Greece – Never Travel Without My Butler

October 27, 2017January 24, 2019

Honeymoon in Mykonos Greece, Part Two

After an amazing 4 days in Santorini, we flew to Mykonos on Aegean. During the summer you can take a ferry between the islands but since we went a bit off season we had to fly.

Day ONE.

We stayed at Bill & Coo with the most amazing staff because it was the last weekend of the season. We even got a beautiful blanket for being the last guests of the season!

Here we rented a small Fiat 500 from a local rental company through our hotel. Mykonos is a larger island than Santorini so we were happy we rented a car but the roads were very narrow similar to Santorini. Our hotel was not in town, it was about a 5-10 minute walk but you can read more in our Where to Stay in Mykonos post.

We loved walking through the old town of Mykonos, we got lunch in the old port area. This is where the ferries come in during the summer.

Lots of different options by the water and we ended up going to Kazarma because it had the most people but the food was just OK. Check out our Where to Eat in Mykonos post.

We explored the windmills and walked to the top of the town for more windmills.

Day TWO.

We rented a car just for the day and drove around the island, we stopped by Cavo Paradiso.

The weekend before was the last party and the evidence was everywhere!

A must visit when in Mykonos is this tiny tiki hut called Kikis, the food and atmosphere is absolutely amazing! We went with a couple that we had met on the Santorini Yacht Sailing tour.

We drove around to different beaches and Ross even went for a swim! I was too cold!

Day THREE.

On our last day, which was also Bill & Coo’s last day of the season the hotel staff kept on bringing more and more food out. I definitely wasn’t complaining!!

After the amazing breakfast, we walked around the old town. We loved all the white washed walls and doors in different shades of blue.

We even ran into a local celebrity! Petros the Pelican!

Our stay in Mykonos was amazing, we cannot wait to return to check out some other islands.

Some of the islands that are on our list are:

Milos
Crete

Let us know about your experiences in Greece!

Xoxo,

Nina & Ross

October 27, 2017January 22, 2019

Where to Stay in Santorini

Booking our hotel was probably one of the most stressful things I’ve ever had to do! If you know me or have been reading our blog, you know I’m very dramatic.

It’s hard because all the hotels in Santorini look the exact same. But we’re here to help ease your decision.

Step ONE: you need to narrow down whether you want to stay in Oia or Fira.

Oia feels more romantic and luxurious.

Fira is has more locals and cheap eats.

Both have amazing views and sunsets!

Both towns are very small and no cars are allowed in the towns, you have to park outside of town and walk through.

For a more in depth review on Oia and Fira, check out Santorini Dave. He was a huge help during the whole trip planning process.

Step TWO: Set your budget.

Since Santorini is such a popular beautiful destination, some of the hotels can be very expensive. Oia is definitely more expensive than Fira.

If you haven’t booked your flights yet, going off season can definitely save you a lot of money! We went in late October towards the end of the season and the weather was perfect, it was super hot during the day and a bit colder at night. I didn’t even bring enough bathing suits!

Keep in mind that if you go between November-March some of the hotels are closed for the season.

Step THREE: Try not to read a million Tripadvisor posts, I particularly liked reading brotherleelove’s comments on the travel forums and is a Santorini pro! I usually go crazy with reviewing all of the comments but at the end of the day, you’ll only know how your stay is because you won’t have anything to compare it to so just pick the one you think looks the best and stick with it. All the hotels in Santorini are so beautiful!

In the end we stayed at Andronis Luxury Suites because our friends Tiffany & Ilir stayed there during their honeymoon and we trust their judgement!

I mean look at this view, but in order to get this view there were a lot a lot of stairs so if you’re not the best with stairs you might want to make sure to check the hotel’s website before booking. Most of the hotels are built on a hill.

We wanted to stay in a cave room. The rooms were cool but not the most luxurious place we’ve stayed for the price of the room.

(Image source: JG Black Book)

With a private outdoor jacuzzi- because I thought it was going to be cold!

The bathrooms were really cool!

(Image Source: Andronis Luxury Suites)

Our favorite thing about the hotel was the breakfast. The menu had 30+ different items that you can select the night before and every morning the hotel will bring you everything to enjoy on this beautiful private balcony. And if you know me, I love to eat! For other food recommendations, check out our What to Eat in Santorini post.

And this amazing pool that we had to ourselves everyday!

Step FOUR: Enjoy your amazing vacation exploring Santorini!

To read more about what we did in Santorini, check out our Honeymoon in Santorini post.

