A Postcard from Santorini

September 5, 2025

I have dreamed about Santorini since I first had seen a picture of the whitewashed buildings, the blue-domes, and the blue water in the background. I bought a calendar once and I think I kept that picture for years after because I loved that image so much. When Andy and I got engaged – this was where I originally wanted to get married.

One thing led to another and the universe had other plans and we got married in the Dominican Republic instead. This was the port stop that I was most excited to visit because of how long I had dreamed about Santorini for – and honestly, it didn’t let me down.

Santorini is one of Greece’s most iconic islands, but what makes it truly unique, is that it sits on the rim of an active volcanic caldera. The result of a massive eruption thousands of years ago that shaped its dramatic cliffs and crescent shape.

One of things to note about Santorini is that all of the villages are on the cliffs, and tourists have limited options to get to the top. You can climb up 588 stairs to the top of Fira, ride a donkey, ride a cable car and pay 10 euro per person (one way), or book an excursion with the cruise ship who will arrange travel for you.

We opted for the last option, which took the guess work out of it for us. It did mean we had an early wake up call for us, but we got on tender who brought us over to the new port where our bus was waiting for us. These roads were teeny tiny and would have had anyone who was afraid of heights pinching their eyes closed and praying for it to be over as quickly as possible.

Our first stop was Oia, with its winding alleys and the famous blue domes. We were one of the first busses to pull into the parking lot, and our tour guide was so excited that she hustled us to the meeting point and told us to get to the “Instagram” point as quickly as possible because the crowds would be getting there soon and the lines would get long for the picture.

This is where things got funny. Andy and I ended up splitting up on accident because she told us that the there were two different vantage points for the domes, and both of us were in too deep with our respective lines. Andy’s line moved faster. He then came over to my line to be the ever-dutiful Instagram husband and take my pictures. Another bucket list item secured!

Since he waited, he got his line’s vantage point
The view is worth the wait!

Our next stop was a winery – Artemis Karamolegos. We sampled three wines: a crisp white Assyrtiko, a dry rosé Assyrtiko, and a sweet wine that they were famous for, the Vinsanto. Santorini has some of the oldest grapes in Europe because they were resistant to phylloxera, which had devastated the rest of Europe’s vines. We enjoyed our time there before getting back on the bus for our last stop.

They had some local cheese, tomatoes, and olives as a pairing

We made our way to the capital, Fira. This is where most tourists make the pilgrimage from the old port (the 588 steps or the donkey route). Thankfully, we were already at the top. We had an hour here, so we made our way to the edge and snuck a peek of the caldera and the donkeys before doing a little shopping.

The height of the coach bus really highlighted the crazy switchbacks headed down to the new port- sorry to the moms out there following along…

We made our way back to the cruise ship after our stop in Fira. Andy and I discussed, and we realized that everything had worked out the way it was supposed to. We were supposed to get married in the Dominican Republic. Santorini was stunning, and beautiful. But it was small – and I think we would have been bored after a day or two. It’s funny how things work out and you just don’t know it at the time!

Up Next:
Naples

Our first taste of Greece: Mykonos

September 3, 2025

We arrived in Mykonos early today and were awoken by a ton of shaking. Not sure what the shaking was because we weren’t actually docked, (this is a tender port for us – which means they shuttle us back and forth to shore by smaller boats) but it was really windy. I guess Mykonos is notorious for being windy, but without the wind the heat would be unbearable. Honestly, it feels a bit like a hair dryer because it’s hot!

One of my favorite types of cuisines is Mediterranean, so we had booked a walking food tour while we were in Mykonos with Celebrity. It didn’t start until lunchtime so we took it easy in the morning and got ready at a leisurely pace.

We got there a little early, and walked around waiting for our guide to show up. Once Claudio did, we immediately knew that we were in good hands. We could tell that he carried himself with professionalism, was incredibly knowledgeable, and that he was well known with others in the industry.

