Hi guys, it’s been a long time! We just came back from Greece so I’ll be writing about our 10 days spent in Santorini, Milos and Mykonos.
We flew to Greece from Zadar making one stop in Bergamo, Italy. The pandemic is still very much going on so I was surprised to see we were not being checked in Italy. However, when we landed in Santorini, we were double checked on the airport. Leš, my sis Nina and I didn’t fill the form for entering Greece so even though we are fully vaccinated and had negative test we got tested again. The test was free and the results were there in few minutes. Thankfully, we were negative and free to go.

For our stay in Santorini we chose Simple Sophie which luckily I found 2 days before on Booking.

Our views from and around Simple Sophie

Usually I’m not attracted by famous tourist spots but then again a place like Santorini makes me want to go and showcase it in totally a different light. I was blown away by how much this island has to offer and how little attention the good stuff actually gets.

Since our apartment was situated in Fira we decided to walk to Pyrgos, a small village in the heart of the island. It’s a place you get to see how the locals (who are not completely dedicated to tourism) live. It was only a 20 minute walk from our apartment but make sure you do it earlier in the morning.

A lot of streets are tunnel-like or roofed passages.

The view from our table at Franco’s.

I suggest visiting Franco’s! It’s a little coffee place on the hill top (with some greek dishes on the menu). The view is great but the coffee is even better. Actually the best coffee we had in Greece overall! Even though (to us Balkans) this is known as turkish coffee, in Greece you have to say it’s greek coffee otherwise my friend no coffee for you haha!

You won’t need more than an hour, hour and a half to see everything Pyrgos has to offer, especially because there are no crowds and you can take a picture in a second.

After strolling around Pyrgos we took a public bus to Perissa, one of the best and biggest black sand beaches on Santorini. The bus goes every hour in the direction of the beach and the cost is about 2 euros per person. We got outside the bus one station before last and took a little walk to the beach. As soon as we stepped outside you could instantly feel laid back energy and strong beach vibes. Everything was kinda slow and you could sense the sea is close. What I loved the most is, of course, architecture and how simple yet elegant and practical everything is. Because of the hot weather all the houses are white. When you walk on white floor it is almost a bit cold, but as soon as it’s just a little bit gray you can actually burn your feet. I felt it myself!

The beach, on the other hand, was crowded but it was somehow bearable. Everyone is just enjoying and minding their own business. After some time we got hungry and found the beeeest place ever – it’s called Tranquilo (as it should be called). Reggae/mediterranean vibe with amazing food and atmosphere. Biiiiig rec!

Later we hopped on the same bus and rushed to our apartment to watch the sunset. We actually didn’t make it so we stayed on the side of the road and you guessed it, it was top sh*t because Santorini sunsets are out of this world. The elevation makes such difference!

Our second day was dedicated to the south side of Santorini where we explored Akrotiri. It is both the name of a village and a pre-historic settlement. The village is very very small but cute as greek villages go. We had coffee at Akrothiri restaurant but also from what I’ve seen the food looked too good on other people’s plates. Did I say I’m a huge feta fan? Well, I am and therefore Greece is basically heaven. Greek olives are the best I ever had!

After coffee we went to the Akrotiri ruins and Atlantis museum. The entrance for each is 12 euros per person (6 if you are student).
On this day we rented the car with the help of our host in Simple Sophie for 50 euros per day. You can go with the bus but this was so much more convenient.

Santorini is believed to be Atlantis because of numerous similarities such as circular layout of the island, some cultural habits and of course the massive eruption. I won’t bother you with details but if you are into this like I am, I strongly suggest paying a visit to these two spots and learning more about this.

We decided to end the day by watching the sunset in Fira. We accidentally stumbled upon Gallini cafe and spent the sunset on their rooftop which was cool and more importantly – crowdless. The affogato (espresso with vanilla ice-cream) was sooo good! The prices in cafes and restaurants are pretty much affordable even in high season. We mostly spent around 50 euros for a dinner for all 3 of us (17 euros per person).

Before Gallini we took a stroll around Fira and had some pretty great views!

On our last day we finally decided to visit Oia. We planned on staying the whole day but we managed to see the main spots within 3 hours. I suggest going earlier than 11/12 because it’s when it really gets busy.

