residence Suite in Oia was that the sunset viewing area was just a 2min walk away. The sunset time was 7:52pm that day, and we went to the sunset serenade point just before 7pm to get a good spot. We got the first row seats!

It actually was cloudy and overcast in the late evening on both days that we were there, however, as the sunset time approached, the sky would just miraculously clear up! It did that two evenings in a row, and it was as if the gods of Oia knew that it was what everyone came here to see so it worked its magic to put on a good show.

With the Santorini styled houses and windmill backdrop and the Aegean Sea, it was undeniably the best sunset in the world.

The sunset viewing area was quite packed, even in low season (April) while we were there. Of course, where there’s people, there would be chatters and camera shuttle sounds. However, rather than abandoning this best spot in town altogether, I suggest bringing a pair of noise cancelling earphones and plug it to some romantic tunes.

So dreamy.

Happy snap!

HER{curio}MAJESTY – I was here. April 2014.