"Not Really" How to Greece - Part 2 - Santorini

Greece has 6000 Island, yes, and 3000 is inhabitant island. One of the most famous island is Santoriniii. Hahahaha, first of all when we think of Santorini, we think of lavish holiday with so much money spent. We knew that most Indonesian artist went to their honeymoon trip in this Island. Buttt is that really expensive? Let's see ~

Why we go to Santorini?

For me just because I'm curious, this island is very famous with breathtaking picturesque places and we get affordable flight to Milan, so we just go. Overall, I love nature more than historical places, well I love both but I prefer nature so I am very excited to go to the "Island type place" he-he-he. I have been to Jejudo, Nami Island, Lombok and several different island type so Santorini is definitely one of my bucket list.

How to Santorini

There is a direct flight from Milan Malpensa to Santorini, in low season it will cost like 30-40 Euro, and the flight back if you lucky like us it only cost 9 Euro (ahahhaa Im so proud of this). So back and forth will cost you around 40 Euro. The flight will take like 3 hours. 

The airport is kind a small, in low season like April there will be no queue, but the airport security is very strict, so you have to follow the guide (like putting out your tab, laptop, liquid, etc, otherwise you will need to do the security check more than once).

Santorini Airport only have few flights.

Where to Stay?

Santorini is the whole Island. It means there are different villages (well, its not that big island and going around is not that far), of course each of village has its own charm with different cost of living. So not all places (means villages) in Santorini is expensive. Take a look of this map:

The most expensive villages will be : 

1) Oia (The most touristy one)

2) Fira (The Santorini capital)

The less expensive villages but still main villages will be :

1) Kamari (Beach)

2) Perissa (Black beach)

3) Firostefani - Imerovigli

I didn't put Monolithos and Akrotiri on the list because the bus is less frequent and you will get in trouble of you stay there without renting any car.

April 2022 Santorini Bus Timetable

Where to stay is really depend on the budget, and the transportation system you will take during your stay. If you rent a car, there will be no problem on where you stay. The car rent will cost around 50 Euro per day, and you need international sim for that. If you take bus like I do, always stick to the main village only for your own convenient. 

The truth is it is very easy to go around with bus, you just need to be discipline with the schedule (I will explain about the bus part later).

Oia and Fira are the most famous villages, they are mostly cliffs, and the sunset is from this direction. Perissa and Kamari are beaches with blacksand, the sun rise from this side of the island (we just realized it when we arrived because we use the 6:00 plane and the sun rise at the side of the airport). At that time, I was saying to myfriend, "Tomorrow sunrise will be amazing because we stayed at Perissa".

Staying in Perissa Experience

We decided stay in a hotel (it is actually more like hotel-apartment) in Perissa, because it is affordable. When we look for accommodation we usually tell what we want (my friend want a place with pool, one of them want to stay near the beach and because we are fasting I want a place with kitchenette.. so the best solution is hotel-apartment near Kamari or Perissa.. and since we couldn't find one of with our budget price in Oia and Fira). We found a place called "Sea Waves Hotel", it is 2 stars hotel with pool and kitchenette near Perissa. We read the review and we saw it is very near to the bus stop, and it cost only 49 Euro pernight for the 4 of us, so it is very-very affordable (it is even more affordable than maybe other places, it will be like 12.25 Euro per night). Is it expensive? No, it is a price of pizza and coca cola in the bar in Italy. 

Is the place shady? Not at all. It is very nice warm house, with warm water, very nice clean bed, and clean pool, we also have balcony so some of us stayed there doing nothing is also fine, perfect for the stay-cation type. It is 5 minutes walk to the bus stop and 5 minutes walk to the sea, actually staying in Perissa or Kamari I think not bad at all. Unfortunately I did not take any picture of the room. But I have picture of the pool.

Outside of the hotel where we stayed. The pool is well maintained. The place called, Sea Wave Hotel https://goo.gl/maps/oUWVR9xa6st4NzD6A. We booked using booking.com.

 

The downside is that it is a bit far from the groceries because we couldn't drink tap water, and groceries closed pretty quick in Santorini like 20:00. But there is a bakery nearby that sell water, coffee and pastries.

Perissa, the black sandy beach. 5 minutes walk from my hotel. To sit down near the beach is completely free and not packed with tourist. Here you can have one of the best sunrise ever.

