Howdy all, and welcome to another post on my blog, Andy Roams! Last week I recounted my journey from Athens to Santorini, one that nearly didn’t happen. Today I’ll be attempting to sum up my short time on the island in one mere post. Easier said than done.

I stayed in the small central town of Karterados, somewhere in the centre of the island, but it’s not super wide and if you walked in the right direction you could see the beach and ocean. I stayed at the incredible Pension George, one of my favourite stays not just for 2025 but actually it’s a top ten ever I would say at a guess. The town itself is pretty and has loads of laneways to explore and get lost in. There are a few eateries, a small supermarket, the pension had a bar and could have food delivered to the pension for breakfast. Also, lovely pool and Santorini’s trademark white washed walls.

Now with a few days to explore the island, I sat down with the pension’s manager who gave me a raft of tips of what to see and do on the island. Before I list what I did do, a few basics – there is a bus service that goes to most towns on the island and this is how I get around, taxis and Ubers are outrageously expensive. The buses are mostly for tourists, I suppose hiring a car would not be the worst idea but I expect it would be expensive. The ferries DO take vehicles so that’s an option if you were to hire a car in Athens.

There are a number of towns on the island, the main one being Fira with a bigish bus stop there that connects a lot of the island. The buses run to a time table of sorts, but are not super frequent but well patronised. Walking around is possible, but bare in mind that even though it wasn’t hot when I was there, just mid 20s really, there is little vegetation and the sun beats down hot. Hats and sunscreen are therefore a must. And any other ways you might like to protect your skin are definitely worthwhile. Somehow I didn’t get sunburnt there. The white walls also intensify the sun’s brightness.

Depending on the route the buses can be every 30 minutes to an hour, and at the wrong time of day even further dispersed and end by about evening/6pm in many cases. They are a good idea because although the island isn’t massive, it’s not at all flat.

Anyways, I’ll take you through the places I saw whilst there. Firstly I travelled up to Oia via two buses from Karterados (through Fira). This is the must visit town on the island I guess, at the top of the cliff/hill in the north-west of Santorini. Locals pronounce it ee – ah although I found people saying oi – a which is generally regarded as the ‘foreigner’ pronunciation, and this is what I went for in my vlog.

This is a very beautiful town and exactly what you think of when you think of Santorini. The hills are super steep, perhaps not quite cliffs, and there are loads of lanes to explore which restaurants and shopping aplenty. The views down the side of the hill towards the ocean are stunning and if you are looking for chances to do great selfies, there are corners and stairs aplenty offering great opportunities. It’s all very photogenic. Other highlights there include The Virgin Mary Akathist Hymm Church, and the cute little Maritime Museum.

After I had visited Oia, I went for a lovely, if sunny and mostly shadeless walk for around an hour across from Oia, via Finikia, to Koloumpos on the very north of the island. A delightful walk on a combination of roads, lanes and walking paths across the landscape, past vineyards and stone walls. The beach itself is pretty disappointing. The sand is basically non existent and the soil/rocks is black in keeping with the volcanic nature of the island. There’s a bar there with an old beaten up caravan behind it, and a few beach chairs but in May, no people really except for myself and a couple that walked past.

I moved on via walking and finally bus to get to Fira, the island’s biggest and main town. It’s busier than Oia, obviously, and has more shops, but still has some amazing hill top views – probably better ones across the ocean than Oia does. There is a cable car right down to the bottom where boats appear to dock from time to time.

Also on the island are three other places I visited when at Santorini. The ‘Lost Atlantis Experience – Interactive Museum’ was a place that was recommended to me. I’m not sure I would fully endorse it, but as Ancient Thira is regarded as possibly being the lost city of Atlantis, it makes sense to have such an experience here. I think. It doesn’t take all that long to experience and includes a 9-D experience. YES – 9-D! The experience generally talks a lot Plato and equating his writing re: Atlantis to the possibility it was here on Santorini. Personally – I wasn’t convinced…

Down in the south of Santorini is the town of Akrotiri, and just below it is Ancient Akrotiri, reminiscent of Joya de Ceren in El Salvador, an ancient town buried under ash in the 16^th century BC. It’s under a roof and is certainly worth visiting, and you can get a real sense of the town as it was before volcanic ash rained down and put an end to the place.

Finally a 20 – 30 minute walk took me to Red Beach. It involves a bit of clamouring over rocks, but it is impressive. The beach is mostly black but the cliff faces are red giving it it’s name. Plenty of boats out and about in the bay there too, perfect for photos. People were here just to relax and enjoy the beach, unlike at Koloumpos. But it’s easy to see why.

And that was the sum total of the sights I took in on Santorini. There are plenty more – it’s an island with various towns. I would go back in a heartbeat, it’s very beautiful. Not brilliant for beaches, but it’s gorgeous. Loved it, wasn’t sure it would be the sort of place for me, but I was happy to be wrong about that! Thanks for popping in and reading today! Take care wherever you are in the world and… May the Journey Never End!