Pictures did not do justice to these places, and it's really a shame that my iphone was not able to capture the beauty. I did bring a camera but didn't use it as the iphone is so convenient!
Day 1: Santorini Arrival
Our flight was delayed in Manchester and we arrived late in Santorini. Thank goodness we had lounge access at Manchester airport and I was able to watch the Royal Wedding on TV! I love watching that couple.
The flight to Santorini airport was miserable! There were four kids onboard who were all getting delirious. They took turns screaming. I felt so bad for the parents. Trip delays really can make things difficult for mom and dad.
Once we went through passport control at Santorini airport, the hotel driver whisked us away to our home for the next four nights, Iconic Santorini in Imerovigli. We were given a quick tour of our room, the Cycladic Suite, before being left to get ready for much needed sleep. Turns out, this was my FAVORITE room throughout our entire trip. I'll post more on that in a logistics post later.
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| Long flight, jet lag, tired |
Day 2: Santorini - Catamaran and Oia Sunset
Due to jet lag, we woke up bright and early and was greeted to an amazing view of the caldera. After a delicious breakfast, we went on a catamaran ride to visit the Red Beach, White Beach, and Black Beach. After the beaches, they stopped to let us jump into the water, and served us lunch. The catamaran tour was the highlight of our trip. The group of people on the catamaran were great too!
When we returned, the weather was showing gloom and doom and threatened to downpour. We decided to brave it and do the 20 minutes walk to check out Fira despite the oncoming rain. By the time we reached Fira, it was no longer a threat and it DID downpour! We waited under some eaves until the rain lifted and trekked uphill back to Imerovigli.
That night, we had a sunset dinner at Sphinx Restaurant in Oia. The restaurant is on a rooftop and had an obstructed but direct view of the sunset. This is the "famous" sunset in Oia. I heard that there is a castle at Oia where everyone gathers to watch the sunset. It is supposed to be so magical that people cried when the sun sets. To me, I live in San Francisco and had too many a late night sunset view at my previous job, so it was nice...but it's just a sunset.
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| Breakfast view on our balcony |
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| Wayne waiting to eat |
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| catamaran |
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| catamaran 2 |
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| Jumping into the COLD COLD water |
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| We got back to the hotel, and the clouds didn't look very nice. |
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| It threatened rain, but still beautiful |
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| Hurry! take a picture before the rain comes |
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| The weather lifted just in time for the sunset |
Day 3: Wine tour and sunset dinner in Imerovigli
We woke up bright and early again to another delicious breakfast. We then had an afternoon wine tour. We visited three wineries, which wasn't that memorable. However, the group of four couples was a great bunch. I gotta say, we are spoiled living so close to Napa.
That night, we had dinner at Mezzo Restaurant. The restaurant overlooked Skaros Rock and had a direct view of the sunset from Imerovigli. The food was delicious too! This was our best meal in Santorini.
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| Wine tasting by the rocky beach |
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| Wine tasting |
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| I had to get a picture on a cylindrical dome roof. This was at the Chromata by Galis Square (the main square in Imerovigli, I think). |
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| Dinner view from Mezzo Restaurant |
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| Imerovigli on our walk back |
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| Imerovigli |
Day 4: Santorini - Change of rooms and our hotel
We spent the last day in Santorini enjoying our resort. The morning was spent at our Cycladic Suite, reading and admiring the caldera view from our balcony. In the afternoon, they moved us to the Iconic Suite, which was their "most lavish room", according to their guest services supervisor, Dimitra. She is awesome by the way!
The suite consisted of a small outdoors hot tub and another indoors hot tub. We spent that afternoon chit chatting in the outdoor hot tub and balcony.
That evening, we had dinner at the hotel, which was pretty good! There was a most magical sunset that evening, which I managed to capture a picture of (below).
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| View from our first room, the Cycladic Suite |
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| Magical sunset |
Day 5: Mykonos - Ornos Bay and Mykonos Town
We left the hotel at noon to go to the boat transfer dock. It was crowded and they herded us like cattle. The situation was quite stressful.
However, once we reached Mykonos, and checked into our hotel, Santa Marina Mykonos, things settled down and we got to relax at the hotel's private beach. The hotel provided private transfers to Mykonos Town, Nammos, and Scorpios. Nammos and Scorpios are two popular clubs. With only two days, we didn't get to go to either of the clubs, but did utilized the shuttle to Mykonos Town for dinner on our first night.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Pepper in Mykonos Town, which is right off of Little Venice. It had some of the best Souvlaki, but atrocious service! After dinner, we went back to the hotel and got a drink at the Buddha Beach Bar.