 

The food cost

The food cost "Okay" in Santorini. Not the cheapest, but if you compare it to Northern Italy it is really an "Okay" cost, it is just like you walk into ordinary restaurant and pay, it cost me around 10-15 Euro. But some of the restaurants have very-very expensive meal, it is actually depends on the place you pick. Some in Oia are very expensive but some of them also affordable. 

Actually, there are nothing much to do in Santorini because we are fasting (if I say for the Island type activities perspective), but "the view"... so food is one of the main attraction of course. If you pick wisely, you can go to the place with very huge and nice Mousaka for 10 Euro plus water for 2 Euro, they dont have any service fee so the total of the food will cost you 12-15 Euro. If I compared to Amsterdam or any other touristy place, this is affordable. 

One of the Menu that I took in Oia

It is actually hard to see the proper view without going to the restaurant in Oia and Fira, Santorini design so. Most of the place with nice view is the private properties, so they "forced" you to enter the restaurant and buy. So just check the price first and then check the rating, then you can enjoy nice meal with a "view" without paying that much.

My Food adventure in Santorini :

In Fira ; I have brunch with big omelette cost me 11 Euro but I eat it twice because its too big.
The place is very nice, the food is good and the view is the best. The Place called, "La Scala" in Fira. https://goo.gl/maps/xCbVkXWvk8pKhBAW8 

In Fira: I ate this big Mousaka. We ate during the sunset with the "view" it cost me 10 Euro. The place called "Fanari" the waiter is very very nice and friendly. The place was not packed and the food is good, the price is fair, the view is amaizing. There are a lot british tourist eat in this place. Overall, the experience is amaizing. Fanari Restaurant, Fira : https://goo.gl/maps/PpNgDupstDTYWyWHA 

In Oia, I bought Frappe and Cheese cake recommended by a very nice US tourist with his wife praising this place is very nice. And they do! As a cheese cake lover, this place is recommended. Overall I payed 7 Euro for cheese cake and frappe, and the view is so good. The place in Oia called, "Skiza Cafe" https://goo.gl/maps/KHM1aiVCHZUZLwg99. 

How much is the transport?

We use public transport only in this island. There is bus! Do not worry. If someone told you there will be no bus in the airport, do not ask them, because there is. And the fact they started to operate at 06.00 am. My friend got panicked when she arrived she asked someone randomly and they told her there is no bus. If you meet someone like this, keep calm then walk to the bus stop. The fact they might not know that the bus in Santorini is very affordable and easy to take.

How to take the bus?

You just need to walk to the bus stop sign. The bus sign will look like this:

Local Bus KTEL with flashy yellow sign. This one is the sign in the airport. When the bus stop, you can walk and ask which direction the bus going, most of them will go to Fira. Remember, wherever you are staying you will always need to transit in Fira.

Then, you just enter the bus. Sometimes they ask you to pay in advance, sometimes not. The transport will cost you 1.6 Euro to 2.5 Euro and you need to pay with cash on the bus. The ticket will be sell to you manually when you already sit on the bus so do not worry, you just need to have enough cash with you - if you have coin it will be better. The conductor will ask you which stop you are going and you will tell them the stop. For example, "Fira or Kamari".

the conductor will give you this ticket after you pay.

But... There is but! This is what I learn also during the trip.

The Smaller Stop

 

1) The bus stop sign, this is the smaller stop along the way from Perissa to Fira
2) I used all the bronze coins, the conductor is happy when you pay exact amount.

There will be "Small stop" on the bus track (for example from Fira to Perissa, there are a lot of stops during the way, the bus will not stop only in Perissa, even in Perissa area there will be some small stop or for short... small stop), and in this small stop, it might be closer to the place you are heading. Unfortunately some of the "Smaller stop" did not have the name, and the bus will not always stop on this small stop. My accommodation is also really near to one of the smaller stop

So how do you tell them ? (because there is no stop name or whatever you can use)

First - Open your google map, and show the conductor the bus stop want when you pay. When it is almost your smaller stop, stand up and stand near the exit door.

Second  - You can say to the conductor, "Two stop before Perissa," he will understand. And of course you need to stand beside the door before your stop.

