Vacation in Greece

I never used to travel in the summertime because it’s high season at the airline. I’ve always chosen to secure the bag and stack my coins. Last summer changed everything. We were so starved for a getaway after quarantine that we decided to book a trip to Greece in August 2021. We chose Greece because it was one of the first countries to open to tourists. Most of the trip would be enjoyed outdoors therefore we wouldn’t need to wear a mask. Quarantine was not a requirement for vaccinated tourists so we packed our bags and went. I’m beginning to plan our next summer vacation and realized that I never really posted much about our last vacation aside from a couple of room tours on TikTok and Instagram. I finally edited an entire vlog about it that is posted on YouTube. Keep reading for a detailed itinerary.

Getting There

We live in Atlanta or as I like to call it, Delta town. We can get almost anywhere in the world easily thanks to Delta Airlines. My fiance doesn’t sleep well on planes so he booked us first class so we could have the lay flat beds. I low-key love that he’s a travel diva. I’m usually happy just to be on the plane but hell yeah I’ll fly first class! 

We went from Atlanta to Amsterdam on Delta, Amsterdam to Athens on KLM and Athens to Mykonos on Aegean Airlines. We were shocked by how easily we entered Greece; however in hindsight, I suspect it was because we’d already gained entry to the EU through Amsterdam. Aegean Air has several flights a day from Athens to Mykonos but I wanted to leave enough time to clear customs and immigration, get our bags from KLM and re-check them for the flight to Mykonos. It turns out that we didn’t need the 2 or 3 hours that I’d allotted for that process but I’d rather be safe than sorry. We used that time to grab a bite to eat before the next flight. We finally arrived at our hotel in Mykonos around 7 or 8pm. Thankfully, the hotel provided a shuttle from the airport because we were exhausted by the time we arrived.

Mykonos

We stayed at the Aegon Mykonos hotel. I didn’t know it when we booked it but the hotel has two properties down the road from each other. After settling into our room, we went to the hotel restaurant for a light bite to eat before retiring for the evening. I didn’t sleep well so I decided to watch the sunrise from our private pool deck. Afterwards, we headed down for an early breakfast and to check out the other property before going to the beach. The other property was also nice but we preferred the one we were staying in because it was closer to the beach. I wanted to go to Jackie O Beach Club, however we learned through the help of the hotel front desk that all of the sun beds were already booked for the day. Instead, the hotel staff was so helpful in securing sunbeds at Lohan Beach House across the street. My cousin from London met us there later in the afternoon. 

Next up on our schedule was sunset at a bar I’d seen all over Instagram called Negrita in the Little Venice neighborhood of Mykonos. I’d made reservations for us several weeks before we arrived through Instagram direct message. There aren’t any street names so we had a little bit of difficulty finding the place which made us a little late for our reservation. We were finally seated at a table outside just in time to view the infamous sunset. Words can’t really describe it so I encourage you to head over to my YouTube channel to see it for yourself on my vlog. The bar gets really crowded so I suggest either making a reservation or showing up early before the sun sets to get a good spot. 

At this point we were hungry for real food after several cocktails and hookah at Negrita so we set out to find another spot I’d seen on Instagram called Katrin. It’s a french restaurant in Mykonos town not far from Negrita. Again, there are no street names so I couldn’t tell you exactly how to get there. We stumbled upon it as we walked around the town. Luckily they had a table available for us right away as we did not have a reservation. The vegetable risotto was AMAZING! I highly recommend it. We walked around a bit more after dinner before returning to the hotel for the evening. We needed to arrange transportation to Santorini the following morning. It was a short visit to Mykonos. In hindsight I wish we’d had one more day to see Mykonos town in the daylight. Otherwise, we were ready to get to Santorini.

The Water Ferry

We booked our ferry to Santorini through www.ferryhopper.com. This site shows the schedule for several different ferry operators. We ended up using Seajet because it was the most convenient for us at the time. It is recommended that you arrive at the port at least an hour before your ferry is scheduled to depart. We overslept and arrived only 30mins before departure time. There was a large ferry docked however I was certain that it wasn’t the one we’d booked. There wasn’t any signage or announcements about where or when our ferry was scheduled to arrive so we scrambled a bit wondering if we’d missed it. We stood on the long ticket booth line to inquire about it only to find out that it was running a bit late. The other thing I didn’t know was that the ferry made several stops enroute to Santorini. I was under the impression that it was a non stop from Mykonos to Santorini but that wasn’t the case. It ended up taking a few hours to get there. I don’t know if that was because the sea was rough or if it is normally that long, however in hindsight, I think I should have booked a flight. The reason I didn’t do that originally was because I didn’t want to fly back to Athens, possibly change planes, then continue on to Santorini. I’d thought that the ferry would’ve been easier; perhaps not. The last thing that I’ll say about the ferry is that it was a rough ride. If you are prone to motion sickness or you don’t care for turbulence on an airplane, you will probably not like the ferry ride.