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| Ornos Bay |
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| Most expensive smoothies we ever paid for! |
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| Windmills, they are supposed to be famous |
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| Wayne walking towards Little Venice |
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| Buddha Beach Bar |
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| Hotel stairs |
Day 6: Mykonos
Our last day in Mykonos was spent bumming around the resort and leaving only briefly for dinner at Apaggio.
The thing about staying at nice resorts is you don't want to leave. We could've went to Paradise Beach, Psarou Beach, or go on a catamaran to Scorpios or Nammos. Instead, we were beach bums, and it was awesome!
In the end, I enjoyed my time in Mykonos. If I ever get a chance to return, depending on the year, I might choose to stay at Mykonos Town instead of the beach.
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| Walk to breakfast |
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| Santa Marina's private beach at Ornos Bay |
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| Walk to Apaggio |
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| Sunset view from our balcony |
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| Night view of the adults pool |
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| Evening view from our hotel |
Day 7: Venice
It was time to say good bye to Mykonos and go to our next destination, Venice! Venice wasn't on my "bucket list" of places to travel to, but the Gritti Palace was! It's strange how my bucket list is dominated by hotels and flights instead of destinations. But that's the priorities of a points enthusiast.
Anyhow, in Venice, we were able to stay two nights at one of the most prestigious, historic and famous hotel, the Gritti Palace! It really has an amazing location and awesome service to boot! But is it worth the price tag...some say yes, some say no....for me, I don't know.
The concierge recommended that we have dinner at a casual restaurant close by, Restaurant AcquaPazza. It was one of the best meals on the trip! Mezzo in Santorini was better, but this was a very close second.
The concierge recommended that we have dinner at a casual restaurant close by, Restaurant AcquaPazza. It was one of the best meals on the trip! Mezzo in Santorini was better, but this was a very close second.
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| Venice canal from water taxi |
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| Rialto Bridge from our water taxi |
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| Some random square |
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| Dinner |
Day 8: Venice - breakfast and explore
Our final day on the trip was spent exploring Venice. We had breakfast at the Gritti's restaurant patio and had one of the most amazing view in Venice. This is the postcard view. Truly wonderful.
After that, we wandered the city, got gelato, got lost, went to some famous sites (St Mark's Square, St. Mark's Cathedral and Doge's Palace). It was fun roaming the city.
That night, we enjoyed a Venetian dinner at Cafe Del Doge, which is the cafe at the hotel. Then we went upstairs to enjoy the rooftop bar.
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| Rooftop bar at Gritti |
Overall Impression:
If I were to do it all over again, I would add an extra day to Mykonos and subtract the last day in Santorini. Santorini is a beautiful city, and very picturesque. But I felt like it didn't have a soul. It's there for tourism, and instagram.
Some say it might be because I was in Imerovigli instead of Oia. We walked through Oia and felt like fate got it right for us and somehow we ended up in Imerovigli. I loved that town and wouldn't change the stay.
Originally, I had us booked six nights in Santorini, three nights each in Oia and Imerovigli. But our flight from Santorini to Venice got changed to arrive in Venice at 1:30 am. Thus, I had to change the itinerary to fly out of Mykonos to Venice instead. This turned out to be perfect as Mykonos was my favorite part of the trip. The island was so alive and I loved the atmostphere!
Venice is Venice. I enjoyed our time, and our hotel was AWESOME, but I probably won't return. With that said, people should still visit Venice! It's famous for a reason!
If I were to do it all over again, I would add an extra day to Mykonos and subtract the last day in Santorini. Santorini is a beautiful city, and very picturesque. But I felt like it didn't have a soul. It's there for tourism, and instagram.
Some say it might be because I was in Imerovigli instead of Oia. We walked through Oia and felt like fate got it right for us and somehow we ended up in Imerovigli. I loved that town and wouldn't change the stay.
Originally, I had us booked six nights in Santorini, three nights each in Oia and Imerovigli. But our flight from Santorini to Venice got changed to arrive in Venice at 1:30 am. Thus, I had to change the itinerary to fly out of Mykonos to Venice instead. This turned out to be perfect as Mykonos was my favorite part of the trip. The island was so alive and I loved the atmostphere!
Venice is Venice. I enjoyed our time, and our hotel was AWESOME, but I probably won't return. With that said, people should still visit Venice! It's famous for a reason!
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