Third - you need to ask the reception on your hotel the name of the stop. In case me my stop name is "Sonotonio". 

Forth - Just follow locals. Just to let you know that there are so many locals living in Perissa, working in Fira. In some of the days we did not need to say anything because locals already told the conductor using greek. You can see that they will always ready to get off the bus just before the stop, so if there is locals ready to stop you didnt need to say anything.

Inside the bus. Ready to get off? Stand beside the door. There are 2 doors (front and the middle one)

For the direction of the bus and the time table, it is stated below :

The timetable is not really exact but more like guideline when the bus will arrive. So for me it is better to be in the bus stop 5-10 minutes before the schedule.

I am staying in Perissa, How can I get to Fira?

This is also mystery during my stay because I did not really know how to take the bus to Fira. Because as you can see above from the time table the "time" is only from Fira to Perissa, and Perissa to Fira. Whereas I stayed in one of the smaller stops (2 stops before Perissa, it is still Perissa but not the "Final stop"). Can I take the bus using the smaller stop? How do I know when the bus come? The bus stop is only in one direction how do I take the bus".

I was so confused, so I decided to go early morning before 9 (because it is said that the second bus from Perisa to Fira is around 9.00 from the time table), to ask around. I asked my receptionist and they said I can take the bus from the smaller stop.

I wait until 09.00 and there is no bus coming. There is a bus but in to the Perissa direction. So I was like confused, until there is a local that is helping us to identify the bus.

She said that to take the bus to Fira from Perissa using smaller stops:

1) You can use the smaller stops to go to Fira (in my case the smaller stop is 2 stops before Perissa main station), but because the timetable is from Perissa main station you need to add 5 to 10 more minutes until the bus come. 

2) The bus that is going to Fira is the same bus from Fira to Perissa. So the track will be : Fira-Perissa (main station), Perissa - Fira. So if you have see the bus to Perissa main station direction it means the bus to Fira will be coming in no time. The direction is your key to pick the right bus, you can always ask the conductor where the bus go. 

3) You need to wave to the bus driver in order to make them stop.

4) Even you are not in the Perissa main station you will need to pay full price to Fira (2.2 Euro).

Once you can master this bus thing. It is super easy. When you are in Fira, you will never know which bus is going where because the sign is not obvious. Just ask random conductor or driver, "Where is the bus to Oia?" they will happily to help. There is a sign board of what bus is coming, but honestly it was not accurate at all, so do not rely on that stuff just ask. The thing you should keep in mind is the bus is honestly on time  and not that frequent so just be discipline (its not that hard) because the taxi can make your bank account cry.

What to do in Santorini

Santorini is the whole Island, there are a lot to see. But we decide to just slow travel and stroll around. This cost zero except for the transport, the sunset and sunrise, the view is free. But remember in Oia and Fira most of the nicer place is private properties.

 

 Fira, Oia, Perissa. The Private area one is in Oia

What to bring as Gift from Santorini?

A lot of stuff. Magnets, keychain, etc etc but I really recommend to buy handmade stuff (because it looks so good and affordable, like 3 to 4 Euro T__T I did not buy any because I already bought stuff in athens which I regret). But, if you visit both Athen and Santorini, I suggest you just buy in Santorini, because they are better in term of quality, with almost the same or even lower price. You want 1 Euro magnet? they have, better quality. You want snacks? They have, dutty free for 2 Euro in the airport. So you will always get affordable stuff as souvenir in Santorini.

 

Lokumi is Yangko ala Greece. But this one is super duper sweet. It cost 4 Euro for 2 box. I bought one with peanut and it is super sweet.

Another Stuff

1. You can't drink tap water in Santorini, buy water.

2. Overall Santorini is cashless society, withdraw cash is Italy will be better.. have a good enough amount for buying groceries, water, pay food, etc. I withdrew there and I was charged 4 Euro for withdrawing, what a shame (I am crying inside).

3. Most of the bakery sell coffee and water, they will still open until midnight.

4. If you want to stroll around Fira, you didnt want to bring your luggage, you can store your luggage to a store 6 hours for 3 Euro for a small bag here (near the train station) :

The lady is super nice, and the price is fair, we can use the toilets too.
J&K Left Lugage Service https://goo.gl/maps/p9ioMF79DWk8o3k47

That's it if something unlcear I am so happy to help. Write me an email to afandi.karima@gmail.com. Honestly planning this trip is not so easy, but this trip is really worthed. 

