Whenever we hear Santorini, first thought comes to our minds is of honeymoon and love birds. Everyone knows that Santorini is best known for its popularity amongst newly married couples looking for a romantic gate away. Obviously, nothing can beat that however sometimes people don't realise that Santorini has a lot to offer than just being a romantic spot. Since, its not at all cheap staying on this magical island, it makes more sense to know what else one can do on the island in spare time to make your every penny count!
Akrotiri - Prehistoric Town
Visit one of the best kept secrets of Santorini; an ancient treasure, the remains of an old town Akrotiri. Santorini has preserved the remains of the city post excavation studies which can be seen in below picture. We had visited it as part of a guided tour where the guide gave us actual insights of how the town would have looked like in ancient times and what made it remain still in decent shape post severe earthquakes that rocked the island in past. It shows that Greeks knew better ways to preserve their food and wines over a long period of time using these large cylindrical vessels we can see below. Sometimes it amazes me how knowledgeable our ancestral generations were!
Wine Museum
Santorini is know for its wines and produces both the kinds, i.e. red and white wines. During our stay on the island, we briefly visited a wine museum that gave us a glimpse of what goes in the back while producing a wine from freshly ripe grapes.
It is sort of seeing the lifecycle of wine production through life size wax statues of labourers performing various activities and using different equipments.
It is owned by a local family and they do sell/export their own wines which are quite popular. During our tour of the museum, we got a chance to test one of their finest wines! I must say that was by the best sweeter wines I had till date. We also bought a small bottle for rest of the stay.
Old port of Santorini
This is one of the well known ports on the island and reason behind is the mode of transport that takes you there!
For visitors, old port is connected to Santorini's capital Fira through a cable car which provides you will stunning views of the port. For more enthusiastic travellers, there is a separate route through stairs too. Fair bit off tourists take this route while descending to old port from Fira, however while coming back majority prefer riding on cable car since it can be a challenging hike for some.
Sunsets!
Santorini has plenty of spots to witness the daily sunsets irrespective of whether you are in Fira, Oia, Akrotiri or any other nearby towns. We were mesmerised by the beauty of these sunsets as you can see in below click. We stumbled upon this view while concluding our day in Oia town. Sunsets typically happen early in Santorini somewhere around 5:30 ~ 6pm local time. Also, mostly it gets crowded as such sunset spots hence you need to reach early and find a better spot to sit and witness it. We literally sat there an hour or two before actual sunset happened but was worth the wait and patience as you can see from below picture!
This definitely adds to the romantic feel of the island and explains why couples prefer to spent time here secluded from the crowd!
Aegean Sea
You will end up noticing (rather admiring) the beauty of Aegean sea which surrounds the Santorini island while travelling around Santorini towns. If you happen to be there with a nice sunny weather, then you will get to see stunning views of the sea like we did as follows;
A few more views of the sea as one view can't justify its beauty!
We couldn't appreciate there views enough since we end up spending half a week on Santorini but would love to visit it again sooner! We stayed at a place called 'Blue Dolphins' which was a decent stay with nice views of the ocean. Due to Santorini's geographical shape, most of the restaurants/lodges situated on the island have such views to offer for travellers. We stayed on the main town of Santorini, Fira as it was closer to the ferry port that connects to Athens and other outer islands by Star ferry.
Hope you liked the post and was useful for you to understand what more Santorini can offer to travellers. Feel free to share your personal experiences in the comments section below. Thank you and happy travelling!