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Our Amazing Grecian Odyssey
Our Amazing Grecian Odyssey
My husband and I just returned from an amazing 16-night journey around Greece. This was my husband’s first trip to Greece, and my second trip. I first visited Greece in 1972 with a tour group. It was my first trip to Europe, and I was smitten! We spent a week in Athens and took several daytrips during that trip. This was the time when people could actually walk on the Parthenon! And the original caryatids were on the Erechtheion on the Acropolis. First, I want to thank the Fodorites who helped me plan such an amazing trip: Travelerjan, Heimdall, Geetika, KayF, Progol, Brotherleelove2004, Balthy, Crazyh, Debbielynn, and if I have left anyone out, please accept my apologies! We departed Boston on May 12, and we flew home from Athens on May 29. This was our itinerary: Santorini – 3 nights Naxos – 4 nights Nafplio – 5 nights Athens – 4 nights MAY 12, 2022 – DEPARTURE FROM BOSTON We flew from Boston to Santorini via Zurich on United/Swissair. The flights went very smoothly. No problems at all. We had about a 4-hour layover in Zurich. I remember when I was planning our trip some people suggested flying to Athens, and purchasing a separate domestic ticket from Athens to Santorini. Personally, this didn’t make sense to me, and I hope I am not offending anyone. For me, it would be too stressful doing this because if we were delayed leaving Boston and missed our flight to Santorini, we would be responsible for booking a new ticket. And we would have to pick up our luggage in Athens. By doing what we did, we did not see our luggage until we reached Santorini, and if we missed our flight from Zurich, the airline would be responsible for putting us on the next available flight. So this works for us. MAY 13, 2022 – ARRIVAL IN SANTORINI, AN EVENING WALK TO FIRA & DINNER We arrived in Santorini at 7PM. Because I knew we would be tired from jetlag, I had made arrangements in advance for our hotel’s driver to pick us up at the airport. It is so comforting to see someone holding a sign with your name on it!!! So off we were, to our hotel. Blue Dolphins Apartments Firostefani We really enjoyed this hotel, recommended by Travelerjan. We had a room with a balcony overlooking the caldera. I was concerned about the number of steps going down to the hotel from the road. There are about 40 steps from the road to the Reception Desk, and then 2 flights of stairs to our room. We stayed in room #7, the Mykonos Room. The staff are wonderful and very helpful, especially Nikki. For an extra 25 euros for 2 people, you can have a delicious, huge breakfast, which we did for 2 of the 3 mornings we were there. We loved staying in Firostefani!!! Fira and Oia are too busy and crowded for us, and Imerovigli is too quiet with very few restaurants. Nikki recommended the Argo Restaurant in Fira for dinner, and she made reservations for us for 9PM. This meant we walked from Firostefani to Fira as it was getting dark. The walk was a bit treacherous in places because there was some repair work on the walkway. We had to walk in dirt and over rocks, so a bit scary, especially for us old folks! Argo is in an awesome location with a great view. We sat on the upper deck. Our food was good but not great. I had 3 lamb kabobs with tzatziki sauce, cucumbers and tomatoes. It was satisfactory. My husband, Ed, had a seafood medley but he said the shrimp either was overcooked or not fresh. We knew we were not going to walk back to our hotel on that path, so the waitress told us how to get to the road, and from there we grabbed a taxi back to Blue Dolphins, and called it a night! |
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What a great view from your hotel room. Looking forward to reading more.
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Lovely photo of your view - very moody!
Those roads are not easy, especially at night! I’m glad you were able to get a taxi back - much saner! Looking forth to more. |
What a joy to wake up to that view! Looking forward to further installments of you TR, especially Naxos, would love to go there some day…
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I'm sure that the next day you found the flatter, easier narrow flagstone lane leading to Fira, just parallel to the main N-S Road. No one seems to talk about it, and it's hard to pinpoint on Google map -- just a faint line to the Left (on a map), toward the cliff. I always advise, on first arrival, go from Firostephani to Fira on the rimside path, so beautiful, and downhill all the way. but coming back, by day AND by night, find the flagstone path... it leads off from the porch of the big church just at the end of Fira's busy shop-packed lanes.
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Sunset from Blue Dolphins Apartments! https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...17d4fc07a.jpeg Evening view from our balcony! |
MAY 14, 2022 – THE ICONIC OIA – VIEWS AND MORE STUNNING VIEWS!
