What to do with a week off of class? Immediately head somewhere more southern so you can remember what the sun is.
My sister (Elinor or El) and I decided to travel to Greece together, just the two of us, which is a first for both of us! I’ll walk you through day by day:
October 5th:
This day was our travel day, which included a trip on the metro, on the train, and on two different planes.
If you are looking for a cheaper way to fly around Europe, we’d definitely recommend easyJet!
After finally arriving in Santorini, Greece, which is one of the islands, we hopped into a car that our Airbnb host had sent for us.
Side note: Our Airbnb hosts were the BEST. If you are EVER in Santorini, check out this incredible Airbnb, that has ocean views as soon as you step out the front door.
Our Airbnb hosts had left us a beautiful spread of traditional Greek food, including tzatziki, feta cheese and hummus!
October 6th:
Today, we decided to explore Firostefani and Thira, which were the two towns that were the closest to us!
We walked down to the town square of Firostefani through cobblestone pathways, surrounded by bright white buildings, deep blue domes and the shimmering water down below. It was an absolute dream.
After walking down the Caldera Path for a while, we decided to stop for lunch at the Golden Sunset Cafe, where I fell in love with Greek salads.
I mean. C’mon.
We kept exploring the two charming towns, which cannot be described with words, until dinner. Here are some pictures of the Greek towns!
For dinner, we found ourselves at a rooftop restaurant called Vanilia, where we got to watch the sun set over the Aegan Sea, while seeing the glow of the sun hit the classic Greek Cycladic buildings on the cliffs. And don’t worry, I got another Greek salad.
It was pure magic!
October 7th:
Today, we decided to be extra tourist-y and went on a bus tour that took us to all of the most highly-revered spots on the island of Santorini. It was very cool but very exhausting:
First stop: Megalochori
We stopped in a little village called Megalochori, in which we wandered the cobblestone streets and got to know some of the other people on our tour. We had people from the States, Canada, Nepal, and Argentina!
Here are some pictures:
Second stop: Red Sand Beach
We had a photo stop at the Red Sand Beach, but refrained from actually stepping down onto the sand, as it is protected. It was so cool to see the blue water crash against the deep red sand! Only pictures can begin to show the beauty:
Third Stop: Emporeio
In this village, we had to stick close to our group for a very specific reason. Emporeio was designed in a labyrinth-style way, so as to confuse the pirates when they used to come and try to raid the village. Check it out:
Fourth Stop: Black Sand Beach
Here, we got some free time to eat lunch at Forty One, which is a beautiful restaurant right on the sand, and to explore the beach for ourselves. We ordered traditional Greek dishes, such as grilled octopus, and enjoyed the time off of the bus.
Fifth Stop: Highest Point on the Island
After a terrifying bus ride up narrow, windy roads, we made it to the highest point on Santorini. We were able to see all of the different points of the crescent-shaped island from a totally new perspective and understand how big the island really is. Having grown up in the States, a lot of places can feel really small, like Santorini did, as at home, you can drive for hours and hours and still not hit the ocean or a new country. But standing on top of the island and seeing the span of Santorini was very humbling and fascinating.
Sixth Stop: G. Koutsoyannopoulos Winery
At the winery, we were given three different Greek wines to try: one white, one red, and one sweet red.
While El and I weren’t the biggest fans of the wine, the winery was beautiful and was an interesting stop on our tour.
Last stop: Oia at Sunset
This is probably the biggest tourist destination in Santorini. Especially at sunset. So although it was beautiful, it was so crowded. We were given free time here before the bus took us back home, so we explored the city as much as we could, got an ice cream, and then hopped back on the bus, exhausted.
Although the bus tour took it out of us, in retrospect, it was really cool to be able to see the top sights in Santorini without spending a couple of weeks there.
October 8th:
Today was our last full day in Santorini, so we started out with a meal with a view at Remvi:
We ended up just wandering around Firostefani for a while, which was by far our favorite town on the island.
After that, we headed back to our Airbnb, played some cards, took a nap and then got ready to go out for dinner.
