November 8, 2023

Greek Island time

Chiara Di EUROPE, TRAVEL Greek Islands, Island Life, Milos, Santorini, Sunset, Travel, Wanderlust 0 Comments

After our red eye flight to Greece, Abby and I arrived into Milos via Athens for a bit of island time to end my European wander.

Our itinerary was full of many more beautiful sunsets, delicious gyros, moussaka and Greek salad, boating adventures, caves and browsing the local boutiques.

The flight from Athens was on a smaller plane and only took 30 minutes to arrive in to the small country-like airport. I have taken the ferries from Athens before but wanted to bypass a stay in Athens this time and would do it by plane again.

It was my first time to Milos and I was so happy I was able to squeeze it into my itinerary. It was a much smaller and less busy island compared to Santorini which was a nice contrast, even though a lot of locals mentioned they have been overrun with Australians this year. We stayed in Trypiti at the beautiful Eiriana Luxury Suites in a Junior Suite which came with its own outdoor jacuzzi. Trypiti was a nice, quiet spot to stay only 15-minute walk to the capital Plaka, renowned for its sunsets.

The team at Eiriana absolutely spoilt us. From the moment we had an early check-in in our room, we were treated with many personalised touches. The rooms were well-equipped and came with pool shoes (on top of slippers) and our own amenity kit bags jam-packed with any toiletry we could possibly need. We went to relax by the pool and one of the staff members brought us some cold waters and surprise ice creams. Another night we had surprise hedgehog slice dessert waiting for us in our room. They definitely go over and above here, everything is so well thought-through.

Breakfast was also served to us on our front porch each morning after ordering through the hotel app the night before. There was a good range and we really enjoyed the local scrambled eggs and Nutella pancakes.

It was then time for some Greek cuisine. We walked down the road to Glaronisia restaurant and ordered their gyros for lunch which was more of a deconstructed version rather than souvlaki style – we figured it must be the way it is served in restaurants. We also had a traditional Greek dinner at Archontoula enjoying our first moussaka, Greek salad, fried cheese and octopus dishes. The following night we shared a pork souvlaki at Vlahos, which was another deconstructed dish. We were very much looking forward to finding a street-side gyros at our next stop in Santorini.

We went to Utopia Café, a renowned bar to watch the famous Plaka sunset. When we arrived, the bar was at capacity with a fairly lengthy line. Lucky for us, we were only two people compared to the larger groups, so we managed to jump the queue and take two available bar stools. We enjoyed a spritz and the beautiful view, and it soon became apparent how much warmer Greece was to Portugal as I felt very hot and over-dressed. We were able to move to the front row of seats after another couple left and enjoyed a pretty spectacular sunset from there. Plaka also had some nice boutiques which we browsed but only purchased a fridge magnet – we struggled a little bit in Greece with our international currency cards not working on some eftpos machines so it’s good to have cash as back up.

Milos is known for it’s beautiful beaches which can be explored by car or boat. As we only had one full day on the island, we decided to book a full day small group sailing experience with Polco Sailing to explore some of the beaches and caves only accessible by boat. We made our way to Adamantas Harbour via the island bus from Trypiti which departs every hour and costs €2 per ride. It was quite interesting the bus driver charges you as you get off the bus rather than when you get on the bus.

I didn’t realise the waters around Milos were so rough and in hindsight we probably should have gone with a larger catamaran option instead. After our 10am departure, we sailed past Klima fishing village, Catacombs of Milos with resident donkeys before stopping at our first swimming bay, Kalogries Beach. It felt amazing jumping off the sailing boat into the Aegean Sea which was a much more pleasant temperature to Portugal. We were only supposed to be at this stop for 15 minutes but our boat broke down so we had to wait for the transmission to be fixed and got to enjoy swimming in the bay for a little longer. At this point, I honestly thought it was me who was the bad luck after my experiences in Sicily and Lisbon.

Two hours later, we were on our way to Kleftiko Beach to swim and explore the caves by dingy. Kleftiko was very beautiful. We loved cruising through the various caves and exploring the different light, colours and sounds of the sea. The journey back to port via St Dimitri Church was still a little rough though the motion wasn’t as bad as the beginning of the day. It was a great day despite the initial hiccup but I would opt for a larger boat next time or explore the beaches by road as the motion wasn’t fun.

We were well fed throughout the whole journey, starting with fruit and tsoureki bread cake (similar to panettone) with Nutella, followed by potato salad, chicken salad, tzatziki and bread. For lunch we had a Greek style Bolognese (makaronia me kima) and Greek salad – the serving sizes were very generous! We ended with a Greek yoghurt and berry sauce dessert whilst visiting St Dimitri Church on the way back to port.