After waking up late, we decided to have breakfast out instead of at the hotel. We ate at To Briki in Firostefani. https://www.tobriki.com/breakfast/ I had their delicious mushroom and goat cheese omelet, and Ed had fried eggs with cured meat, tomatoes and gruyere. The food was delicious and the location is excellent overlooking the caldera. It would be a lovely place for lunch and dinner, too! We returned to our hotel to meet our driver who drove us to Oia. It’s about a 20 – 25 minute drive from Firostefani. The parking lot was already a mad house in May! Jam packed with cars and tour buses. Our driver dropped us off, and the plan was to call him when we were ready to return. I was a bit concerned we wouldn’t find him! We stayed in Oia for 3 hours. It’s as beautiful and lovely as all the photos people have seen. But it was already crowded. I can’t imagine what it’s like here during the summer months. We love the white-washed buildings, blue domes, and the iconic views of the caldera. Took our time walking around, taking photos, enjoying the views, and we had a light lunch at a restaurant overlooking the caldera. I didn’t write down the name of the restaurant and haven’t had time to sort through our receipts. But we had a delicious fresh Greek salad and beer! I had Greek salads just about every day. Most of our lunches were salads or appetizers with beer or wine. So, we called our driver to pick us up, and when we returned to the parking lot, it was even more crowded than 3 hours earlier. Gigantic tour buses!!! I was on the look-out for our driver, and spotted him waiting in line to get into the lot. We were very happy to see him. For dinner, I made reservations at Aktaion, recommend by Travelerjan and Santorini Dave. This was one of the best meals of our trip! We didn’t eat outside because the temperature had dropped and it was quite cool and very, very windy. Nevertheless, we really enjoyed our dinner. I had sea bass, which was very fresh and my husband had pork cheeks. We shared 2 apps: Calamari and stuffed eggplant. And a delicious dessert! https://www.aktaionsantorini.com/akt...estaurant-menu |
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Beautiful Oia!!! https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a11064e98.jpeg Classic white-washed buildings with blue domes! https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2506e6056.jpeg https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...cfa9715f8.jpeg More photos of Oia!!! https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...963b808c6.jpeg https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...b54c74997.jpeg |
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Delicious calamari and stuffed eggplant! https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...e800f4bcd0.jpg Pork cheeks and sea bass! https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...205197429.jpeg And our delicious dessert! |
Wow! The photos of Santorini are gorgeous. The white and blue is exactly how I imagine the Greek Islands, although I understand there are other landscapes. I've always thought of going to Greece, including Santorini, to be ahead of the crowds; guess I need to think about more off season. Looking forward to more.
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Originally Posted by tripplanner001
(Post 17370852)
Wow! The photos of Santorini are gorgeous. The white and blue is exactly how I imagine the Greek Islands, although I understand there are other landscapes. I've always thought of going to Greece, including Santorini, to be ahead of the crowds; guess I need to think about more off season. Looking forward to more.
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MAY 15, 2022 – THERE IS MORE TO SANTORINI THAN THE CALDERA, AND THE AMOUDI FISH TAVERN MEAL THAT WASN’T!!!
We decided to have breakfast this morning on our balcony so we ordered breakfast from the hotel. The cost is 25 euros for 2 people, and it was amazing! Pancakes with fruit sauce, eggs, sausage, Greek yogurt, pastries, bread, coffee and juice. It was so relaxing having breakfast on our balcony overlooking the caldera! What a great way to start the day! After breakfast, we walked to Tony’s Car Rental to pick up our rental car for the day. When we arrived, one of the employees was hand-washing our car. When he finished and handed us the keys, he told us to drive around the block to make sure everything was ok!!! We drove off with a little bit of trepidation. Our car was old; not sure what year but nothing was automatic. It had handles to roll down the windows (remember those?) and you put your key into the lock to lock and unlock the car. My husband said the clutch was “tricky”! Our first stop of the day was the archaeological site of Akrotiri, a prehistoric settlement that was first abandoned because of earthquakes and then a volcanic eruption in the 16th century BC. It was not crowded when we were there. There was a guide waiting outside who had lined up 8 people, and then she recruited us to make 10, and we were ready to go, so