My Cart

Close
Where In The World Is Wakened: Santorini Greece

Where In The World Is Wakened: Santorini Greece

Where In The World Is Wakened: Santorini, Greece

The next leg of our trip was Greece, specifically Santorini. I was really excited for this trip. I’ve always wanted to go to Santorini. It seemed like such a beautiful place. The Santorini Airport was tiny, as was expected for a small island. When we arrived, our hotel had sent a driver to pick us up. He was standing holding a sign with my name on it. This was the first time that ever happened, so I was pretty excited. We stayed at the Aperanto Suites, which were absolutely beautiful! Every morning there was breakfast that we selected the day before. It was included in the hotel's nightly price and it was great. Here is a little break down of the hotel and of our suite.

The hotel lobby was located down these beautiful steps, over-looking the pool. When we were walking over to our suite, the first thing we saw when we walked through the door of our own patio with an outdoor hot tub. And what a great view it had!
 


Inside our suite was a white walled, modern and minimalist-style room. It had a living room with a small counter top area with a mini fridge. The bedroom had a desk for working or getting ready and the bed was a really firm yet cozy. The bathroom was awesome with a rainfall shower. The white walls and gray tones with bright colors on some furniture really made the suite feel large, bright and welcoming.




We unpacked a few items but we were really excited to get downtown to Oia. Since it was our first day we decided to take a cab to Oia. we were told the easiest way to get around the island is by renting a quad or a buggie so we were excited to do that the next day.



Here we hung out until the sun set over the Mediterranean. We had dinner at Apsithia, which had amazing tomato fritters, a traditional Santorini dish, and a couple greek salads. Walking around Oia, there was so much beauty to take in. Lots of great little shops and art. At the hotel the woman at the front desk told us that if we were looking to buy things, to do it outside of Oia since everything is marked up much more there. You can find the same items outside of Oia, like in Fira or any other downtown on the island. After traveling, dinner and walking around we were pretty tired and decided to call it a day and get some rest. The next day we started early and explore the island much more. 

We woke up and within 5 minutes our breakfast was waiting outside on our patio. I had some Greek coffee that was fantastic with fruit and toast. Cassidy had the tea and other great greek traditional breakfast plates. When we were done getting ready, we went to the front desk to pick up the ATV we had ordered the previous day. We jumped on our quad and headed to a place recommended by the front desk which was an old castle turned into a beautiful village. The drive took about 15-20 minutes to get there. It would have been sooner, but we took a couple wrong turns. When we arrived to Pyrgos where the castle is located, we parked and started to explore. Walking up the pathway that leads to the very top of the ruins was amazing. Seeing all the little shops and restaurants all together like a beautiful lego master-piece was awesome to experience. We stopped and took pictures along the way and popped into shops as well. All the alley ways were small, even the path up was small. But it was gorgeous once you reached the top. I really enjoyed this location, make sure you check out Pyrgos if you visit Santorini. 





Our attempt at a walking selfie. As you can tell I tried my best blue steel look.

After exploring this little village we wanted to swim at the beach so our next stop was Perissa black sand beach. We went all the way to the end which was a great spot. You pay $15 euro but you have your own lounge chairs and someone who brings you food and drinks if you choose to order. It's also nice because there is someone there to watch your belongings when your swimming, which we did a lot of. My tip to you guys is bring goggles because the water is extremely salty and will burn your eyes. Plus it's really cool to see the fish that follow you as you swim through the water. When you kick up the sand/rocks underneath, they feed on whatever comes up. It is so neat to see! I spent some time just kicking up sand and watching them feast. 


After wrapping up swimming, we went back to our lounge chairs to relax and have some grub and drinks. That's when we noticed something. A pack of 4 dogs roaming together. It caught my attention because they were right down the beach and they were scared away by one of the attendants. So when they came to our area, us being dog lovers, I was excited to see them. There was one little black dog was especially friendly and came right up to us. When the rest of the pack saw that we were petting him they came and laid by us. I was intrigued because some had collars, so started researching and what I discovered broke my heart. We found out that even the dogs with collars are homeless too. They were just abandoned. When it's tourist season, shop and restaurant owners will take advantage of this and be nice to them because they know tourists like it and it will give them business. But for the majority though, the dogs are treated very poorly by the locals. They rely mostly on the kindness of tourists to get food during peak season but after that, they're pretty much on their own. It breaks our hearts because they're all so calm and friendly! I wanted to take all of them home with me. They were coming up and hanging out with us on the beach everyday. I asked our beach attendant to allow the dogs to stay by us and he said it was fine with it, so we than began to order food just for the dogs.
 