Santorini

We arrived at our hotel around 6pm. We spent some time taking in the view before getting dressed to find a good spot for the sunset. I wanted to go to Oia Castle but we couldn’t find it so we followed the crowd to another area where we got an amazing view. Again, check out my YouTube video to see everything - the room tour, the view from the hotel, the sunset. Sunsets are an event that everyone comes out for and applauds when it is over. The crowd was thick trying to leave so we decided to stop for dinner while we let it die down. I do not know the name of the restaurant but it had an amazing rooftop view of the caldera. The stroll back to the hotel was very pleasant as there were tons of shops along the way. We stopped at the bar of our hotel for an amazing dessert before retiring for the evening. I had plans to get up early the following day.

Exploring Santorini’s Beaches

Red Beach - So the next morning, our only full day in Santorini, I woke up early to get some drone shots as the sun rose over the caldera. The hotel restaurant offers a great breakfast. After breakfast we headed to the front desk to get assistance in securing a vehicle for the day. We were able to get a car rental for a fraction of the cost of an atv, a popular means of transportation around the island. Our first stop was the Red Beach, which is a volcanic sand beach. We deviated from the GPS directions and found ourselves overlooking the beach from a bluff versus going to the actual beach. That was fine because it gave us a bird’s eye view. We didn’t have much time in Santorini so I didn’t want to spend too much of it sitting on a beach. We took our pictures and moved on to the next spot.

Perissa Beach - I’d never been to a black sand beach before and heard that there was one on Santorini so off we went in search of it. I couldn’t think of the name of it so we stopped to ask the gas station attendant as we got lost. What I didn’t know was that most of the beaches on Santorini are black sand beaches with the exception of Red Beach, which we’d just visited, and a white sand beach, which I didn’t have an interest in visiting. We found out that the beach we were looking for is called Perissa Beach. We stopped there to have a drink and a snack from one of the many restaurants that line the street. The landscape is pretty but I wasn’t in love with the beach itself. To be fair, I’m not really a beach kind of girl but I at least had to go see it. Once we finished our snacks, we were off again without a destination.

Ammoudi Bay - We drove through Fira, the capital of Santorini on our way back to Oia. I’ve never been happier to take a wrong turn than I was that afternoon because we stumbled upon the scenic Ammoudi Bay. I’d seen pictures and videos of it on social media but, again, couldn't remember the name of it to get directions. We parked the car and explored. Ammoudi bay is a little port located at the bottom of the cliff below Oia. There are restaurants, cliff diving, boat rides, etc. We had dinner there while watching our final Santorini sunset. I highly recommend visiting Ammoudi Bay.

Athens

The next morning we woke up before sunrise to get all the pictures we wanted around Oia before the rest of the tourists arrived. It was exhausting but well worth it. We went back to the hotel, had breakfast and packed our bags for our flight to Athens. As we returned from our photoshoot, the valet informed us of some damage that had been done to the car’s front headlight. We didn’t have any accidents or incidents with the car so this was news to us. Ultimately we were responsible for the damage that we didn’t even know about.

After dealing with that fiasco, we headed to the airport for our flight back to Athens which was delayed an hour or two. We were so exhausted by the time we reached our lovely hotel that all we did was have dinner at the rooftop restaurant. We stayed in the center of Athens at the Hotel Grande Bretagne which has an amazing view of the Acropolis from the rooftop restaurant. The food and drinks were superb.

With the help of the hotel concierge, we took a private guided tour of the Acropolis and the surrounding neighborhood the following morning. Our guide met us in the lobby around 08:30-08:45 and we jumped in a taxi. I’m glad that the tour started that early for 2 reasons - the heat and the crowd. It was already crowded that early in the morning however I can only imagine how many more people arrived the later it got. We probably spent 2 or so hours walking around and taking pictures. It got very warm out as the day progressed. We were starving by the time we returned to the hotel. We had lunch then took a nap. I wanted to check out a restaurant that had been recommended to me but we were just too pooped to leave the hotel. We went back to the rooftop restaurant of the hotel for dinner before crashing for the night. The next morning was our non stop flight home on Delta Airlines.

All in all, it was a whirlwind trip. There is so much to do and see in Greece. I wish we’d spent an extra day in each location so it wouldn’t feel so rushed. I think we needed a vacation to recover from our vacation. I would definitely return to Greece and check out some of the other islands.  I feel like everyone and their mother went to Greece last summer and for good reason. It offers something for everyone - history, art, architecture, island life, stunning landscapes, party vibes or peace and quiet. Greece owes me nothing. Check out the vlog on my YouTube channel and the pictures and shorts on my IG and TikTok -  SoniaStayFly or click on the links on my blog homepage. I’ll see you in my next post!