we thought. But when she told us we had to pay in cash, 3 people dropped out, and then more people started falling by the wayside because they didn’t want to wait for more people. So we ended up not having a tour guide. But Akrotiri was still very interesting and amazing. There is some signage although not very detailed. The storage jars are intact, and you can make out rooms, windows, and beds. The excavation has been ongoing since 1967. It really is a fascinating site. From there, we drove to Red Beach and took a short hike to the top of the hill for great views of the red cliffs. Then we proceeded to Akrotiri Lighthouse for beautiful views of the Aegean. And from there, we drove to Black Sand Beach at Perissa. We stopped for drinks and Greek salad at a café on the beach and chilled out for awhile. I highly recommend renting a car at least for a day to see Santorini. Obviously, the caldera, white-washed buildings, etc. of Oia, Fira, etc. are beautiful. But I think it’s worthwhile and important to get out and see the rest of Santorini. We really enjoyed our day driving around and seeing beautiful beaches and scenery. And now on to our dinner! I had called Amoudi Fish Tavern to make reservations, but they don’t take reservations over the phone. We had to make them online, and they charge 10 euros per person for the reservation. We had our rental car for 24 hours, so my husband wanted to drive to Amoudi Fish Tavern. I suggested getting a cab or having the hotel’s driver drive us there. But he was being stubborn and insisted on driving our rental car. I’m sure the Fodorites who have been to Amoudi’s for sunset are laughing at us now!!! It was a beautiful drive there (we certainly got to see a lot of Santorini) but as we approached Amoudi Bay, the traffic was insane! I hadn’t really looked at Amoudi Fish Tavern’s website so I didn’t realize it doesn’t have a parking lot. We drove down to the end of the road, and could see the walkway and tavern around the corner, but there was absolutely no parking. Cars were parked on both sides of the narrow road. We had to back up the road to get out but it was so difficult with the “tricky” clutch and very little room. A nice man helped direct my husband out of there so we wouldn’t play bumper cars with the parked cars. As soon as we could, we hightailed it out of there and drove back to sane Firostefani. So, the moral of the story is: do not drive your car to Amoudi’s Fish Tavern! Take a taxi or hire a driver. Or go at lunch time. Maybe it’s quieter. Tony’s was still open when we arrived in Firostefani so we returned our car that evening. Mrs. Tony gave us snacks! Very nice people! I remember walking past Restaurant Remvi in Firostefani, and I know Travelerjan and Santorini Dave recommend it, so we walked there for dinner and had a delicious meal on their deck overlooking the caldera, with a lovely sunset. Maybe not as spectacular as Amoudi Bay, but still very pretty. I had a pasta dish with egg, cheese, and prosciutto, and Ed had fresh fish. Everything was delicious but he said his fish was maybe a little “too fancy”. Ha! Not a bad thing, necessarily. https://remvirestaurant.gr/ |
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Storage jars at Akrotiri https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...deb870da7.jpeg Akrotiri Archaelogical site https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3c35b5df67.jpg Akrotiri https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...e065681c4b.jpg Storage jars https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...4fb25b9d62.jpg Akrotiri |
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Red Beach, Santorini https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f628aae1b.jpeg Akrotiri Lighthouse https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...25cbf27af4.jpg Wildflowers by the lighthouse https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...efba30b4d.jpeg Greek Salad for lunch, again! Black Sand Beach https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...57bf91644.jpeg Black Sand Beach at Perissa https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...03109e10e.jpeg Black sand beach at Perissa |
Great to find your TR! Love the photos. They bring back memories of our trips to Santorini. Looking forward to reading more,
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Originally Posted by yestravel
(Post 17370902)
Great to find your TR! Love the photos. They bring back memories of our trips to Santorini. Looking forward to reading more,
Yes, going down to Amoudi Bay is a nightmare. Luckily my nephew was driving and he managed to find parking. Getting out after dinner was tricky though. |
I am really enjoying your report!
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Thank you Yestravel, Geetika, and KTravel for your kind words!
Geetika, kudos to your nephew for driving to Amoudi Bay! Just curious, where did he find a parking spot? |
Originally Posted by KarenWoo
(Post 17370944)
Thank you Yestravel, Geetika, and KTravel for your kind words!