They were in a pack, which from what I've learned, helps them survive. But it was so sad to watch. After this, we kept seeing dogs everywhere and I couldn't get the thought out of them my head. The next day after breakfast, we went to Fira to explore and it there was a lot of people there, since this is one of the major stops for cruise ships. We had lunch at a great place called Nick the Grill, which had amazing falafel gyros + greek salad. A cheap, easy and good option! It was a really packed in Fira so we didn't stay too long. We went back to the beach because we loved it so much and hung out with the same pack of pups for a few hours as well as swam in the Mediterranean. After that, we wanted to have dinner in Oia, near our hotel. We had dinner at Patros which was a great restaurant with a beautiful view of the ocean. 

The next day our plan was to visit an animal sanctuary that cares for homeless dogs and rescues donkeys. Its called SAWA: Santorini Animal Welfare Association. It was here where my wife and I fell in love with three homeless dogs. My wife's back was bruised from the ATV the day before so we rented this buggie for the day.
 

We headed to SAWA. It's located near a beach and it's a little oasis for homeless dogs and rescued donkeys. When we were pulling in, it had no road so it was a bit of an off roading adventure. As we pulled up, we were super excited to see that what SAWA is doing to save lives. They help stray animals by neutering and spaying but also insuring they have food, water and shelter outside to come to as well. The animals that are in more need can live at the shelter. They also take in donkeys that are exploited on the island which people ride up and down the steps. Even though it's popular and seemingly convenient, when you visit Santorini, please don't ride the donkeys. There are many ways to get up up and down the steps without causing pain to an animal.

The dogs were so friendly and cute, but it was the three dogs that were outside of the sanctuary who stole our hearts. 


They came running through a fence and were so excited to see us. The two lighter ones were very friendly and playful from the beginning but it was the black dog that touched our hearts. At first, he was scared to come close but after some time he became comfortable with us. They were spayed and neutered as well as knew to come to the sanctuary for food. There were several dog houses outside so many dogs could come there for shelter, food and water. We played with them and fed them by hand but it wasn't until we were getting ready to leave when the tears came running down our faces. As we started to drive away these three began to follow us. Running after us down the dusty dirt road. I stopped the buggie and walked them back, making sure they stayed. Once we reached the end of the street, we waited to see if they would come but they didn't. We drove to the top of the hill were we could see them laying together in front of the shelter. We immediately drove back to our hotel and messaged the owner of the sanctuary. We are in contact help support them, as well as sponsor these pups. It was so difficult saying goodbye but we know for at least these pups they are in good hands. We want to sponsor them and help SAWA even more!

After that we went to Oia one last time to walk down to the Amoudi bay, a famous spot down many steps where you can cliff dive and swim in the ocean. The steps down were hard and it was even harder on the way up but it was well worth it. We ate at Lotza, a great restaurant at great price. The owners son is a softy for animals, he took in a stray named Bella as a baby and she hung out with us while we ate. Unlike the other dogs that hang out around the restaurants, she actually belonged to him. He was genuine when speaking about how people need to be more loving towards animals. We had a great conversation with him and really enjoyed the food and service. 



We truly loved Santorini. It stole our hearts as well as broke it some ways. But it was great to see good people trying to change the way people treat and see animals. The island was beautiful and we fell in love with Oia. We are definitely coming back!

 

My last morning in Santorini I was just taking it all in early in the morning and Cassidy snuck a picture of me. I don't get too excited about too many places but Santorini was amazing. Can't wait to come back! The next leg of our trip was another place that I was really looking forward to.
We had so much fun but we were excited for our next leg of our Europe trip: Scotland. Stay tuned and subscribe!
Check out our previous post of our first leg of our European trip: Bulgaria