tales of our gap year.

30/05/12 – 03/06/12

Santorini, Greek Islands

Όμορφη!!!

Santorini Santorini Santorini… I wish we stayed longer. Not only is this place so beautiful because of the amazing landscape and people but such wonderful memories were created here. We spent 2 days in a hotel a stones throw away from the black sanded Perissa beach, followed by another 2 days in the historical Akrotiri. We wanted to experience ‘both’ sides of Santorini, that is, beach side and caldera side. Call it luck or whatever but we were extremely fortunate to have great weather during the whole trip and NO crowds! Perhaps they arrive in droves around July/August because wherever we went be it beaches, villages, restaurants, sights, it was practically empty! Awesome!

The best day of our European adventure so far (which now kicks the daytrip from Cannes to Monaco off its #1 spot) was exploring the entire island on a quad bike! It took about 20 minutes to get from Akrotiri to Fira then 20 mins from Fira to Oia… so in one non stop trip you can get from the bottom of the island all the way to the top in less than an hour. Obviously quicker in a car and even quicker if it’s a local madman driving the car but we had such a blast on quad. The poor 80cc engine was struggling up hill with all the yeeros and galaktoboureko we’d been eating! Ahhhhh - wind through my hair, sun on my back, and all the while singing Video Games by Lara del Rey into Dans ear while driving along some of the most spectacular coast. (Side note: while some of you may think that song is depressing, well I’m in love with it at the moment hahahaha).

Despite thinking Santorini was going to be a rip off when it comes to eating out, well it’s quite the contrary. I’m not going to mention the ‘other’ countries we’ve been ripped off in…. hmm caperto…? Anyway, we ate out every single night and each time we were given free ouzo shots or another jug of red wine or dessert on the house! The service provided and people on the island are just genuinely friendly happy people – I mean why wouldn’t they be, they live in Santorini!