Geetika, kudos to your nephew for driving to Amoudi Bay! Just curious, where did he find a parking spot? |
Santorini – 3 nights
Naxos – 4 nights Nafplio – 5 nights Athens – 4 nights I'm along for your picturesque guided trip.; Been to Santorini and Athens but not Naxos and Nafplio, so I am intrigued.!! Thanks for posting. |
Karen,
Loving you TR. Great photos. Very nice looking couple. I've read many of your reports. Nice to have a face to add to the name. Regards, Judy https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...963b808c6.jpeg |
MAY 16, 2022 – IMEROVIGLI AND THE BLUE STAR FERRY TO NAXOS
After another delicious breakfast on our balcony this morning, we checked out of our hotel. I forgot to mention that the other day Nikki ordered our ferry tickets for us. We booked tickets for the 3:30 Blue Star Delos ferry from Santorini to Naxos. This is the ferry with open deck seating that sails through the caldera. We made arrangements to meet our driver back at hotel at 2:00pm to bring us to the port. In the meantime, the hotel let us store our luggage in their laundry room. So we set off to explore Imerovigli in the morning. It is really lovely, all white buildings, of course! And much quieter than Fira, Firostefani, and Oia. There are fewer restaurants and stores. We had lunch at the Aegean, drinks and the ubiquitous Greek salad, always with very, very fresh ingredients. Right now I can’t find photos of Imerovigli, and I would be surprised if we didn’t take any. If I find them, I will post them later. We were back at our hotel at 2:00pm. Our driver was 15 minutes late. It was a good 30-minute drive to the port. Blue Star Ferries asks that you be at the port one hour in advance. As we got closer to the port, the traffic was very slow on the winding road down to the port because of, guess what?, tour buses, of course. Those darned tour buses! Can’t imagine what it’s like in the summer. Our driver dropped us off at the departure terminal. The port was bustling, and the line was already quite long waiting for the ferry. Embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly. As some might remember, I was worried about a chaotic disembarkation and the mad dash, but it was very easy and no mad dash was necessary. The summer months must be worse, I am sure. There weren’t that many people traveling on the ferry in May. When we boarded, I asked a worker where to store our luggage for Naxos. He pointed to a wall. Nearby was a room with signs for Santorini and Piraeus luggage. Our route was Santorini, Naxos, Paros, and Piraeus. We were on deck 8 and stayed outside until 5pm when the temperature cooled down. Sailing through the caldera was beautiful and I’m glad we chose this ferry, even though we arrived in Naxos at the end of the day. So we went inside and decided to get closer to the luggage hold. So we went down to deck 6, but we couldn’t go any further because there were ropes at the stairways. I guess staff don’t want people going down to the luggage hold too early. We got seats nearby, and noticed people getting in line just before the Naxos announcement was made. It was orderly going down the stairs; we found our luggage easily (no suitcases on top of them). We grabbed a taxi to bring us to Hotel Palatia, recommended by Travelerjan, and located at the beginning of Ag. Georgios Beach. We had a lovely room with a private balcony that overlooks the beach. Manos, the owner, is very nice and very helpful. Our room rate was about $75.00 per night! https://palatiahotel.com/ We had a delicious dinner at Meltemi Restaurant. I had an eggplant stuffed with veal (Kalogiros), and Ed had lamb with lemon sauce. And we shared a delicious baklava for dessert. The owner was sitting at the table next to us, and he asked my husband if he wanted more lemon sauce, and he gave us the history of the restaurant. We enjoyed this restaurant very much, in fact, we liked it as much as we liked To Elleniko, which I see recommended all the time. https://www.meltemi-naxos.gr/ |
The walk we did down to Amoudi Harbor for lunch and the climb back up were grueling but there were no parking problems! We ate at Katina’s, wonderful, fish right off a fishing boat. Our hotel was right above Amoudi.
We returned to Santorini solely to visit Akrotiri when it reopened years after it’s roof collapsed killing tourists. It sounds like Santorini is twice as crowded as it was when we visited.Yikes. We preferred the other islands, Athens, and the Peloponnesean Peninsula more than Santorini. |
We stayed in Oia but during the day went all around the island in a rental car so never felt it was crowded. Also having a room several steps down gave privacy & no noise. I still feel Oia is the best place, the caldera views are stunning.
We walked to Ammoudi down some steps from Oia & ate at Katinas, no reservation was required. It was tough going back up though. |
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Sailing through the caldera on the Blue Star Delos! https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...24daa5ffc3.jpg Sailing through the caldera https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2c26ed59f1.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...a86bb5ccd.jpeg Entrance to Hotel Palatia https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c551465cb5.jpg Our hotel room https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...825ab1841f.jpg Stuffed eggplant (Kaligiros) at Meltemi Restauranthttps://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...e72eb617a9.jpg And our delicious baklava https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...17e9e56572.jpg Lamb with lemon sauce at Meltemi Restaurant |
HappyTrvlr and Balthy, I really wish we could have eaten at Amoudi Bay. It is definitely our kind of food. We love fresh fish!!! There are 250 steps down to Amoudi Bay! I don't think I could handle the climb back up. The parking, unfortunately, was horrendous. If I could do it all over again, I would have hired the hotel's driver or taken a cab. But my husband insisted on driving. More bang for his buck with the rental car. (I have to blame someone, right?) Oh well, hindsight is always better than foresight.
