Santorini | MY GREECE TRAVEL BLOG

Tag: Santorini (page 3 of 12)

The sweet sounds and looks of luxury at Canaves Oia hotel on Santorini

This 2-minute film is the official 2018 promotional video for Canaves Oia on Santorini. The hotel looks amazing, and its outstanding scenic views show why Santorini is one of the world’s most famous islands.

Dreamy destination: Yesterday (February 23) was a terribly dreary day here in Toronto. The morning temperature was only 1 degree Celsius, a light drizzle was falling, and fog had enshrouded most of the downtown skyscrapers that usually crowd the skyline view from my windows. The dull light made me feel tired, and I kept wanting to crawl into bed. I desperately needed sunshine, but since there wasn’t any in the forecast, I started surfing the web to watch some videos of sunny places in Greece. That always perks me up on gloomy days.

I found the usual assortment of home-made travel clips and aerial videos shot by camera-mounted drones, all of which boosted my spirits a bit. However, the film that gave me the biggest lift was a marketing promo for one of the most exclusive — and expensive — luxury resorts on Santorini.

Entitled Luxury Never Sounded So Good, it’s the official 2018 video for Canaves Oia, a stunning 5-star boutique hotel perched atop the caldera cliffs in Oia village. The resort is just as gorgeous as its incredible views and surrounding scenery, and it regularly wins awards and accolades from top travel magazines and websites, including TripAdvisor. It also has been profiled extensively on social media and in dozens of leading lifestyle, fashion, design and travel publications around the world.

With all that good press, Canaves Oia probably doesn’t need to advertise anymore. But I’m glad they do, since their videos are professionally produced, enticing to watch and — best of all — they make me feel, for a few minutes at least, that I’m back in Greece on vacation.

What I particularly like about this year’s promo film is that members of the Canaves staff and management team play starring roles, while the hotel and the exquisite Santorini scenery fill supporting background positions.

The video runs for just over two minutes, and is bound to put you into a luxuriously dreamy Santorini state of mind — especially if the weather sucks wherever you might be while you watch it. If you won’t be able to stay at the Canaves or visit Oia this year, watching the clip and daydreaming about being there is the next best thing.

By the way, just in case you’re wondering: No, the hotel didn’t ask me to post the video on my blog. Nor did it offer to pay me or give me free accommodation if I did. (I don’t have that kind of good luck, unfortunately). I found the video while clicking around the web, and liked it so much I decided to feature it in a blog post. Santorini was one of the first Greek islands we got to visit, and it’s one of the reasons we fell in love with Greece and keep going back. I simply hope that sharing the film might inspire other dreamers and travel buffs to visit Greece some day, if they haven’t been there yet.

And if you’re a fan of minimalist design and crisp white interior decor, click on the link below to see the sweet looks of luxury — a selection of tantalizing images I’ve collected from various galleries on the Canaves Oia website. There’s a few photos of the breathtaking views from the accommodations, restaurants, bars and swimming pools, too.

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Santorini sights and attractions– just as a tourist sees them

January 15, 2018 / admin / 2 Comments

Pierre Marteau compiled this overview video of places and attractions he visited during a trip to Santorini in 2017

Eye level views: I discovered a brand-new Santorini travel video on Vimeo today, and wanted to share it immediately so any of my readers planning a first-time visit to the island can see how it really looks in person.

Santorini 2017 is a 9-minute film that Pierre Marteau published on January 14. What I particularly like about the clip is that it wasn’t filmed with a drone, as so many Santorini videos tend to be nowadays. Although drones capture amazing aerial views of the island’s spectacular landscape scenery, no visitor is ever going to see it from the same perspective. On the other hand, Pierre’s eye-level video shows exactly how sights and attractions will appear as you look around while exploring the island.

Places shown in the video include:

♦ Santorini’s main town, Fira

♦ the traditional village of Pyrgos

♦ the black sand beach at Kamari

♦ the romantic and extremely picturesque clifftop village of Oia, which is perhaps the most famous place for sunset viewing in all the Greek islands.

The video also shows what you’ll see riding the cable car to the cruise ship and excursion boat docks in the Old Port below Fira, and while taking one of the popular boat tours to the hot springs and the nearby volcano island of Nea Kameni. Of course, the video also captures views of some of the beautiful bougainvillea and flowers, colourful houses, iconic blue-domed chapels, and marvellous sunsets that together make Santorini one of the most-photographed places in Greece.

And you’ll see some of the island’s controversial donkeys and mules, which I hope none of my readers will ride while visiting Santorini. If you don’t know why you shouldn’t climb atop any of these animals for a ride up or down the caldera cliff paths, please read my post Don’t ride the donkeys! Why tourists should avoid taking the mule ‘taxis’ on Santorini.