And honestly, without him we would have gotten lost within the labyrinth that is the Mykonos maze. The maze was set up intentionally to confuse pirates that may have tried to invade to loot the town in the past. Now it just confuses tourists (including us) and makes for a fun adventure when you’re trying to find a shop that you spotted a cute sun dress in the window at earlier!

We had five different stops that included a variety of traditional Greek food and drink. The first stop was a bakery that had a Tiropitakia (cheese pie), which was something that the average Greek would grab when they were “on the go.”

Claudio also wanted to make sure he mixed in cultural stops too – so we stopped to see some windmills and “Little Venice.” It was a really picturesque area!

From there we had kebabs – some people in the group opted for gyros, which were the size of your head. Once we left that restaurant we reentered the maze. As we wove through the streets, we saw the interesting mix of high end stores (Louis Vuitton) with Mykonos branded mugs and keychains shops. And there were so many cats everywhere! Claudio taught us that cats are loved on the island because they help keep both the rodent and viper population under control, plus they’re cute!

The next couple of stops were a little quicker – the next was a sweet. It was called the “Ypovrichio.” The submarine – a rich white chewy sweet that is served on a spoon dipped in a long glass of crystal cold water. So that’s exactly what we did, we all stood outside a candy shop with our glass of water with these!

My 10-year old self would have killed for one of these. But it was a little too sweet for me now, but it was so fun to try!

From there, it was a quick walk over to our next stop where we had a shot of Ouzo and an appetizer plate with traditional Greek items that were all super tasty. The Ouzo was definitely an acquired taste – has a very strong licorice flavor (not my favorite). But, when in “Rome” in this case, Mykonos… bottoms up!

We rounded out the day at The Milky Way, our final stop for Greece’s spin at Turkish Delight and a sample of Mastiha (another one of their liqueurs). The restaurant was hopping so the server actually brought the glasses and the loukoumi out to us on the beach. Both were actually very good, and the liqueur was far tastier than the ouzo we had at the previous place.

After we finished those, we parted ways from Claudio and the rest of the group and made our way into the maze and started shopping. It was fun to drop into different shops, and window shop. But we didn’t leave with too many different things.

We made our way back to the ship with plenty of time because we wanted to make sure we didn’t get lost and left behind in the maze. (Although it might not have been the worst place to get stuck!)

Our tender ride back to the ship

Up Next:
Ephesus, Turkey

Oh my god, we’re back again… (Barcelona 2025!)

August 27/28, 2025

Flights to Europe from San Diego are pretty limited, but there are a few options to London, Munich, and another new one to Amsterdam a few days a week. We were pretty excited because this was our first time that we had converted our AMEX points into AVIOS with British Airways and got Business Class aka… lie flat seats. Yippee!

One of Andy’s coworkers (shout out to Courtney!) had taught me the secret last year – and I’m forever in her debt. Let me know if you want to learn more and I can write more about it!

We are pretty excited for this trip because we are visiting a handful of new countries, but most excited because we are finally getting to Greece. I’ve dreamed of visiting Greece since I was young – I guess probably right after I learned about Greek mythology about Mount Olympus and Zeus. (Not to mention I’ve loved tzatziki as long as I’ve known about it).

We finished out the work day at the airport and then hopped on the plane. I’m not going to get used to flying this way… because on the second leg of the trip we were already back in economy, but it was pretty comfortable when we were able to lay flat!

We didn’t end up landing in Barcelona until around 8ish on Thursday evening – we were so excited that once we got to the hotel that they had upgraded our terrace room that was two chairs to a full terrace with like, six chairs and a full patio! It was stunning!

Can you believe the size of this thing?

Andy had to work that evening (Thursday back in California) so we ordered room service. I was dead on my feet – and slipped on my eye mask and was asleep before he even wrapped up his calls.

Accommodation:
NH Collection Barcelona Gran Hotel Calderon

Up Next:
Barcelona
Mediterranean Cruise