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Thanks for the great reporting thus far! As always, your trips are an inspiration for my future travels!
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MAY 17, 2022 – EXPLORING BEAUTIFUL OLD NAXOS TOWN
We opted to have breakfast on our balcony this morning. Breakfast is 10 euros per person, and we definitely thought it was worth it. Manos asks you what you want: you have a choice of eggs prepared different ways, such as scrambled, fried or omelets with your choice of ingredients. Bacon or ham is included along with pastries, Greek yogurt, coffee and juice. So a filling breakfast! A great way to start your day! We slowly walked along the lovely harbor to the Portara. It is immediately obvious Naxos is very different from Santorini. It is less crowded, quiet, and more laidback. Definitely a more authentic Greek experience. We heard less English on Naxos than on Santorini, and there seemed to be a lot more Greeks vacationing here. We heard some French and German, but primarily Greek. The Portara is the gate to the unfinished Temple of Apollo, and it is all that remains of the Temple. Some call it the “gate to nowhere”. It was getting warm and we were thirsty, so we stopped for milkshakes at a café on the harbor. Then we continued exploring Naxos Old Town and the marketplace, a labyrinth of narrow lanes, small hotels, gift shops and restaurants and cafes. This is such a beautiful area with white-washed buildings and blue shutters. Lots of flowers. We visited the Catholic church. And we discovered the rooftop restaurant called Avaton 1739, located in the former Ursuline School for Girls. The views are beautiful! We had drinks and shared one of the best Greek salads on our trip. This evening we had dinner at To Elleniko, which is recommended by many people on Fodors and Santorini Dave. I had moussaka and Ed had Goat with potatoes and vegetables. The restaurant served a complimentary coconut cake and an after-dinner liqueur. We noticed many restaurants did this throughout our trip. We enjoyed our meal, and it was definitely one of our favorite restaurants. |
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The Portara on the islet of Palatia https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...8c3f367eb.jpeg View of Naxos Town from Islet of Palatia, where Portara is located https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...fcab01adc.jpeg The Portara, the gate to Temple of Apollo |
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Old Naxos Town, the labyrinth area https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...c8fc20abc2.jpg Naxos Old Town https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...10cc65e06a.jpg Beautiful Naxos Old Town https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...4e5d944eb7.jpg We saw stray cats every where in Greece! https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...f032a989c.jpeg The Marketplace https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...400e36449.jpeg Naxos Old Town https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...914d8f041.jpeg Naxos Harbor https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...3c7a4bb52e.jpg Love the blue and white color scheme! https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...686b9d926d.jpg Our super delicious Greek salad at Avaton 1739 |
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Appetizers at To Elleniko. We had roasted red peppers. Delicious! Roasted peppers are a popular appetizer in Greece. I forgot what the other appetizer is. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...644dfd835.jpeg The traditional Greek dish Moussaka https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...6efad4802.jpeg Goat with potato and veggies https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...5e5ae2c08.jpeg To Elleniko |
Originally Posted by PegS
(Post 17371229)
Thanks for the great reporting thus far! As always, your trips are an inspiration for my future travels!
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Karenwoo- really enjoying your TR and your marvelous photos. Thanks for posting.
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Karen, what a delight! Since I can't be there, what a joy to see you enjoying my Naxos! I think you may have gotten the Palatia balcony room just vacated by my Philadelphia friends Lee & Tony... and am pleased to see you found those little outdoor love-seats at Bossa cafe at the end of the seafront promenade. That's where a few of us Naxophiles go before dinner, to have an ouzo and watch the town turn to gold in the setting sun. Sigh.
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I’ve so enjoyed reading all the trip reports lately.
Only just tapped into yours today, what a wonderful trip. Fun fact, about Melbourne, Australia, has a large Greek population and “For decades now, Melbourne has been called the 3rd largest “Greek city” in the world, after Athens and Thessaloniki, due to the large number of Greek Australians that live there” |
KarenWoo,
What a wonderful trip report! The photos are gorgeous, and I love seeing the one of you and Ed. It’s such a joy putting a face to the writer of some of my favorite trip reports here! So many wonderful photos - I love the night view from your Santorini hotel - sparkling! We visited many of the same places in 2011 and I had so wanted to visit Akrotiri. I had scheduled my trip for after the “planned reopening” but it turned out to be another few years before it reopened. I love those vases! It looks like a great site. Thank you for posting - looks like you had an amazing trip! |
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