Santorini is one of the significant islands off of Greece with tons of tourists. It has an airport and the transportation is really very good but very packed. If you come during the summer season you have a lot of competition for space but I found a number of places that were not so crowded in the main city of Fira. I stayed in the Villa Roussa Hotel Which was actually pretty nice and the people were there were extremely interested in making sure everything was in good shape and working properly. It is not an expensive hotel to stay in And it’s right next to the bus station which is the center for 20 to 30 minute interval travels to the different parts of Santorini. I found a few restaurants that were serving good food at reasonable prices. This place is very expensive Considering the economic Situation Greece is in. They are charging more in most restaurants than in large tourist cities in Italy. I was planning on island hopping to Turkey before my 90 days in the Schengen area We’re finished but the other islands Had the cheapest hotels priced at more than $200 per night and that was for a budget Hotel. I don’t find that attractive at all so I decided to fly out to Istanbul and come back to these islands when it’s not the tourist season which people tell me is around March and April and again in September and October. Between October and March people on Santini have told me they shut down for Lack Of business. If you want a good taste of the Aegean sea Beaches, the nice little islands around and the beautiful white buildings with some blue domes which are so often pictured as typical buildings on these islands, Santorini is a good place to get a taste of all of that. But even during tourist seasons you can find accommodations which are reasonable.
Fira
This is the area where everybody comes in the evening to watch the sunset on the west side of Fira most of the city is terraced down to walkways with shops and restaurants so it’s easy to get slightly disoriented but eventually if you go back towards the main streets you’ll find your way back no matter how far north you go on this terraced areaThe steps will eventually take you down to the old harbor just one of the stones on the walkway which I thought was very beautiful Very often in Europe you find “Asian food restaurants“ which give you their own ideas of food based upon some basic Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai and other food. But in increasingly I see these Indian and Thai restaurants. I’m sure they are set up by Indians since Thai people are not interested in making Indian food.The cruise ship was all lit up You can see how intricately the terracing is doneThe West, sunset side of FiraI left Asti weeks ago but here they are with a nice wine from thatWhile sitting at my often frequent breakfast restaurant, the magma city Café, this fellow walks by and what I thought were his pajamasWalking up toward the sunset west side by the Orthodox Church And you see people are gathered to take photos of the sunsetYou can walk on the windy pathways up to the top of this little city You can see many boats in the harbor sitting out there to watch the sunset.
I want to add here I met a very nice lady on Crete telling me I can go to Santorini for two nights, watch the sunset and then leave for another island indicating that’s all that was interesting on Santorini. Actually I found the island a kind of interesting although overly touristy Fira There are places and beaches to go which are very quiet and relaxing like the place I stayed for four nights in Kamari.
The cruise ship in daytime You can see the number 572 on this step. There are about 600 steps to go down to the old harbor, or you can take the cable car downHere you can see some of the winding steps going down and the southern part of FiraThis looks like something man-made. I didn’t check to see what it wasMetropolitan Church of the Presentation of the LordPeople are painting their houses to show different colors to interest visitors China Famous Foods 溢香居. The one Chinese restaurant had adequate food at reasonable price prices. There are so many gelato shops with products that are double or triple the price of what I found in the smaller cities in Italy. But this is a tourist Mecca. This was a mocha with coconutOne of the smaller islands nearby The light here at this time was obviously plannedAnd you can see where the light is coming from I find the orthodox churches to have more two dimensional style artwork than the Roman Catholic medieval art Not everything is buildings on the island. There is some open space
Peressia
There doesn’t seem to be much at this village except some places on the beach. I didn’t find it interesting at all But this sign is very clever The squid was very tasty but also very expensive
Kamari
On my way to Kamari. You can see how crowded the bus gets during the tourist seasonThe beach is not Sandy, it is pebbly. You need to find a place that doesn’t have too many large pebbles which are difficult to walk on but this is a big area with very nice swimming so I stayed here for four nightsAnd of course I had to have one of these. Occasionally this is necessary food for me