Note that Santorini 2017 is a compilation video that Pierre put together from several other clips he shot on Santorini. You can view all of those films — which show other top Santorini attractions, such as Akrotiri and Ancient Thera, on Pierre’s VIMEO page.

A timely Greece travel guide

May 18, 2017 / admin / 1 Comment

Greece gets cover treatment in the May 2017 issue of The Sunday Times Travel Magazine

Cover glory: It may have been an omen, or simply serendipity, but whatever it was certainly happened at a good time.

When I popped into a local newsstand the other day to browse reading material for our upcoming flight to Greece, a photo of a beautiful Greek island beach instantly caught my eye.

At first glance I thought it was a picture of Zakynthos island’s world-famous Navagio beach (also known as Shipwreck Beach) that graces the cover of the May 2017 edition of The Sunday Times Travel Magazine. But after taking a closer look once I got home, I realized it’s a different beach altogether. Surprisingly, the magazine’s editorial page doesn’t identify the location — the photo states only that the image was photographed by Giovanni Simeone of SIME/4 Corners. But after a few minutes of Google searching, I discovered that the picture captures a small cove a short distance down the coast from Navagio.

With that little mystery solved, I took a quick peek through the magazine’s cover feature — a 24-page “Total Guide” to Greece.

“Whether you’re after a jam-packed family trip, an indulgent break with friends, or a romantic laze on a step-back-in-time island, we’ve got your Greece right here,” the guide’s introduction pledges. And it certainly seems to fulfill its promises.

Among the guide’s dozens of destination profiles, tips and suggestions are articles describing:

♦ The ideal island-hopping break (to the Argo-Saronic islands)

♦ 3 ways to feel remote

♦ The ideal active holiday

♦ 5 ways to get off-season summer sun

♦ A girly break on Santorini

♦ The ideal crowd-free Athens break

♦ Our favourite scrummy seaside lunches

♦ The ideal family-friendly resort holiday

♦ Our favourite epic historic sites

♦ Our favourite beaches only the locals know

♦ 2 ways to visit a great little city

♦ The ideal timewarp trip (to Kythira), and

♦ Our favourite white sand beaches (Navagio ranks #2 on the list, right after Crete’s Balos beach, which I profiled in two blog posts last year: Escape to Crete’s exotic Balos beaches and lagoons, and Escape to Balos Part 2).

The guide provides plenty of additional information and helpful advice, and is packed with photos of beautiful and inspiring sights and scenes. See if you can pick up a copy at your local news outlet. Sorry, but you can’t borrow mine — I’m not letting it out of my hands!

Party events on Ios, Naxos, Santorini & other Cyclades islands during summer 2017

February 25, 2017 / admin / 2 Comments

Friday October 13 is Greek Me party time at The Ocean Club on Naxos

Swing Bar on Naxos presents live jazz, swing and rock music on Friday October 13 and Saturday October 14

On Saturday October 14, Akri Bar on Milos is having a Summer Never Ends party with music by DJ Nikos Zoulias

There’s another Can’t Wait party at The Ocean Club on Naxos on Saturday October 13

Pantelis Karanikas entertains at Naxos Cafe on Naxos on Saturday October 14

Marabou club on Andros launches its autumn season on Saturday October 14 with guest DJ Deleasis (Stamatis Mavrakis)

On Saturday October 14, Santorini’s Koo Club holds its season closing party

The Ocean Club on Naxos is hosting a Street Latin Party on Sunday October 15

Vaggelis Germanos appears for live shows at Naxos Cafe on Naxos on Friday October 20 and Saturday October 21

Hercules Koktsidis will play Greek and mainstream music for the Greek Them All party at Marabou Club on Andros on Saturday October 28

~ Updated on Friday October 13 ~

Beyond Mykonos: This roundup of top parties and special events on select islands in the Cyclades is a supplement to my popular Mykonos party scene 2017 post.

This listing includes major events taking place on Ios, Naxos, Santorini and other nearby islands which many Mykonos partygoers visit during summer holidays in Greece. I have added this party listing in response to numerous requests from readers who were wondering where they could find good parties, besides Mykonos, while they are touring the Cyclades.

Please turn to page 2 of this post to see lots more upcoming parties and special events in the Cyclades.

