@letters_to_cleo: sis, tapos na! Here's my trip report:
We flew from Athens to Santorini. Flight is just 40 minutes (Oha, parang Caticlan lang). Take-off, tapos landing na. I got my RT flight via Aegean Air for EUR 130, kaya pwedeng pwede na. Alternatively, you can take the ferry which is 8 hours from Athens. We took a cab going to our resort hostel which cost us 15 EUR for both of us. Weird, we shared a cab with 2 other pax pero fixed yung charge rate. Parang nakisabit lang kami.
Accommodation: Caveland. I sooooo loooove this place. So glad a friend who stayed here recommended this place. This is a previous wine storage turned into a lovely resort, with a pool! This is not located in Fira town itself, but in one bus stop away, in the quiet and quaint town of Karterados. Cost: EUR 21/night inclusive of breakfast (muesli, coffee, toast, jams, milk). Supposedly, Fira is a 25-minute walk away but it takes us 35-40 minutes, probably because of our shorter legs (?). The location is both a blessing and curse. The walk going outside the village is uphill (around 10-15 minutes). But because it is located away from Fira, it is filled with lots of family owned restaurants.
Food/Restaurants: Our hostel recommended in a nearby restaurant called Savvas. Cheap enough and the food is delish! Pwedeng magwala sa pag-order! Meron din charge for the bread that they give you - although we got that waived sometimes. tee hee!.
Local food to try: Favas (mashed local beans), Stuffed vine leaves and lamb. Try their wine too! Super cheap and sarap! Ang hirap lang kasi mag-uwi ng wine kaya I wasn't able to bring home any.
Itinerary:Day 1 - arrival from Athens. Rest a bit after checking-in. Oia to Fira trek. The most common route is Fira to Oia, but Caveland suggested we do the walk the other way - para mas maraming downhill paths, according to them. So we did, and it was one heck of a GREAT advice! Bring water and wear shoes with good traction. Some paths have slippery gravel in them. Also, empty your bladder before the trek as you will pass NO restrooms. Took us 3.5 hours of moderate walking and picture taking to complete this.
Day 2 - attended the Yoga class offered in Caveland. Veronica (caveland owner) was not a super yoga expert, but attending the class was invigorating since I haven't stretched in more than a week at that point, it was good to really stretch (walking is just cardio). We then explored Fira a bit, then rode the bus to Perissa. We were supposed to do 3 different beaches but we just settled on the best one recommended. Veronica had been in the Philippines so she honestly said Perissa is not Boracay. We rode the bus from Fira going to Perissa - 30 minutes. Yeap, the beach was like... Batangas. And the water was like melted ice. I have no idea how the people there can withhstand the cool water! The swimsuits we had on were just for photo ops then. Spent an hour there then rode the bus back to Fira.
Day 3 - had mass at the Catholic Cathedral. Although Santorini have lots of churches, these are Greek Orthodox churches. I believe isa lang yung Catholic Cathedral. The mass is just partially translated. The priest was beaming after the mass, kasi andami daw tao. hehe! We had brunch, then proceeded to Oia. We weren't able to explore the town a lot during the first day so we took our time here. This is a PRICEY town. The food prices are 3-4 euros more expensive than Fira (therefore 5-7 euros more expensive from Karterados where we are staying). Sabi nga sa Caveland: "You go to Oia, take pictures only. Don't buy anything there! It is expensive!)". Oo nga, tama sila. In the afternoon, we swam sa pool. The water was pretty warm naman.
We tried clubbing around Fira at night. First time ko ha! Okay naman. Just didn't like that my hair and clothes smelled like smoke after. Not really bent on repeating that again here in PH or anywhere.
Day 4 - we had the evening flight back to Athens so we just spent the day eating and shopping for souvenirs. We asked Coska (from Caveland) to arrange taxi for our 20:25 flight and he suggested we leave the resort at 19:45. Seriously?!?!?! Sabi nya, "there's nothing to do there anyway. And the plane will leave and it will get where you where you want to be." I insisted on 19:00 (naku, less than 2 hours yun). Turns out, he was right, if we left at 19:45, the lines would be gone, we can still drop-off our luggage, and we didn't have to wait long in the small airport. Hahahaha! Shows how much our worries can somehow waste our time (and stress us). Santorini doesn't worry a lot.
I super love Santorini! Laid back ang mga tao. The city lives in slow motion. The motto: Don't worry, everything will be fine. Chillax lang. Three full days is just "sakto". I suggest an extra day just to chill out and so that you won't be hurrying around doing things. Because the locals don't know how to "hurry" at all.
I would love to go back to Santorini, and to Greece, and explore the other islands someday.
