I was so relieved to have planned an R&R stop before Santorini because it was really hectic. The first night, we stayed in an airbnb in Parissia to see the black sand beach, the second night, we stayed in Fira, and our ferry left at midnight the third night. As I said, hectic.
Getting around Santorini
There are two possible ways to get to the island, by plane or by ferry. We arrived by ferry mid afternoon and as soon as we stepped off the boat, we were rushed by a crowd of locals, offering taxi/shuttle services.
There is a bus system on the island but all the lines go through Fira (here’s the link to the bus schedule). This means that to get to our airbnb in Parissia from the port, we would have had to take a first bus to Fira, then change in Fira to another bus headed to Parissia. The whole thing would have taken a couple hours and cost around 6 euros.
The bus system is relatively efficient when running, but the buses very unreliable. If you’re headed to Fira and not in a rush, the bus would be a good bet. It’s a straight shot and would goes to the center of Fira. However, if you’re going anywhere else on the island, save yourself the hassle of changing buses and take a shuttle instead. Shuttles usually charge 10 euros per person and drop you off in front of your hotel or airbnb.
Parissia
Parissia was nice for its sparse beaches and relaxed vibe. It’s in the southeastern part of the island, so it’s quite isolated. Its main attractions are Ancient Thera and black sand beaches!
We stayed at this airbnb in Parissia and it was exactly what we were hoping for. It was a nice, clean room in an apartment complex that rents out most of its suites on airbnb.
The black sand beach was an amazing sight to behold. As the sun set, the golden pink tint made the beach feel truly magical. The restaurants on the beach were also quite nice.
However, keep in mind that Parissia is a touristy spot within a touristy island. Expect prices to be high.
Fira
Our next stop was Fira, the center of the island. We took the bus to get there, which took around half an hour.
Where Parissia was isolated and chill, Fira was…not. It was so crowded.
As soon as we got off the bus, we noticed swarms of tourists everywhere, which made the pace of the city seem all the more frantic. The plus side of staying in a tourist hotspot is the abundance of food and entertainement options. At this point, we had been eating feta and gyros for a straight week and, as much as I loved every moment of it, I was ready for some variety.
Before checking into our hotel, we grabbed a bite to eat at Los Tres Amigos a nice Mexican restaurant with the best frozen margaritas. Their food, in addition to being a nice break from my diet of cheese and meat, was delicious. If we had stayed longer, we definitely would have returned! Upon entering, you can order your food and drinks a the counter. There are usually three slushee dispensers with their frozen margaritas! When we went, they had original, mango, and strawberry (the mango was amazing!).
There’s an upstairs seating area overlooking the bustling streets. They had a lot of Mexican themed decorations, like the murals and cushions, which added to the overall experience.
(Atmosphere: 8/10 but only because the seating was cramped and there was a big group next to us, Food: 10/10, Drinks: 10/10, Service: 10/10)
Our good mood improved even more upon arriving at our hotel. In the bus, we decided it was the perfect time to look up reviews of the hotel we would be staying at for the next night. To our dismay, we saw a lot of negative reviews, including one (from the day before) complaining about bed bugs (!!!).
Upon our arrival, however. The clerk greeted us warmly, telling us there had been a problem and that meant both good and bad news for us. The bad news was that the guests before us had brought bed bugs into the room that was supposed to be ours for the night. They therefore had to quarantine it and since all their other rooms were occupied, they gave us a room in the hotel across the street they also owned. The room we ended up staying in was worth three times what we had paid for the original room and it was BEAUTIFUL.
Things to do in Fira
Ok, enough with the reminiscing. What is there to do in Fira?
Our first evening, we hiked to Skaros Rock to enjoy the sunset and were treated by this absolutely breathtaking sight.
Unfortunately, the following day was Monday, the only day the Ancient Fira ruins are closed. Instead of that outing, we went to the Museum of Prehistoric Fira. It was very informative and the staff were all welcoming, offering me chairs in which to sit out my migraine and stomach pains. The rest of the day was a slight blur in large part because I was in too much pain to do anything except sit in the shade on the steps in front of the museum and hope that it pass. We took a bus to Oia that evening when I finally felt better. The bus transit system is, to put it mildly, not accurate. Some of the bus stops on the island are no longer in service, but remain standing, virtually indistinguishable from the ones in service.
Buses leave from Fira to Oia about once every thirty minutes but as Greek buses are famously unpredictable, we waited about an hour at the bus stop before a man driving by on his motorcycle informed us that it was no longer in service, following which we walked back into Fira to take the bus directly from the center of the city (and bypassed all the marked bus stops on the way since we now realized we had no way of knowing if they were in service or not).
We took so much time to get to Oia that we were afraid we would miss the sunset. Fortunately, we found a nice little restaurant with an amazing terrace
One of the reasons why Santorini was so tiring (apart from the fact that we only stayed at each hotel for one night and therefore didn’t have a room for most of our last day) was that our ferry for Athens left at midnight (of course, it was late). This meant that after Oia, we took a bus back to Fira, walked to our hotel, got our luggage, walked back to the center of Fira, took a bus to the port, waited for a little more than an hour while we munched gyros (we must have eaten about 15 each during this trip), board the ferry when it finally arrived at around 1am. The only bright side to all this was the private cabin.
The private cabin in the ferry cost us each 15 euros extra than normal seats and let me say, those 15 euros went further than I could have possible imagined. We got upgraded to a deluxe cabin and it had two bunk beds, our own wifi password, tons of plugs for our devices, and most importantly, a private bathroom attached to the cabin with a shower, towels, and toiletries.
I have never in my life appreciated anything more than this cabin. My only regret is that we didn’t reserve one on the first ferry. Here’s a picture proving to myself that this wasn’t a dream.