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First-time island hopping in the Cyclades: How to do it, and what you’ll see when you get there

February 18, 2017 / admin / 2 Comments

Cyclades hopping, an animated video published by g travel, shows how to arrange a simple island hopping holiday in the north and central Cyclades

Island itineraries: If you haven’t been to Greece before but dream about taking an island hopping holiday there, you’re probably wondering where to go, and how to get from one island to the next. With dozens of destination options in six distinct island chains, plus an array of ferry schedules to sift through, it can seem intimidating to set up a vacation. That’s one of the main reasons why many travellers take a Greek Isles cruise or a package tour, or ask a travel agent to arrange everything for them. There’s nothing wrong with any of those approaches if you’re more comfortable with them or you simply don’t have the time to do your own planning. But it’s not that daunting and difficult to do it yourself.

The video at the top of this post, Cyclades hopping, shows how to arrange a simple do-it-yourself trip to one of the most popular island chains in Greece.

The animated film focusses on a few of the Cyclades, the islands instantly recognizable for their “sugar cube” white houses and blue-domed chapels perched on rocky slopes high above gorgeous golden sand beaches and the stunning turquoise waters of the Aegean Sea.

Home to Mykonos and Santorini, two of the most world-famous and popular places in Greece, the Cyclades is where the majority of first-timers get introduced to the island hopping experience. Many get hooked and keep going back, or instead venture off to hop around the other island chains — the Sporades, Saronic, Dodecanese, Northeastern Aegean, and Ionian.

Crete, the biggest island in Greece, isn’t part of a distinct island chain, and is so vast that visitors are typically advised to devote a full two- or-three week holiday there to explore its incredibly wide variety of beaches, historic sites and attractions.

When you watch Cyclades hopping, you’ll gain insights into travelling to Andros, Mykonos, Paros, Antiparos, Naxos, Ios and Santorini. I have posted several videos that highlight travel to those particular destinations on page 2 of this article, so you can see what each of those islands looks like, and get an overview of some of the top attractions and activities they offer. Additional videos offer peeks at other Cycladic island gems, including Sifnos, Folegandros, Syros, Amorgos, Tinos, Milos, Serifos and Kea.

A passenger enjoys early morning views from the upper deck of the Express Skopelitis ferry as it departs Egali port on Amorgos en route to Naxos

Please turn to page 2 to continue reading and to view videos of islands in the Cyclades chain.

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How to travel to Greece on a student’s budget

February 2, 2017 / admin / 2 Comments

Hotel buildings and infinity swimming pools cling to the sides of the imposing caldera cliffs in Oia village on Santorini island

Guest post by Lisa Griffin

Greece is a Eurozone country, and this fact often keeps travelers with a student budget at bay from taking a trip there. Many people think they will require loads of money to travel to Greek resorts. It is a common prejudice which is closely connected to myths that only tycoons and other financial demi-gods can afford the resorts .

The truth is different. Times of Aristotle Onassis have passed, and now any student can afford cheap holidays to Greece, either taking a trip to a sunny island like Santorini or feeling the antique air of Athens without paying much.

Students’ leisure shouldn`t be expensive!

Cheap Greece vacations are not a dream anymore. Greece is a highly underestimated budget travel destination. Just follow the simple rule – if you are not a millionaire, don`t pretend to be one. Don`t book expensive hotels; eat out in small traditional restaurants, and use low-cost airfare and transport. Otherwise, you can turn the pleasure of your vacation into endless money wasting.

A statement like this applies to every country in the world – you can say that any city is expensive unless you’re willing to change your habits and try to look for ways to economize.

In Greece, don’t always go for the most popular places. Local people are usually trying to earn money on tourists not caring if they will be satisfied with their expensive services – tomorrow the flux of tourists will be all the same. Check Greek island vacation packages for bargains. Often these packages include delightful spots that aren’t as popular as the mainstream destinations, so you can enjoy low-cost services while having all you need for a good rest and entertainment.

Yet even the more expensive Islands like Santorini are accessible to everyone, since you can usually find hostel accommodation for as little as €15 per night. it might be a bed in a tent, but do you need more? People travel to Greek Isles not to sit in a hotel, but to see as much as possible and spend time somewhere on a distant beach. The main thing is to have a shower, a kitchen to cook fresh products bought in local markets, wifi, a place to put your stuff, and a bed to sleep.

Fira, the main commercial center on Santorini. Although it’s one of the most expensive places to visit in Greece, Santorini still offers hostel and other cheap accommodations that suit a student budget.

Please click on the link below to continue reading page 2 of Lisa Griffin’s article.

