Our week in the Cyclades - part 2

Let's continue with pictures from days 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8!

Day 4

Because we had a whole day in Naxos ahead of us without any plans, except going sightseeing, we figured it would be easier to just book a bus tour to see it all. Yes, it might have been a very touristy thing to do, but it saved us a lot of time and we saw more places than we ever would've seen by ourselves. And I'm so glad we went! Driving down beautiful (but craaazy narrow) mountain roads with a huge bus was a little terrifying, but the view made it worth it x1000.

After a long day touring Naxos, and even getting lost a few times along the way, we spent the evening at port of Naxos, watched the sunset with every tourist on the island and had cocktails to end the day. It wasn't before we were back at the hotel until Maja and Cecilia noticed something must've been wrong with the gyros they had earlier...you may figure out the rest yourself. Not pleasant.

Day 5 Thankfully we were all feeling better when we woke up this morning, because we had a ferry to take to Iraklia and all. We made it there safely (I might have kind of broken a bench on the ferry but anyway). Iraklia is a small and peaceful getaway island, perfect if you don't want to be surrounded by tourists and a lot of people in general. We technically only had half a day on this island, because the ferry back to Naxos left at 9am the next morning. The only thing we were there to see though, Livadi Beach, we got to cross off our to-do list. It was beautiful, but we had expected the water to be clearer, since that's what it was supposedly known for. From a distance it looked super turquoise, even boats looked like they were hovering over the water, but when you tried to see underwater, it was quite difficult - my goggles got all blurry and foggy from the salt. In fact, there was so much salt in the water you could literally see it form little piles on the bottom! Salty beach hair (and skin) just reached a whole new level. It really bugs me that I didn't bring my actual camera down to the beach, because now I barely have any pictures from this pretty island.

Day 6 Ferry back to Naxos to get a ferry all the way back to Santorini for our last couple of nights. We sat on deck toasting in direct sunlight for many hours, and of course I managed to burn my albino self...We all felt really tired this day, at least when trying to find the way to our Santorini hotel with all of our stuff. We finally did, and then it was time to drop off the bags and head to the famous, picture perfect Oìa town...

...which was breathtaking. But clearly we weren't the only people who thought so. This is the reality guys! We had to queue out from seeing the sunset, because it was so crowded. It was mad, masses of people were climbing walls and hotel roofs just to get a good picture. I feel bad for people who've paid thousands per night for those "best located hotels". Definitely a pretty location, but way too trendy and crowded in our opinion. Cool for a day trip, but wouldn't wanna stay there all week.

Day 7 Our last whole day! We went to see the volcano island on Santorini, which turned out to be quiet the hike. After that we visited "the hot springs" which basically was a rusty bay with a slightly higher water temperature. Not too impressed with that...guess our expectations were too high :D I felt so bad for the Japanese girl who swam there in her white crochet bikini. Needless to say, it wasn't white after that.

on our last dinner we got fireworks! What a great way to end the trip :) Day 8 Time to go back home! But since our flight left in the evening we technically had half a day to do whatever - so we were off to Kamari beach for some beach time and also wine tasting at a local wine yard. I had never tried it before, and I'm so glad we decided to go. Learnt a lot, such a cool opportunity!

And that's all the pics I had to share (at least for now). Hope you enjoyed! Now I'm gonna get myself a huge cup of tea with greek honey that I brought home with me, because I got myself some kind of fall flu. Yay...