- Day 13: Naxos, Mykonos and Flight Home (or not)
- Days 11 and 12: Naxos Relaxation
- Day 10: Iraklia and Koufonissi Day Trip
- Day 9: Naxos Mount Zas
- Day 8: Naxos Beach Day
- Day 7: Folegandros to Naxos
- Day 6: More Folegandros
- Day 5: Folegandros
- Day 4: Santorini to Folegandros
- Day 3: Oia and Kamari
- Day 2: Firostefani
- Day 1: Flying into Santorini
Sunday, 14th July 2019
Despite our late arrival the night before, I’d set an alarm for 8 am so we could make the most of our limited time at Villa Koronios, as it has a pool and terrace area that our next hotel lacks.
Breakfast was simple, but the coffee was drinkable, and we got through enough bread and jam to fuel us for the morning. Although warm, it wasn’t quite as sunny as I’d expected; a light haze seemed to hang in the air.
We sunbathed by the pool until nearly midday, then returned to our room for a quick shower. We hadn’t unpacked anything from the night before, so checking out was as easy as grabbing our bags and dropping the key back at reception. We then began the journey into Fira and onto Firostefani to our next hotel, Smaro Studios. The walk took about 20 minutes but felt like hard work with our backpacks as it was mostly uphill.
We had initially planned to stop for lunch in Fira on the way, passing some time before our 2p.m. check-in, but carrying two backpacks each was sweaty work. We decided to go directly to the new hotel and hoped we could access our room early. We were in luck, and our room was ready, so we dropped our bags off and went for a quick dip in the (small but very welcome) pool, then showered and changed for lunch.
The walk back to Fira – minus the heavy luggage – was much more pleasant. I was keen to return to Nick’s Grill for some pork gyros, as I had fond memories of them from my 2017 visit. It was every bit as good as I remembered!
After lunch, we visited the Museum of Prehistoric Thira before returning to the hotel for another dip in the pool and a nap – sightseeing in the heat is hard work! We then decided on an unplanned excursion to Skaros Rock, a 30-minute walk north of the hotel. The views are excellent, and I highly recommend it:
Still somewhat tired from the previous day’s travelling, we opted to eat close to the hotel and had a fantastic meal at Da Vinci – an Italian restaurant (could you guess?!) just opposite Smaro Studios. The food was excellent, combined with some nice red wine and perhaps the most gigantic chocolate calzone dessert I’ve ever eaten:
Having consumed enough to feed a small elephant (which is basically what I felt like by the end), we slowly strolled back to our room – grateful it was so close – and went straight to bed.