Santorini, Greece - Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady 2025
Our first stop on our was Santorini. We booked the Santorini & Oia on Your Own. It was an excursion that had the most flexibility. It also allowed us to book a tender off the ship since Santorini isn't the most accessible and we didn’t want to have to wait to tender. You need to take a tender to the port and then a bus or taxi up a very windy road up to the towns.
Our first stop was the town of Oia. We had a great tour guide named Victor who gave us some fun facts about Santorini on our way.
- The number of churches on the island is in the hundreds. If you build a church, the government will provide you with utilities, so then you can build your villa without having to pay for power lines etc to be brought to your land.
- The island is lava rock but grapes grow, they form a wreath on the ground that protects the grapes from the sun and blowing sand.a
Oia
This the town that you see in all the pictures. It was hot out but it was also breezy. Up on the cliffs you walk along a winding path looking down on all the cave hotels built into the mountainside. The people of Santorini used to live in the caves but then money was to be made by building hotels and accommodation that took over the caves.
There is a very famous picture, which we did not stand in line for, but I think the 360 camera provided better views. A couple was leaving their hotel and I joked to them that it's like it was paparazzi outside their door... they said they didn't know it would be like this when they booked it.
I also had a good convo with a couple about Below Deck as we joked about the yachts below. Reality TV bringing people together.
Faros
After a few hours and a gyro, we boarded the bus to Faros. Another picturesque town and the last stop on this small tour. We said good bye to the tour guide and went off on our own. From here to get back on the ship we had two options. Take a donkey down ~600 steps, walk down the steps, or take the 2 minute gondola. We of course opted for the gondola which was included in our tour. Some say the Donkey ride is not the best for the donkeys but it can also smell like donkey dung. If you walk down you are sharing the path with the donkeys so could be hot, smelly and slow. The donkeys aren't guided, they just know what to do, walk down the hill, or up I suppose!
We didn't stay long in Faros. We didn't need to do any shopping, so we made it onto the gondola with very little wait and back to the ship via tender.
Conclusion
Santorini was adorable. Just like the pictures, and thankfully not as busy as some of the pictures. I'm very glad to have visited as it is really damn beautiful.
Do I need to go back? Maybe for a maximum of 2 nights, but you have to be ready for full relaxation, there are very few beaches and the highlight is sunset dinners on the cliff restaurants. I was much more taken by Mykonos and would be much more likely to return to there.