Jan 2023

Santorini was the last stop on our first European journey. A short Aegean Airlines flight from Athens brought us to this postcard-perfect destination, famed for its iconic blue-and-white architecture. We were surrounded by couples on board, apart from us, everyone seemed to have a honeymoon holiday. The Mediterranean winter is unexpectedly warm, making it comfortable to wear short sleeves in the sun.

Back then, the shadow of three years of pandemic hadn’t fully lifted. The town center was quiet, most shops were closed, and the streets was free from crowds. To our surprise, the cave hotel we booked upgraded us to a room with a private spa overlooking the Aegean Sea, how lucky!

As the sun sank lower, we walked toward Oia to wait for the sunset. The streets were empty but clean, and now and then a little cat would follow us along the way. We stopped at a diary shop and bought a filo pastry desert filled with syrup and nuts, sweet, sticky, and far better than we’d had in a restaurant, even if it left our fingers deliciously messy.

Good night, Santorini