I was lucky enough to kick Summer off with 2 weeks in Bali, and then close it with another 2 weeks in Greece. Ollie and I spent 10 days in the Cyclades - flying into Santorini, then 5 nights in Paros, 4 nights in Sifnos, then back to London via Santorini.
We had a ridiculously early start on the Aug bank holiday Monday which I will never do again - we had to be up at 3am to get to the airport for our flight! We arrived in
Santorini in time for lunch though. We had a walk around the town of
Oia, soaking up the sunshine we had missing so much. We found a good spot for sunset drinks and had dinner at a great Greek tapas restaurant called Meltini - more sophisticated and modern than my usual simple favourite Greek meals but delicious.
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| Walking through Oia |
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| Famous Santorini vistas |
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| The mandatory donkey shot |
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| Loving the Bouganvillea everywhere |
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| Overlooking the Caldera |
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| Sunset in Oia |
On Tuesday we took the ferry to
Paros. We checked into our AirBnb in the fishing village of
Naousa. I had been before a few years before but it was new to Ollie so we went exploring after a greek salad and glass of rose. We stumbled across a cute bar under a gum tree and had the first of many drinks there, and then caught the last of the sun on the back steps of our apartment. That night we had one of the best dinners we had of the trip. It was at
Sigi Ikthios in the port area in front of all the boats. The fried calamari to start, and whole red snapper for dinner were excellent.
Each morning a simple breakfast was brought to our room to eat on our little terrace which was a nice way to start the day. The wind had picked up on Wednesday. We spent the day at nearby
Santa Maria beach and managed not to be blown away. We had picked up a spinach pie from the excellent local bakery so had lunch on our sun lounges. In the afternoon we had a couple of aperol spritz before dinner, a pre-dinner espresso martini and dinner at Kaper. We ate dolmades, yellow split pea dip and a pork stew. Dessert was mojitos at a cute bar on a side street.
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| Street in Paros |
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| Ice Blocks! |
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| The port in Naousa |
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| The 'tree' bar we spent a lot of time at |
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| Spritz time |
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| View from the back steps of our apartment |
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| Dinner at Sigi Ikthios |
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| Breakfast is served |
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More spritz time (this is a running theme)
I unfortunately had a bit of work that I'd had to bring with me so did a bit more on Thursday morning. The afternoon was spent a bus ride away at the quiet and small Ampelas Beach. It was relaxing there with another spinach pie lunch. Back in the village we had ice cream, and rose on our back steps. Dinner that night was at Les Amis - watermelon with feta to start and spaghetti with clams for main. We tried a new cocktail bar after dinner.
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| Ampelas Beach |
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| In and around Naousa |
On Friday morning we took an early boat ride to
Kolymbithres Beach. The water here is one of the bluest and we really enjoyed our day here. Lunch was at the taverna. We had some beers on our back step again, and aperols at the 'tree bar'. Dinner was at Mediteraneo where we bravely tried squid ink (black) tzatziki and a whole grouper fish. We didn't really enjoy the tzatiki in all honesty! For dessert we went to
Nonna Crema gelati shop. I tried a new, amazing almond and lemon flavour that was superb. It was the best gelati of the whole holiday - and one of the best flavours I have ever had.
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| At Kolymbithres Beach |
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| The port of Naousa |
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| Nonna Crema - the best ice cream! |
Monastiri was Saturday's beach. Another nice beach, a boat ride away, quieter than Kolymbithres. Our lunch at the tavern here was one of the best - greek salad and stuffed capsicums. Another great day at the beach. Our ritual of a drink on the back steps and a pre-dinner cocktail continued. For our last night in Naousa we had dinner at
Taverna Glafkos. It was excellent - calamari, Dorado fish, and a fab cheesecake. Definitely one of the best meals we had, and by the water too.
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| Greek Salad & Stuffed Capsicum |
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| Fresh fish at Taverna Glafkos |
A five hour ferry ride was ahead of us when we woke very early on Sunday to make our way to the island of
Sifnos. I had never been before and wanted to try one of the quieter islands. The AirBnb we checked into in
Apollonia was really great place - arty, spacious, high ceilings and lots of light. We stopped at a tavern near our apartment for another lunch of greek salad and a beer. The owner here told us that it was too late in the season for fresh dolmades (the grape vine leaves were too crispy) so he didn't serve them anymore (we had obviously been eating out of season dolmades previously!).