XOXO,

Nina & Ross

October 25, 2017January 17, 2019

Honeymoon in Santorini Greece, Part One

After celebrating our wedding, Ross and I took off from Nantucket to Santorini. From our favorite island to another amazing island, we were on cloud nine.

Day ONE.

Once we arrived from Santorini airport we rented a car from a local company called Motor Inn. Luckily Ross knows how to drive manual so we are able to rent cars wherever we go. We rented a little smart car because we read the roads were narrow and we were inspired by Just Married with Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy.

This trip is also where @nevertravelwithoutmybutler started because Butler is Ross’ last name and he’s such a great butler!

Since it was our honeymoon, we decided to splurge and stay at Andronis Luxury Suite in a gorgeous suite with a private Jacuzzi. How amazing is this view?

For other hotel options check out our Where to Stay in Santorini page.

After checking into our amazing hotel, obviously we relaxed for a bit on our private terrace with fresh fruit and free booze! Usually I’m a travel bully and I try to pack as much in our itinerary as possible but since it was our honeymoon and we were exhausted (with happiness) from our wedding we just relaxed!

Ross was in HEAVEN, this was his type of vacation!

After what I thought was enough relaxing, we sought out the famous Santorini sunset and dinner because I get hangry! Even though we went during “off season” there were still lots of tourists in the Oia area.

In Santorini there are two main cities that you can stay in: Oia and Fira. We decided to stay in Oia because the area is a bit more “luxury but more touristy.” Both towns were very cute and in our opinion both a bit touristy. We stumbled upon a really cute bookstore called Atlantis Books then went to dinner at Lotza.

Day TWO.

Every morning we got to select unlimited options from an extensive menu of amazing greek breakfast items such as greek yogurt, fresh fruits, pastries, and egg dishes. Our favorite dish was Kagiana. (Side note, we tried this recipe after we came back with fresh oregano that we bought from Greece and it was AMAZING!)

We ate amazing food in Santorini, some of our favorites were the greek salads! The tomatoes were so fresh and the oregano! To die for!! Check out our what to eat in Santorini post for more food information.

The weather in Santorini changed drastically between daytime and nightime. During the day the weather was sweltering hot (89 degrees) and at night there was a cool breeze (50 degrees).

We tried so many times to do a jumping photo but this is as close as we got to a good shot, you can see the frustration in our faces! Ha!

After hanging out by our private pool we drove to Domaine Sigalas Vineyard for some wine tasting. We had the most amazing tomato salad called Ntakos with the most amazing cheese which we found out later the recipe just calls for local cheese.

After tasting some delicious wines, it opened up our appetite for dinner! Who are we kidding, anything will open my appetite!

We decided to check out the the Ammoudi Bay area to do some research on sailing tours and fresh seafood! We ended up eating at Sunset Ammoudi because of all the celebrities that ate there but we weren’t impressed with the food. We heard good things about Ammoudi Fish Tavern but we didn’t have time to go back down to Ammoudi to try it. The views from the water were gorgeous though!

Day THREE.

We woke up to another amazing breakfast and relaxation session in the jacuzzi. We could really get used to this life!

Today we decided to check out Fira, we heard that the hike from Oia to Fira was amazing but since we didn’t have that much time we just drove there. Fira was cute, we got the best gyros from Lucky’s Souvelaki!

We finally saw a good sunset when we were wine tasting at Santos.

Day FOUR.

For our last day in Santorini we booked the Santorini Yacht Club morning tour. I bet the sunset ones are beautiful but since we were 1 for 3 on the gorgeous sunsets and the weather gets a lot cooler in the afternoons we decided to get a little tan and do the morning tour.

The yacht company comes to pick you up from your hotel and we did the semi-private tour for 140 euros per person.

The cruise consisted of three stops: volcanic red beach, white beach, and volcano hot springs. We didn’t get to stop at the beaches, you just see them from a distance.

*PRO TIP: do not wear a white bathing suit if you want to swim in the volcano hot springs because the minerals will stain your suit!

The excursion also came with delicious greek food and the scraps were dropped into the water, I almost died taking this photo because all the birds were flying around and I’m glad I didn’t fall into the water because the photo was not as epic as it looked in real life…

After the sailing, we spent our last hours wandering the small streets of Oia.

Reluctant to say goodbye to Santorini but excited to head to the next stop on our honeymoon: Mykonos. See our Honeymoon in Mykonos Greece, Part Two to keep reading.

Some of the islands that are on our list are:

Milos
Crete
Corfu
Paros
Patmos
Rhodes

Did you know there are 6,000 greek islands but only 227 are inhabited?

Let us know about your experiences in Greece!

Xoxo,

Nina & Ross

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