Not Really How to Greece *Part 1 - Athens

Because I have time, I will spread out the whole preparation and the whole this "Fruitful Easter Trip" that everyone is curious how I managed to visit Santorini, Greece with low low budget..

Why we go to Greece?

During this Easter trip, I really want to go to Balkan countries (Albania, North Macedonia) + Greece. 

First of all, we have a plan to visit Albania and Greece because there are a lot of Muslim in Albania, but the flight is not affordable (more than 30 Euro) and we just realize that Albania is non-EU country, which at that time around February still on the E list of Italy (means we need to do the 10 days quarantine when we go back and our passport will be stamped), so it will be really complicated.

I create an excel sheet by giving my friend options where we can go, affordably (this is what I always do including the potential spending). Yes! And Greece + Santorini was on the list, on the very bottom one. Surprisingly enough, Balkans are not as affordable as I taught to extend it give me a headache. Another thing about Balkans, is... they did not have train to connect each countries, and the information about them is very limited. Because usually I do so much research before going, I was asking myself, "What on earth I am throwing myself into in Ramadhan?" so I was keeping the Balkans trip for the next time due to the fact there is so little that I know about them.

After long discussion and several talks, and also budgeting. We agreed to just cover Greece, Athens + Santorini in 6 days. 

Athens surprisingly very affordable. Personally, I think 2 days 2 night or 3 days 2 nights for Athens is really enough (especially if you have been to Rome and others historical city). Most of the days when we are in Athens it was raining, but even its raining we managed to cover all the lists we would like to see.

How to Athens 

There is a direct flights from Malpensa to Athens, its actually not that cheap because it is around 20-30€, it takes 2 hr 20 minutes but the fact it was 3 hours flight (Italy and Greece is in the different time zone). Unfortunately for peak season started from May to the end of August Athens will be very-very expensive. When I wrote this, I checked the flight tickets and I found out that the flight cost 70 Euro from Milan to Athens... but the price is lower again around September, so if you want to go and in the budget, I suggest you to just go during low season September-April.

This is also apply to Santorini, when we were in Oia, we meet very generous man and his wife, he talk to us because he used to live in Malaysia and he thought we were Malaysian. He said, "You are in the best time to see Santorini, which is end of April. Because during peak season, in Oia (Santorini) for 4 hours people cant move after they watch the sunset, which is not worthed at all." He gave us a lot of travel advice, which is why we cancelled the plan to see sunset in Oia, like he said. Sunset is sunset, which I will explain more in Santorini part.

Our flight ticket costs: Milan to Athens (28 Euro), Athens to Santorini (30 Euro), Santorini to Milan (9 Euro). So for the flights only it cost 67 Euro, but for me its really worthed. We use all ryan air during this trip: https://www.ryanair.com/it/it

Took into consideration we use Ryan Air without baggage except backpack for this trip. If you need the luggage, each of the flight will cost 20 Euro more.

The food cost

The food cost very very cheap. Small Gyros (like a wrap which is not small is like  2.7€), the water cost 0.16€ which make us stunned. Daily cost for one meal in Athens is 4-5€, if you are out of the center. In the center maybe 8€ or 15 Euro is enough. 

Gyros in Athens. There is a place called : kountouriotiko in Athens, which is near our accomodation and we found out they have the best affordable gyros in town.

We didnt buy food from the touristy place like Plaka. We stay near the Kallirois and they have varieties of food and cheap bakery.

The coffee in Athens kind a expensive like 3-4€, the canned coffee is 2.5€, starbucks started 3€ and you can seat as long as you can and charged your phone. So choose your fighter.

You can save more money if you buy on the supermarket, they have ready to prep food meal like 2€ (Grilled beef+potato) and the water is 0.16€ whereas in restaurant they sell the water like 0.5€ (the small one). Overall Athens is very affordable, you just need to find a right place.

 

How much is the transport?

The transport from airport if you took the bus is like 5.5€ and Metro for 9€ for one way. But, if you stay 3 days like me you can buy a package of 20€ including Metro airport transfer! 

