We left Spain for the final time, and planned to head back to the United States for a visit before moving to England. The best way to get from Spain to Atlanta was through…Greece. Yup. That is thanks to COVID. But I don’t hate it because it finally got us to Greece. It seems crazy, but with so many travel restrictions and testing requirements, this was our best route. Greece was open to vaccinated tourists, those with negative COVID tests, and kids under 12 didn’t need to be tested. It was also open to Americans (not required since we have Spanish residency, but it ensured there were lots of flights between Greece and the US), and had a direct flight from Athens to Atlanta on Delta.
So, we took a train from Malaga to Madrid, then flew from Madrid to Santorini. We would eventually leave from Athens, so flying into Santorini allowed us to see some islands before hitting the mainland.
Santorini is well known as a beautiful, relaxing and luxurious place to travel. Santorini brings to mind white washed buildings on clifftops perched above the sea, gorgeous sunsets and relaxed couples strolling hand in hand. One does not think of Santorini as a hub for family travel. Nevertheless, we wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and frankly if our kids can handle riding a bus on dirt roads through South America, they can handle Santorini 😉
While we were there, we had to take advantage and book ourselves an apartment with a view of the famous caldera. Santorini is a volcanic island (in fact, it is believed that its eruption in 1600 BCE was the one that sunk Atlantis), and all that remains of the island is the moon shaped land, surrounding the water-filled caldera.
The apartment we stayed in was beautiful, had a terrace with views over the caldera and a hot tub. Great place to relax! Except that isn’t how we do vacations, and especially with kids. But we made the most of it, more than we intended in the end, since we ended up with sick kids for this leg of our trip (NOT COVID!).
We stayed just outside of the village of Oia, located on the far end of the island and famous for its beautiful sunsets.
It was great to be in easy walking distance to Oia, but outside of the busy town itself. We walked into town during our stay for meals, souvenir shopping and just strolling.
Unfortunately, as soon as we arrived in Santorini, Nate started feeling unwell, and had a fever. He basically went right to bed and was miserably coughing all night. We were pretty sure, based on his symptoms, that he had a cold, but we wanted to be extra cautious in these COVID times. In order to travel, we’d had a few (negative) COVID tests in the last few days (A had to be tested before going to Greece since he was 12 years old and unvaccinated, and C got tested when we arrived in Santorini, since the health authorities require one person from each family arriving to be tested, and he took one for the team), so we felt even more confident it wasn’t COVID. Nonetheless, we took extra precautions to keep him at home and resting, so that changed our plans a bit.
The towns are all located high on a cliff, so this isn’t really the type of island where you spend time at the beach. Instead you just get amazing views overlooking the water from literally everywhere you go.
Caldera Hike
The biggest thing we wanted to do while we were there was walk from one end of the island to the other. It was a trip of about 10km each way, and, since it was July with temperatures up to the 90s by about 11am, we figured the best thing to do was wake up early, walk to one end, then take a bus or taxi back to the starting point. The trail started right in front of our apartment outside of Oia, so it was easy to decide what direction we would walk in. We woke up early in the morning, and A, L and I headed out. C stayed home with an ailing N.
The very beginning of the walk was past whitewashed buildings on the outskirts of Oia, but we soon left civilization behind and just walked the trail through the volcanic island soil. The start of our walk was moderately uphill, as we headed towards the island’s high point, the town of Imerovigli.
Though this uphill walk was the toughest part, it was still pretty early in the morning, so it wasn’t too bad.
The trail was fairly easy to follow and we found remarks from another blog on this route to be very true – it was easy to get a little lost on the trail, but hard to get very lost. Even if we didn’t take the exact intended route, it was easy to find it again. And, sometimes the detours were the most scenic part of the trip!
Once we hit Imerovigli, we pretty much had civilization the entire rest of the walk, as we were on the more populated end of the island, close to the capital Fira.
We took the opportunity to make up for any calories burned by stopping for a big breakfast en route, complete with delicious fruit drinks and a view of the sea if we really craned our heads.
After breakfast, we headed out for the final stretch. We arrived at Fira to find it full of life and tourists. There was apparently a cruise ship in port, so it was pretty easy to pick out the cruisers (despite the crowds, this was apparently MUCH less crowded than typical for Santorini, with only 2 cruise ships in port, compared to a normal 12 during non-COVID times!)
Now, N being stuck at our accommodation sick paid off for us, as Cameron could drive to pick us up, so we didn’t have to navigate the bus.
Catamaran Cruise
The next morning, we scheduled to go on a catamaran cruise through the caldera. N was still not feeling great, so this time it was my turn to stay home and C took the other boys. They went on a cruise joined by 10 other people. As is typical with Santorini, most of the other people were 20-something couples, but there was another family on the boat as well.
Their first stop was at a hot spring in the caldera. The water was tinted brown from the sulfur and they recommended not wearing white swimsuits, because they would be ruined. They swam out towards the hot springs. When they got there, the water was lukewarm. They stayed the there for a minute or two than went to the boat.
Between stops they rested on a tarp on the boat.
The second stop was snorkeling in a cove. There were schools of fish and some pretty big and colourful fish there. They snorkeled for a quarter of an hour then went into the boat for lunch (chicken and shrimp spaghetti).
The third stop was at at another beach. By then, both boys were toast and just relaxed while C jumped in and swam a bit.
By the time they got home, L was feeling under the weather, and passed out in the apartment. Meanwhile, when the big boys were gone, N and I took it easy and walked around Oia, stopping for a scenic breakfast.
Since he was feeling better, we also snuck in some relaxing on our terrace 🙂
In order to take our planned ferry to the next island in our itinerary, A had to take a COVID test (little boys were too young and C and I were vaccinated, so again, he was the only one who was required to test). It is interesting to see how processes are different in each country, but this Greek testing protocol took the cake in simplicity (and also opportunity for fraud). N and I strolled up to a pharmacy in Oia, told them we needed a few COVID tests, and she gave us the tests along with signed forms saying we tested negative (just asking that we don’t use the form unless we test negative 😉 ). We took the tests and went home to try them out. Though we got the test for A, I figured it was worth the €20 investment to give N a quick test as well. So the boys took their tests, required only to spit in a paper cup, then collect the spit and drip it on a stick very reminiscent of a cheap pregnancy test.
Once we got our negative COVID tests, we had one last dinner with a view in Santorini, and went to bed.
The next morning, we were up bright and early to return our rental car, then take a taxi to the ferry port for our next stop. Our taxi driver chatted with us about living on Santorini (he just stayed there during the busy season to work, living in Athens the rest of the year). Despite the crowds we experienced, he shared with us that tourism was at about 30% of its typical level! They were only having a few cruise ships a day, versus 20 or so during typical times. We were so happy to have gone when we did. Santorini has been checked off our list, with no need to return!