We departed Milos by Seajets ferry for Santorini and what an experience Greek Island ferries are. I remembered why my preference is flying. We had to laugh as after an initial five-minute delay, when the ferry arrived the commentator yelled ‘hurry up, we are already late!’ Only in Greece haha. The fast ferry journey to Santorini took two hours. We had a private transfer on arrival from the ferry port to our accommodation at Oia Mare Villas. The driver had to drop us off at the Post Office where we were greeted by our hotel’s porter as the rest of the way was pedestrian only. So our porter pulled our luggage along approximately 100 stairs to the reception of our accommodation. He told us on the way back up he would need to carry them on his shoulder – tough gig!

We had booked the honeymoon cave villa to have a private hot tub but didn’t receive any special treatment here. It was all about the location at this property in an exclusive part of Oia, but also likely a Santorini thing in general. It was a beautiful property overlooking the caldera of Oia with a resort pool, and exclusive rooftop deck for hotel guests to enjoy the famous Oia sunset. I remember visiting Oia as a 22-year-old trying to find a gap amongst the crowds to witness the famous sunset and the experience at Oia Mare was so much nicer with a Aperol Spritz in hand from our hotel bar and only shared with another couple or two. In this section of Oia, there is also someone who guards the walkway entry point during the sunset period so this stops the area from being overrun with crowds. This sunset was something I had been waiting many years to experience again so it was very special and definitely a highlight of my trip.

Santorini really is a beautiful island. The picturesque white and blue buildings along the cliff edges and stunning backdrops were something I could admire for days. It is an Instagrammer’s heaven.

We settled into our time in Santorini by finally finding a pita wrapped gyros at Pitogyros! We enjoyed a spanakopita (spinach and feta pastry) another day. It also become apparent how hot it is in Oia town with very dry heat and no breeze making its way through the narrow streets so it wasn’t long before we were taking a dip in our villa pool, and did so quite frequently throughout our stay. I wouldn’t want to be staying in Santorini accommodation without a pool during the summer months.

I shopped up a bit of a storm in Santorini. There were a lot of nice boutiques, and being my last stop I thought why not spend the remainder of my holiday money. I bought dresses, jewellery, a small clutch and glitzy pink sandals. I was quite happy with my new Grecian inspired wardrobe.

We had some amazing dining experiences in Santorini, starting with Skala overlooking the caldera on our first night. We shared a Santorini salad (lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, croutons and bocconcini-like cheese), seafood linguine and another moussaka – just love how it melts in your mouth. We also received a free dessert and espresso from a rather friendly server. We visited Ammoudi Bay, down by the water below our villa, and enjoyed lunch at Sunset Taverna. We were warned it was a tough walk back up but we didn’t let it stop us, enjoying fried zucchini, Greek salad and grilled octopus – it was all deliciously fresh. It was a small bay with a few dining options and a beach area to one side. After a quick walk around, we treated ourselves to ice-cream before the walk back up the gruelling cobble stone stairs!

We went all out with dinner at Nobu Santorini, something we probably wouldn’t do outside of Australia again with the current exchange rate and preferring the Perth option. We shared miso codfish, crispy rice with spicy tuna, new style salmon sushi, teriyaki salmon skewers, yellowtail jalapeno and edamame. They did spoil me with a complimentary dessert for my belated birthday dinner celebrations, and the sunset was also very dreamy so it was worth it all in all.

We spent our last afternoon in Santorini on a sunset cruise with Sunset Oia Nepa. It’s quite a process with every guest’s hotel pick up and we were one of the first picked up at 1pm for a 3pm boat departure. While it was still a fairly small group of 20, the boat was much larger and the water less rough than Milos. We stopped at Red Beach for a swim, then cruised past White Beach which is only accessible by sea. The second stop was Mesa Pigadia where we enjoyed lunch and had the opportunity to snorkel, though there wasn’t much to see besides a few small fish. The lunch was quite substantial again – a choice of meat skewers, seafood, Greek salad, pasta, tzatziki, bread and more.

After lunch we passed black lava rocks (Black Mountain), an old volcano split in two by lava – you can scuba dive in the caves and grottos here on other tours. We stopped at the hot springs for 30 minutes to have a swim in the high sulphate water which is good for your skin. We had to rinse off once we got out of the water but I still managed to get an orange stain on my white dress so would recommend against wearing light coloured clothing if planning to swim in the hot springs. We cruised past the old port below Fira town, where cruise ships dock and you have the option to cable car or walk the 700 stairs up. We eventually arrived at Ammoudi Bay for another spectacular sunset moment and a bit of dancing on the boat.

The next morning Abby was up and out early so we said our goodbyes and it was then my turn to follow the porter back up the stairs with my suitcase on his shoulder. I really loved my time in the Greek Islands, just like the rest of my trip, and am grateful for all the amazing cultures, local experiences, eating, shopping and sunsets I enjoyed during my entire trip. It was the taste of Europe I needed to ignite the Europe bug again.

Until next time…

LWL xxx