We ended up back at Vanilia for the second time for an early dinner and then headed to our favorite spot on the island to celebrate our time in Santorini.
We had found this empty rooftop earlier in the week and decided to go back for our final sunset on the island. Words cannot do it justice, so here are some pictures!
October 9th:
Today, we packed up all of our stuff, said goodbye to the Airbnb, and headed out to the Santorini port. After quite a long wait, we hopped onto a ferry that took us to Mykonos! Even though the ferry ride was about four hours long, we passed the time playing cards, reading, listening to music, and staring at the glistening water outside.
When we arrived, there was a very kind driver from our hotel waiting for us! For this half of the trip, we decided against the big tourist stops and the city and chose to stay at a beach hotel to fit in some relaxation before we had to head back to busy Copenhagen.
Once we got to the Mykonos Thea, our hotel, we dropped our bags off and headed to dinner. Now, because we chose not to stay in the main city (Mykonos Town), we didn’t have a wide variety of options for food, but we were very happy with what we did have. There were two restaurants within one and a half kilometers of the hotel.
On this night, we headed to the one that was only a five minute walk away called Kiki’s Tavern. We sat at a table that looked out at the ocean and was under these two beautiful trees that created a ceiling over the restaurant, which only had about ten tables.
We enjoyed a beautiful dinner here and headed back to the hotel to explore.
Our hotel had a private beach, which looks a little something like this:
On our way down to the beach, we met one of the hotel cats and promptly named it Callie (we later found out that Callie was, indeed, a boy). Callie followed us EVERYWHERE for the night, which was nice as we don’t have any pets in Copenhagen.
So, you could say Elinor and I were getting very excited for our time here. We decided to hop into the hotel pool before retiring to the room for the night and started to plan out the next day.
October 10th:
We started our morning with a beautiful hotel breakfast at the buffet, which had homemade pastries, fresh fruit, cheese, eggs and best of all, Greek yogurt with honey. I cannot even begin to tell you how much Greek yogurt El and I ate while we were in Mykonos, but it was extensive to say the least.
After breakfast, we headed to the hotel’s beach and did some swimming and exploring, and then headed to the pool to soak up some sun!
Then, we headed back to Kiki’s Tavern and had lunch (check out this glowing Greek salad):
Next to Kiki’s, there’s another beach, called Agios Sostis, at which we decided to spend the afternoon and continued our day of relaxation.
After a couple hours there, we headed back to the hotel and got ready to head to dinner (I know, tough day right?).
For dinner, we decided to trek out to the other restaurant, called Kalosta, which was about a 20 minute walk away, so nothing too bad. Here are a couple of pictures of us on our way:
At dinner, we sat looking over the ocean (again) and enjoyed a lovely Greek dinner.
Afterwards, we decided to head back to the hotel to go to bed, as we had early plans for the next morning.
October 11th:
On our last full day in Mykonos, we decided to wake up before the sun and headed down to the beach to watch the sunrise. Because it was cloudy, we didn’t quite see the sunrise we had hoped for, but laying on a beach in Greece can never really be bad.
After a while, we headed back to breakfast and met some friends along the way. Callie (the aforementioned cat) was sitting up on a flowerbed with another cat. When we looked closer, there were three kittens as well, at which we spent a good 20 minutes staring. Here are some pictures!
We spent the rest of the day lounging around the hotel, soaking it all in, and playing cards by the pool.
We then headed back to Kiki’s for a beautiful dinner, which included tzatziki, fava beans, and artichoke!
It was a beautiful way to end our time in Mykonos.
October 12th:
On this morning, we woke up, got our bags together, headed to breakfast and then hopped in a car that was airport-bound.
After a long day of travel, we eventually made it back to cold and cloudy Copenhagen!
This trip was so much more incredible than I could have imagined. The people that we met were so genuine and kind, the food that we had was amazing, and the places that we saw were breathtaking. I had also never travelled with only my sister before, so it was really cool to get time with her in a totally new setting.
If you ever decide to go to Santorini or Mykonos, go to at least one of the places that I mentioned in this post! We had so many wonderful experiences and we want to share them with everyone.
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking around!
Young in Europe 