Ios Greek Island, Greece

Beautiful Mylopotas Beach 
- Ios, Greek Islands, Greece

Having Greek Lunch Looking
Over Mylopotas Beach - Ios, Greek Islands

ATV'n on Ios, Greek Islands, Greece

Hanging Out at the Far Out Club
- Ios, Greek Islands, Greece

Stopping for Goats 
- Ios, Greek Islands, Greece

Romantic Dinners 
in Main Town (Hora) - Ios, Greece

Ios Greek Island, Greece (5/27-31/2009)

Known as a party island, Ios is actually a very laid back place if you want it to be. 

After staying a week in Santorini, we were off Greek Island hopping to the Greek Island of Ios. The high-speed ferry got us to Ios in a hurry.

Ios' famous discos are concentrated along one road only in Ios' main town (Hora) and start at 11pm. We decided we are more beach than town people so we went over to stay on one of the best beaches in the Greek Islands (Mylopotas) at the very nice Island House Apartments. Instead of party sounds, we listened to donkeys, cows, goat bells, and an active rooster. 

We did play with the young folks for a day at the beach at the Far Out Resort and had fun crawling Ios' discos, bars, and cafes one late night.

We went to town every night for wonderful dinners. The main town of Ios (Hora) is very quaint with winding narrow roads. You can get lost discovering restaurants and cafes that look like they were craved into the cliff – so much fun! 

The old fashioned values of Ios were demonstrated to us when a restaurant waitress offered for us to bring cash the next day to pay for our dinner because they did not take credit cards. 

Renting an ATV, we toured all of Ios one day visiting the beaches of Manganari, Agia Theodoti, and Koumbara on all corners of this beautiful island. We had to stop for goat crossings - how fun!

We loved Ios and plan to come back someday.

Please see our 11 other blog posts for other beautiful Greek Islands:

Greece Greek Islands Our Impressions and Travel Advice

‪Greece Antiparos Greek Island

‪Greece Crete Large Towns Rethymno Chania Agios Nikolaos

Greece Crete Smaller Villages Matala Georgioupoli

Greece Mykonos Greek Island

Greece Naxos Greek Island

‪Greece Paros Greek Island

‪Greece Rhodes Greek Island

‪Greece Santorini Greek Island Oia Fira Villages

‪Greece Santorini Greek Island Rest of Island

Greece Tinos Greek Island

 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ---->

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Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE

Santorini Greek Island, Greece (Rest of Island)

Fantastic Sunset 
in Oia, Santorini, Greece

Greek Food - Santorini, Greece

Fira & Volcano - Santorini, Greece

Santorini Donkeys - Greece

Beach Taverina - Santorini, Greece

Dinner on Harbor 
- Santorini, Greek Islands, Greece

Pat on Red Beach 
- Santorini, Greece

Donkies in Fira - Santorini, Greek Island, Greece

Kamari Black Sand Beach - Santorini, Greece

Perissa Black Sand Beach - Santorini, Greece

View from Our Room 
- Kamari, Santorini

Santorini Greek Island (Rest of Island), Greece (5/20-27/2009)

Santorini is one of the great natural wonders of the world. 

We flew Aegean Airlines (nice airline) from Rome to this wonderful island of Santorini. We started our stay on the far side (Aktoyiri), near the famous red beach, where the ancient village is largely like the Greek Islands were many years ago.

We spent most our week in Santorini near ancient Thira on Kamari Beach, the famous black beach lined with restaurants. From there we played and visited by bus most of the other areas of Santorini. Memorable times were: sunset in Oia (and all of beautiful Oia - see our blog post Santorini Greek Island, Greece (Oia Fira & other villages for beautiful photos of Oia), Greek food, wandering amazing villages, beautiful ocean, laying on the beach, meeting new friends, and being lazy.

Fira, Santorini's capital, is a marriage of Venetian and Cycladic architecture, with white cobblestone streets bustling with shops, tavernas, hotels and cafes, while clinging to the rim of the caldera nine hundred feet above the its port. If arriving by sea you can take a cable car up from the port or alternatively take a trip on one of the hundreds of mules up the 588 zigzagging steps.