If you see a local bakery shop, just go inside! We found so many gems in local stores and bakeries I would pretty much kill for any of it now haha 🙂 Later in the afternoon we had the ferry to Milos. The ride was around 6 hours and we payed around 15 euros per person. You need to have a Covid-19 pass to use the ferry.
Regarding the accommodation in Milos, we didn’t have much luck. 95% of stays were already booked so we couldn’t book few nights in a row (and we were there for 7 nights). Most of our stays were 1 night only. If we could, we would have planned ahead but decided to visit Greece just a week before so the situation was understandable. If you can, plan at least a month before.
Also check the wind forecast. During our time on Milos the north wind was blowing really hard so the situation at all the beaches in the north looked a bit dramatic with 7m waves. Sarakiniko was not to miss so we went there and captured it as best as we could. You can’t blame the wind when it’s the reason the beach looks how it looks. The wind along side the waves formed this lunar-like landscape!

I won’t be writing our day-to-day activities and will just point out the best spots we visited on Milos. Firstly, Fyriplaka beach!! It is safe to say it is our favourite beach on the island. Maybe it was not quite interesting sea wise, but the whole vibe was just amazing. Important information is we visited the beach around 5/6pm when most poeple already left. The next day we came back earlier in the day (it was also Sunday) and it was just not the same.

If you walk further down at Fyriplaka, you will find the most amazing rock colours and formations. We couldn’t believe our eyes. The whole island is a huge mining spot because there is a lot of bentonite, perlite, pozzolan, siliceous stones, kaolin and small quantities of baryte. They make the perfect colours 🙂

We spent our time enjoying the empty beach, swimming after the sun went down and just being in the moment. At one point we noticed the moon was starting to rise above us. I have never seen it so big on the sky so I started taking some photos and actually it turnes out I created one my favourite pictures ever. That was by far my favourite day in Greece and one of the top 10 days in my life.

A little tip: you can freely camp on this beach and as I understand on the whole island. They are very chill about it. For our next visit Leš and I already decided we will camp on Milos!

The best part of that whole area is there is another magnificent beach nearby – Tsigkrado! Another crazy good beach with maybe the prettiest sea we have seen but you have to put a little effort to climb down the mountain. Nothing too hard to do but so well worth.

We spent more than 3 hours just enjoying the deep parts of the beach and taking pictures with GoPro. The beach was so beautiful we couldn’t leave!

We moved around Milos by car. We rented it 10 days before coming at Matha rent a car. One day we got a fine for parking down on the port (which eeeeveryone does). It was 40 euros and no one warned us it could happen so be careful! The parking is free on the whole island except there are places you cannot use as parking and you get a fine 😀

There are many many more beaches to visit but because of the wind we just wanted to be at Fyriplaka. Down in Adamantas (the main village) there are cute coffee places and a lot of traditional restaurants. We liked Flisvos the most. It is a family run restaurant with the best local food! You have to try feta with sesame and honey! Best thing ever. For the coffee we went to Aragosta and Garden (very good breakfast bowls).

We also wanted to visit the Venetian castle but the area was closed due to some event which took place that day and sadly it was our last day on Milos.

That brings us to Mykonos! Going there from Milos is not very cheap. We payed 80 euros per person for a fast ferry. There was no other option, we even asked a local friend! Our return flight was from Mykonos so we needed to go, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen it which would be so wrooong. Mykonos is known as a party/touristy island but at the same time it’s the prettiest and has a totally different vibe. I would have loved to stay few more nights but we will be back for sure.

We spent our day and a half just walking around the little streets and taking pictures. By far, the most of our time was spent in Cine Manto cafe. It is an amazing plant paradise garden in the middle of all that craziness. There were little to zero people there and we felt like home. They both have drinks (best coffee), cocktails (mint lemonade is heaven) and serve food.

After we went home I realised we haven’t visited so many places which I wanted to see because we were just chilling and taking things slow. I definitely need to go back! I mean Greece has hundreds of islands so it’s not just Mykonos I’m talking about.

This would be all guys. It was shorter than usual but hopefully informative.

Stay safe and fingers crossed we all go back to normal normal soon 🙂