An 'All-Things-Beautiful'… Blog
Finally! My Santorini travel vlog is done! I feel like I dragged my feet with it for months and then these past 5 days or so I worked on it around the clock – from the moment I woke up until 4am every night. I am really happy with how it turned out & hope you love it too! If you’re looking for tips please check out my written Santorini Travel Guide; I also have a review of the hotel we stayed at in Oia – Andronis Luxury Suites.
Happy Friday!
This post is so long overdue! How is already June?! It feels like we got back from our trip a week ago (it’s been almost 8 weeks!). I might be heading back to Greece very soon, so I just had to revisit my photos and share my Greek memories with you before I make new ones! If you haven’t checked out my Santorini Travel Diary, get on it – it’s such a beautiful post, definitely one of my favorites. We spent the first few days of our trip in Santorini and then headed back to Athens for a few more days before visiting Istanbul. I fell so incredibly ill between packing up my bags in Santorini and arriving at Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens. 🙁
I have never been so sick in my life & my luck’s timing could not have been worse. I’ve always loved Greek mythology and could not wait to see the historical sites in Athens. All those years of playing God of War and taking Greek myth classes in college were preparing me for this trip haha! One thing I can always give myself credit for is being a trooper – from my entire body being covered in heat rash in Hawaii to my feet being painfully swollen in Paris.. it has always been in me to seize the day. I rally and push through to be able to see whatever I can regardless of the unfortunate circumstances but this flu (or whatever it was) left me down for the count. I spent most of our time in Athens and Istanbul in bed but was able to conjure up a couple hours of energy here and there to get my explore on.
First up, you just have to see where we stayed! Hotel Grande Bretagne. The property was originally the home of a wealthy businessman, later headquarters for different groups during different wars, and even housed the prime minister during the Greek Civil War. In 2006 it went under a massive renovation to restore it to its former glory and now.. here we are!
I’ve dreamt of visiting Santorini for as long as I can remember, the white stone homes, the endless Aegean sea, and blooms of bougainvillea framing colorful doors. Today I’ll be sharing with you our travel diary of our visit to the island with some tips along the way. This was our first time in Santorini and it was a relatively short stay, so I am by no means an expert. I did, however, have an incredible time so I’m sharing what I can so you can have an even better time!
I’m sad that this is my last batch of photos to edit but I still have my vlog coming which I am so excited to work on. I put together a little sneak peek to hold you (actually, me) over until then 🙂 What do we think?
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I hope this travel guide is helpful, please let me know if you have any questions at all!
Happy humpday blog-fam!
If you saw my Paris Travel Diary you’ve already seen these photos but if you haven’t.. you’re in for a treat! At least I think so! 🙂 Our visit to The Louvre back in December became one of my favorite photo-sets and I just had to break it off into it’s own post. My husband, Waseem, and I closed out 2015 & kicked off the new year in Paris and London. We took the exact same trip back in 2012 and he proposed to me at Pont des Arts which is just a stone’s throw from the Louvre. So, it’s needless to say that this itinerary is very near and dear to our hearts. <3 We were engaged on Cinco de Mayo 2012 so I thought it was pretty fitting to repost this today!
Enjoy the photos! If you missed the Paris post be sure to check out the full travel diary and travel vlog.
What tumblr dreams are made of! Santorini has always been my dream destination and our stay did not disappoint thanks to Andronis Luxury Suites. With the exception of our very first night, we spent our entire time in Santorini here in Oia. We stayed in the gorgeous Zeus suite and everything was simply perfect. Our suite had two large terraces, one with a bistro set where we had our delicious breakfast every morning and another adorned with daybeds for our lounging needs. I realize now I never took a photo of the living area in our suite (I blame our luggage uglying the scene!) but the window opens up to the hot tub which opened to our breakfast terrance.. ahh perfection! You’ll catch a sexy photo of the husband enjoying a soak while we waited for our breakfast. Speaking of which… I have never experienced anything like a Santorini breakfast!! I can’t broadly call it a Greek breakfast because our mornings in Athens paled in comparison to the incredible meals that were brought to us every morning at Andronis. 🙂 And I’m not even a breakfast person!
The village is mostly a pedestrian walkway and Andronis is located right at the beginning making it a quieter and less crowded area which we loved! It was so conveniently close to the lot where we kept our rental car. The property has 27 suites and villas. Our Zeus suite was one of the few in the main building just up a quick flight of stairs. All of the other suites and villas (as well as the restaurant and pools) are built into the cliffside so just like in the rest of Oia.. be prepared for a ton of stairs! Our first night we headed down to Andronis’ restaurant, Lycabettus, for our anniversary dinner. Holy moly, make sure you reserve a table over the cliff – the most incredible views you’ll ever see. Oia’s sunset is world famous for a reason.