If you buy daily pass it will be like 4€. So the 3 days + metro airport transfer is very worthed. You can take any public transportation using this card. This card save so much money if you think the metro transfer is already 18€.

We bought the ticket from vending machine. The machine take cash and card.

We took metro first time but once we knew how to take the Tram we always use it because its closer to the accommodation. When you enter the tram, you just need to tap the card, when you want to stop you need to push the button. It is very easy.

The Blue Thing is the place you should tap your Athena card. Remember the Tram is not frequent (maybe every 30 minutes, so be on time, because they do)

Inside the tram station. When you want to transfer you need to follow the sign. The tram will be coming every 7 minutes, not that frequent. Remember. 

The Metro sometimes makes you confused (because they have different names compared to google and the sign is not obvious, they use Greek alphabet, there is naming like 1,2,3 and colors but they didnt really use it, and the entrance and exit is very confusing, and I can mention how much we struggle the first days because nothing is obvious),
what to do? Ask. All Greek can speak English perfectly. After one day, you will managed. But using Tram is way better after knowing how.

Stay, where?

I suggest you to look for a nice place because its not that expensive. Each of us pay like 12€ per night. If you can come with group of 4 or 3 its better. It will be cheaper. We stay in airbnb near Kallirois and the place is recommended. Its not really center but 10 min to Acropolis with Tram and Metro connection. We have very nice apartment but somehow if you are from Italy the neighborhood is kind a surprising. A lot of place in Athens is kind a shady, so dont be shock. I did tell you in this blog. But inside of the building is very nice. Don't stay in shady place, look near the center that looks fancy but didnt cost too much. You will find one!

This place cost 12 Euro per night per person (we rent this for the four of us)

How to get Free Archeological Sites

We went to Athens when they had free museums and archeological site (which is, coincidence, so we didnt originally plan to be at that “free” time), on the 18th of April which is International Memorial Day. So we pick the sites that we like the most and goes in the morning. The Acropolis cost 0€ (should be around 12€) and museum is 0€ (should be 10€). Was it packed? It was not. We were shocked too. We went to Acropolis in the morning using the side enterance near the Acropolis Museum, and there was no Queue at all.

The Acropolis is including all the slopes, so when you go to Acropolis, you already covered all the sites on the complex. Half day for Acropolis is enough especially if you have been to Colesseum, Acropolis feels like kind a small.

Next we enter the National Archeological Museum. This museum recommended by my friend that have been to Athens before. And it turns out that our guide tour the next day said this museum is the only worthy museum in Athens 🤣, lucky us. This museum have all the artefact from Greece dated 3000BC which is the oldest stuff that I ever see in my life. It is very interesting.

I suggest you to checked the official sites directly to checked the “free dates”. There is no reservation or anything you just need to queue (if there is any) on the locket and they will give you the ticket for free.

There is no queue from the side entrance. I was shocked, I watch some random youtubers that mentioned always go from the side entrance (near Acropollis Museum, the one that we took), and barely any queue. It was worked. Another thing is we go not so early around 10, but when we go back around 13:00 it was packed.

Take a free walking tour. 

Free walking tour will force you to do the 3 to 4hr walking to cover whole Athens with very useful tips. We did book one with Jhonatan and we ended cover so many places with fantastic view and nice guide! (At the end you can gave the tips as much as you like people usually gave from 5 to 20€). Use your comfortable shoes, bring small stuff, water and bring umbrella incase its raining.

During the walking tour these sites are covered : 

Holy Trinity Church - Zappeion Hall - Athens National Garden - Statue of George Karaiskakis - Panathenaic Stadium - Athens Academy - Plateia Syntagma - Omonia Square - Central Municipal Athens Market - Monastiraki Square - Hadrians Library - Roman’s Agora - Stairs Athen - Anaphiotika - Plaka. We also did stops to see the president coming to the office, changing guards and buy coffee in nice place.

We covered almost the whole Athens during this tour. Took the 10am one is very recommended. This is the tour that we use and very recommended: https://www.athens-free-tour.com/book-athens-free-tour. They will send you an email of confirmation and meeting point. 

Remember to always be on time, or ahead of the meeting time. They will always start on time from my experienced and its nice to get an explanation about the city in depth and knows some places recommended by local. 

Some of this part I wrote it on the plane because I feel bored. That's it. I hope you enjoy athens.