Mother Daughter Travel Guide to Greece Part Two: Santorini
The idea of a Mother-Daughter trip to Greece really began after my father died. When you lose someone so close to you, you can't help but think about all the moments in your future that you are going to be missing with them. You also can't help yourself but think of the 'would haves' and 'should haves'.
Luckily - there were very few of those with us. We had an incredible relationship that always started with a hug and ended with an 'I love you.' We had weekly dinners, talked almost daily, and even got matching tattoos. There was hardly anything left unsaid, or undone - which is pretty remarkable for someone who died unexpectedly. I always say it truly speaks to his character of living in the now.
But one thing I do wish we did more - or had the opportunity to do was travel. See the world together. Experience new things and make memories. I remember taking family vacations as a child but as I got older sports, school, and divorce all got in the way. We stopped taking family vacations and our quality time together as adults, never really lasted more than a few hours. Although I never had time to travel with my Dad later in life - I do have time to travel with my Mom, so I did.
We decided on Greece. A place we both had never been to but were interested in. My mom had never been to Europe before, so it was so exciting to experience that together. We started in Athens and then spent the majority of our time in Santorini.
If you missed Part One: Athens, you can check it out here.
What I didn't share in my first post is that this wasn't supposed to be just a mother-daughter trip. My grandmother was also supposed to join us in this memory making experience. I actually had to bring out the waterworks just to convince her to join. Unfortunately, she had to have open heart surgery only a few weeks prior and wasn't able to join us.
(Note: Surgery went well and she's doing better than before!)
So my Mom and I took on Santorini just the two of us - and these pictures simply do not do it justice. The entire island is breathtakingly beautiful. If I didn't just go last year, this would have been on my list for our honeymoon.
We went to Santorini in December, so this is considered the "off season" on the island. Depending on what type of experience you are looking for, this can be great! Although a lot of the restaurants and shops were closed there were little to no tourists. We could experience the true beauty of the island without dodging selfie sticks and crowds of people. It was also a bit chillier (think 60ish degrees) we wore lots of layers because the sun was warm but the wind was chilly.
We weren't looking for the type of vacation to lay out in bikinis and sun bathe. We really wanted to explore the island and soak in all of it's beauty. So this time of year was perfect for us!
Day 1:
We flew into Santorini from Athens (45min). You can also take the ferry (4-8 hours), but because we were only spending a few days we really wanted to maximize our time there. There are several little areas within Santorini - we decided to stay in Oia for the quiet and gorgeous sunset views. This was considered more of the 'honeymoon' area where Fira was more of a 'city/nightlife' area. Definitely do your research before booking your location. Having an airbnb that was walkable to most of the things we wanted to do made the travel experience more relaxed.
We arrived at our AIRBNB which was absolutely incredible. The cave houses are definetly the way to go to experience the Greek architecture. We had our own outdoor space looking out over the water and the gorgeous views of the iconic white caves on both sides. The airbnb also had a kitchen which is nice if you are trying to budget when traveling. You can always make breakfast, lunch or stay in and have dinner on the patio. We specifically got this airbnb because it had a jacuzzi. We thought that because it was chiller that it would be nice to have in the evenings to sit outside. However, it was not heated so we didn't get to enjoy it.