We explored all afternoon - it was hot, quiet and hardly anyone around. Quite unusual! We woke up the bar staff at the cafe/bar next to our place for an ice coffee and sat in the sun reading for a peaceful afternoon. That night on my way to dinner, I forgot my pin number! Fortunately I had another card with me so it wasn't a problem, just annoying. We had dinner at a restaurant recommended by the AirBnb owner called Cayenne. I had a very simple lemon and thyme risotto.
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| Our AirBnb in Sifnos |
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| Our staple lunch |
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| Great spot for lunch |
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| Walking around Apollonia in Sifnos |
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| Apertivo time |
The AirBnb owner also owns a local cafe called
Botzi so we swung by there for breakfast (I finally had the fruit and yoghurt that I'd been dreaming of in London) before hiring a car and heading to
Platys Gialos beach. This is the main beach in Sifnos. We set ourselves up for the day on sun lounges right in the middle of the beach. Lunch at
Omega3 right on the beach was spectacular! Fantastic location, so tasty, and such a brilliant surprise. We could have eaten the whole menu but restrained ourselves with five dishes. It's worth going back to the island just for another meal there.
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| The beachfront pottery shop I went to |
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| My new casserole pot! Just in time for London winter. |
Later that afternoon we went to the old village of
Kastro for a short walk. There was a crazy old guy obsessed with Cuba who had a bar selling any kind of rum-based drink so we stopped to watch the sunset there. We continued our ritual of pre-dinner drinks and then went to
Drakakis in the centre of the village for dinner. We had eggplant stuffed with lamb and cheese, lamb skewers and the most amazing chicken and spinach meatballs I have ever had. It doesn't sound like much, or even look like much, but they were so good.
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| In Kastro |
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| Church of the Seven Martyrs out on the edge |
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| Kastro streets |
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| The excellent chicken & spinach meatballs at Drakakis |
On Tuesday we tried a new breakfast spot called Veranda and then drove to
Chrysopigi beach. This was a really lovely spot. Very quiet, no sun lounges so we made do with towels. I hid in the shade of one of the few Tamarisk trees lining the beach. The water was lovely and a large church sat on the corner of the bay adding to the view. Lunch that day was delicious again - calamari, tzatziki, greek salad and wine in a tavern overlooking the beach. It was one of my favourites.
For sunset we drove to
Antemonas just a few minutes from Apollonia. We had drinks at Mosaico and dinner in a charming outdoor setting at a place called Chrysso. The restaurant is known for its lamb chops. We ended up trying a lot more of them than we expected after we accidentally over ordered! They were delicious.
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| Chrysopigi Beach |
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| Lunch time! |
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| How many photos of a greek salad can you have? |
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| Drinks at Mosaico in Artemonas |
We hit a new beach on the island each day so on Wednesday we went to
Vathi. We took up our spot on sun lounges and spent another day resting and reading in the sun. Lunch on this day was in the most idyllic spots ever - I had seen a photo of this place back in London and wanted to go. It pleasantly lived up to my expectations. Just past the church, tables on the beach sand under the Tamarisk trees with the water lapping a metre away. You can guess what we ate for lunch!
For our last dinner in Sifnos we went back to Drakakis and had those chicken meatballs again.
We both really loved Sifnos. Very peaceful, pretty beaches, good restaurants (less seafood than Paros though) and but with enough liveliness in the evening.
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| Driving across the island |
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| View of Vathi |
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| Vathi |
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| Pretty church |
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| This sign almost wants to make me go grocery shopping! |
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Idyllic lunch spot
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| Lunch by the water |
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| Content! |
Thursday was an early start to take the ferry back to Santorini. We arrived in the nick of time to join an afternoon catamaran excursion. We jumped on board and spent the afternoon sailing on the catamaran, jumping into the sea to swim at various stops, and then circling back to Oia to watch the sunset. They served a BBQ and drinks on board which was fun.
For our last dinner of the holiday we had fresh fish at a tavern 300 steps down to the port. I almost got sea sick sitting there among the rocking boats but the food was great again.
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| On the catamaran |
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| Sunset! |
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| View of Oia |
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| We had dinner here on our last night (and walked up and down those steps!) |
We had just enough time for a last yoghurt and fruit salad before going to the airport for our return flight.
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