Those who know me know that I'm not much of a "mushy" person. So when I say that I cried happy tears 3 times in Oia because of the damn SCENERY, you know that it's a really, really beautiful place. Or maybe I'm just turning into my grandmother who gets emotional over weeds blowing in the breeze. But I think it's more the former.

Our trip to Greece was just the first leg in a 8 week journey through Europe, and it was a great place to start, to be inspired, and to feel like I had traveled to a completely different universe.

Top Recommendations in Oia:

Strogili | Restaurant:

Order the mushroom risotto and don't let the rest of your group on to the fact that it's the best damn thing on the planet because they'll abandon their meals and switch to yours, leaving you hungry. Not that this happened or anything...

visit the Strogili Restaurant Website HERE

Atlantis Books

Y'all. This is NOT just a bookstore. It's the best bookstore I've ever been in. Not only is it enchanting, charming, and a visual smorgasbord of painted poetry, and handcrafted signage...but one could even call it a book museum! There were some first editions in there that gave me goosebumps (as did their price tags). Just sitting there, amongst the other books, like they were all ordinary and shit. While it's a tiny shop, the owners really did an incredible job of effectively using the space by packing it full of ALL FASCINATING READS. Every book on the shelves piqued my curiosity (which, I'll admit, is not easy for me in a bookstore).

If you visit Oia, a trip down the steep steps into Atlantic Books is an absolute must. And I suggest doing it when you have some time to kill.

visit the Atlantis Books website HERE

Domaine Sigalas Vineyard/winery.

This is a MUST and was my favorite experience of our trip. The staff was absolutely extraordinary and fantastic conversation. They will explain more about the wines than you'd ever even think to ask about. Order the dry wine flight for 23 euro, pair it with the cheese and cured meat board and the dolmas (BEST YOU'LL EVER HAVE), and say "HELL YES" when they ask if you'd like chocolate. The chocolate dessert at the end of our visit was.insane. Go hungry. Leave completely satisfied (and a bit drunk.)

visit the Domaine Sigalas Website HERE

TAKEAWAYS | OIA, SANTORINI:

WALKABILITY: TONS to do within walking distance and not really needing transportation, but very fatigue-inducing walking. Yowch. I happened to have 2 crazy injured ankles happening, so that was just unfortunate timing. You should expect to climb a TON of stairs. This was a rough destination for those who have a difficult time with mobility, are elderly, and most children. Obviously comfortable shoes are a must. We stayed in Oia which was a beautiful little town full of restaurants, shopping, and scenery, so we didn't have to go far for plenty to do. When we ventured too far to walk, we used a combination of the bus (very cheap, like 1.80 euro/pp from Oia to Fira, but completely packed full and very uncomfortable), rented ATVs (40 euro/day, but please be sure you know how to drive them because Santorini was saturated with tourists who had no clue how to operate ATVs, nearly causing accidents left and right), and even a donkey when my ankles couldn't get me back up the treacherous 281 steps that we had hiked down to get to the beach, AFTER I confirmed that the donkeys were treated properly and that my 120lb self was considered a "break" for them. I'm still conflicted about this, so please don't scold me, I feel guilty. It was either a donkey or making a nice home for myself at the bottom of the cliff. My ankles were the size of my head, it was a situation. I thanked Herbert (what I named him) for his service and I swear he smiled at me. Ok, probably not. But I was grateful for the relief.

FOOD: 7/10 for loads of restaurant options, great greek food. Loss of 3 stars for the overpriced nature of a lot of the food strictly because Oia was jam-packed-full of tourists and they knew it. Expect to need reservations for dinner EVERY night, even for the casual places. We were so lucky to have a phenomenal host at the Caldera View Cave House who not only let us know about the reservation requirement, but gave us incredible recommendations AND made the reservations for us. When we arrived at each restaurant, we could tell that she must have a lot of pull in Oia, because they treated us EXTRA special and gave us the best table in the house when they saw that we were from Caldera House.

ACCOMMODATIONS: Like I said, we stayed at one of the Caldera Villas and it was fantastic. The view was absolutely insane--like...the most majestic I've ever experienced. To wake up and walk out to this incredible scene was alone worth 10/10 stars. Our hostess was top-notch when it came to recommendations...and she was basically our personal concierge. She arranged airport transportation, luggage hauling, all of our restaurant reservations at places that we would have never known to check out.

The view from our apartment in Oia, Santorini Greece. And, I cannot possibly describe how little justice this photo does.

It's super important to note that this was a CAVE HOUSE in SANTORINI GREECE. The entire island has subpar plumbing, so you are not allowed to flush toilet paper. Seriously. Not even a square. While this was kind of a turn-off, it was just a part of the Grecian island experience and I don't fault the accommodations for that.

We rented our property through Air BnB, so the fact that we still had such amazing hotel-type services like daily housekeeping and concierge was incredible.

COST: I figure if you're planning a trip to Santorini, you probably already know that it's on the expensive side, right? Well, it is. It's a top tourist destination and is absolutely STUNNING. I truly believe that it's a sight that everyone should see/experience. That said, our stay in Santorini was the most "vacation" portion of our long summer travels throughout Europe, so, I'll admit, we didn't hold back as much when it came to budget. We stayed in Oia which is more on the expensive side, but there are other towns that are more affordable, albeit less scenic. I did see several really cool boutique hotels between Oia and the airport that I would be interested in checking out if I go back to Santorini.

THE LOCALS: While we were in a heavily tourist-populated area for the majority of our time there, we found the locals to be pretty pleasant. Waitstaff was kind and accommodating (especially given that we were English-speaking), shop owners were only moderately aggressive, and we felt welcome.

THE TOURISTS: were everywhere. Granted, it was July. That's a busy time for tourists. Being that I've just spent my summer in over 10 European tourist cities, I have some perspective on tourist patterns and behavior. I rated Santorini tourists at a 6 out of 10 on the annoying scale. There did seem to be more "entitlement" and snobbery amongst Santorini tourists. But as you'll read in my further posts, it wasn't as high on the eye roll scale as some of the other destinations we visited.

The Pitfalls...

If I'm going to continue to be a responsible travel photographer, I think it's important to not just show the beauty, but also the busts. There's a whole sea of "insta travel bloggers" out there that will show you the stunning photo of them in a ballgown riding a camel in the Sahara, but they won't show you the filthy sweaty smelly mess it took to get you there. That said... ;)

At this point in my summer journey, my body had been having some sort of revenge on me. I won't go into details, but it appears as though, for the 2 months prior to departure, my body has been attacking itself. From my gut to my joints, it's all been rather unpleasant. Finally finding a bit of a treatment, a part of that was something of a detox that has resulted in swollen joints. My ankles had it the worst, swelling up to the size of melons---DEFINITELY terrible timing for trekking through Santorini! I did have to pay a couple of visits to the Farmacia, and luckily, they were immensely helpful. They gave me a prescription grade anti-inflammatory that worked pretty magically.

Another eye-opening experience was most definitely the Santorini airport. HOLY. COW. So here I am, thinking "Let's just go ahead and check out of our house, get to the airport early....I have a lot of work I can do, we can grab a drink and some food....".....clearly I was envisioning my otherwise "kushy" airport accommodations. The Santorini airport is a place that you should ONLY go with exactly enough time to get through security and get on your plane. It was tiny, hot, smelly, and PACKED FULL of people desperately looking for a place to sit/lean/cry. Lesson learned. Going 4 hours early to eat and work is not a good idea.