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Fab video scenes from a reader’s visit to Athens, Santorini and Mykonos in May 2016

May 27, 2016 / admin / 3 Comments

In his beautifully-filmed Greece – Cinematic Travel Video, Kris Clark spotlights top attractions and stunning scenery from Athens, Mykonos and Santorini

Trip highlights: Readers of my blog occasionally write to say they found my website helpful or inspiring for planning their own trips to Greece. My favourite feedback message of all arrived just yesterday — and included a link to the wonderful video I shared above.

In a comment posted on my blog, Kristoffer Clark said he, his wife and some friends recently returned from their May 7 – 15 trip to Athens, Santorini and Mykonos.

“We loved it, we used your site to help plan our itinerary. Your site was a big help,” he wrote. “I love to make travel videos of my trips so i wanted to share our Greece one with you.”

It’s such a fabulous film that I can’t resist sharing it here, since I think it superbly captures the essence and tremendous beauty of all three destinations.

And what I like best, besides the gorgeous scenery, are all the smiles, laughs and happy faces in evidence as Kristoffer, his wife and friends enjoy and experience the sights and scenery of three amazing destinations I visited on my own first trip to Greece.

If you’ve been to Athens, Mykonos and Santorini before, watching Greece – Cinematic Travel Video will undoubtedly trigger many happy memories for you as well. And if you haven’t been to Greece yet, I’m sure it will quickly convince you that it’s time to go. What are you waiting for? Start planning!

The bewitching but dangerous beauty of Santorini’s Red Beach

May 10, 2016 / admin / 14 Comments

Santorini’s Red Beach is seen in an image from EscapeGreece.com

[Editor’s Update: If you plan to visit Santorini in 2018, please beware that Red Beach is officially closed to the public. Click here to read about a landslide that occurred on Red Beach in April 2018 and led island authorities to re-issue warnings that the beach is off limits because it’s too dangerous to visit.]

Rockfall risk: Since Santorini enjoys a worldwide reputation for superlative natural scenery, it’s not surprising that the island’s remarkable Red Beach regularly garners glowing accolades from international travel publications and leading lifestyle websites — along with ample attention on social media, where thousands of people have posted selfies that they shot on and near the colourful coastal attraction.

During my routine online work and research, I frequently find articles in which travel magazines and websites declare Red Beach to be one of the world’s “best,” “most beautiful,” “most unusual” or “most colourful” beaches, and recommend it as a “must-see” for anyone visiting Santorini. Photos of the distinctive strand, which is also known as Red Sand Beach, appear even more often on websites and social media pages dedicated to travel in Greece, and in particular for hotels and tour companies operating on Santorini.

What the articles, posts and photo captions rarely mention, however, is that Red Beach is a veritably perilous place to sunbathe, swim or stroll. In recent years, there have been several significant rockfalls and landslides from the crimson-coloured bluffs that rise behind the narrow strip of scarlet-tinged pebbles and stones, and geological experts believe it’s possible that more cliff sections could collapse onto the beach at any time. (There are anecdotal claims that two beachgoers were killed by a landslide a few years ago, but I couldn’t find any news reports confirming the fatalities or date of the accident.)

Red Beach is seen on a sunny April afternoon in a photo by TripAdvisor review contributor Chris B

During peak season in past years, sunbeds have been available for rent, as seen in this photo from the Santorini Hotels Facebook page

In April, Facebook member Cecil Ramirez captured this photo of the imposing red stone cliffs that tower above Red Beach

Major rockfalls have occurred at Red Beach several times in the past decade. Two of the larger landslides are clearly visible in this photo shared on Facebook by Daena K Nicholas

Red Beach has been “closed” since August 2013 because of fears more landslides could occur, and since stones and boulders loosen and plunge from the cliffs on occasion. But warning signs like this one, shown in a Facebook photo by Jc Male, have not deterred thousands of people from going to the beach.

Sunbathers sit near the foot of one of the larger landslides, seen in a Facebook photo by Daniel Dias da Silva. Fences were installed to keep people from climbing the cliffs and landslip rubble because that could trigger further collapses of the rock face.

The safest way to see Red Beach is from the sea or from a distance on a hilltop vantage point like this one captured in a Facebook photo by Nikky Dudek

Please click on the link below to continue reading about Red Beach on page 2 of this post, where you can view videos and dozens more photos of this singular Santorini beach.

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Tag: Santorini (page 3 of 12)

Santorini sights and attractions– just as a tourist sees them

A timely Greece travel guide

Party events on Ios, Naxos, Santorini & other Cyclades islands during summer 2017

First-time island hopping in the Cyclades: How to do it, and what you’ll see when you get there

How to travel to Greece on a student’s budget

Fab video scenes from a reader’s visit to Athens, Santorini and Mykonos in May 2016

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