Oia was our favorite Santorini village and one of the most beautiful settlements in the Mediterranean. The photos tell why - it is lovely! Oia has whitewashed walls sunk into the volcanic rock and blue domes rise above the sterling beauty of the stunning Ammoudi Bay. At dusk, Oia attracts crowds of people visiting Santorini venturing to see the sunset.

Santorini's sunsets, as viewed from Oia (see photo), are reputed to be among the world's most beautiful (see photo - you be the judge). Oia was the setting of the movie Summer Lovers starring Daryl Hannah.

Some history and information... Santorini is one of the great natural wonders of the world. Its main attraction is the landscape and seascape of the island itself.

Santorini is a roughly semicircular island as the result of an enormous volcanic explosion which occurred probably around 1630 BC, literally blowing the top off the island and changing what had been a typical half-submerged mountain of an Aegean island into a flooded crescent caldera. 


For more on the wonderful island of Santorini, please see our other blog post: 

Greece Santorini Greek Island Oia Fira Villages

Please also see our 10 other blog posts for other beautiful Greek Islands:

Greece Greek Islands Our Impressions and Travel Advice

‪Greece Antiparos Greek Island

‪Greece Crete Large Towns Rethymno Chania Agios Nikolaos

Greece Crete Smaller Villages Matala Georgioupoli

Greece Ios Greek Island

Greece Mykonos Greek Island

Greece Naxos Greek Island

‪Greece Paros Greek Island

‪Greece Rhodes Greek Island 

Greece Tinos Greek Island

 

 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ---->

Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, and experienced travelers (106 countries), our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips from weekend getaways to longer vacations and trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!
Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE

Santorini Greek Island, Greece (Oia Fira & other villages)

Sunset in Oia - Santorini, Greece

Beautiful Oia - Santorini, Greece

Oia, Santorini - Greek Islands, Greece

Greek Lunch in Oia - Santorini, Greece

Stairs in Oia - Santorini, Greece

Hotel in Oia - Santorini, Greece

Oia, Santorini - Greek Islands, Greece

Summer Lovers Movie Hotel 
- Oia, Santorini, Greece

Oia, Santorini, Greece

Fira - Santorini, Greece

Santorini Greek Island, Greece (Oia, Fira, & other villages) (5/20-27/2009)

Santorini is an absolutely unbelievable island! We loved it so much we stayed a week!

With its villages of dazzling white houses and blue-domed churches clinging to the cliffs 1,000 feet about the sunken caldera, Santorini is truly so wonderful we did two blog posts. We had so many beautiful photos so we did this post on just the famous beautiful villages of Oia and Fira.

We visited the much photographed villages of Fira and Oia as well other villages in Santorini such as Akotiri, Karterados, and Pirgos. We also went to the Kamari and Perissa beach villages. See our Santorini Greek Island (Rest of Island) travel blog post for more about these other towns and villages in Santorini.

Oia was our favorite Santorini village and one of the most beautiful settlements in the Mediterranean. The photos tell why - its lovely! Oia has whitewashed walls sunk into the volcanic rock and blue domes rise above the sterling beauty of the stunning Ammoudi Bay. 

At dusk, Oia attracts crowds of people venturing to see the sunset. Santorini's sunsets, as viewed from Oia, are reputed to be among the world's most beautiful (see photo - you be the judge). Oia was the setting of the movie Summer Lovers starring Daryl Hannah (see photo of their hotel).

Fira is Santorini's fiery capital, a marriage of Venetian and Cycladic architecture, whose white cobblestone streets bustle with shops, tavernas, hotels and cafes, while clinging to the rim of the caldera nine hundred feet above the its port. 

If arriving Santorini by sea you can take a cable car up to Fira from the port or alternatively take a trip on one of the hundreds of mules up the 588 zigzagging steps. 

Fira - Santorini, Greece

Being Santorini's main town, Fira is often crowded with tourists, especially during the day when cruise ships visit. Even though the main pastime is a stroll along the shop-lined streets, Fira is a nice town to enjoy with beautiful views.

Karmari Beach, Greek Islands

We spent most our week in Santorini near ancient Thira on Kamari Beach, the famous black beach lined with restaurants. From there we played and visited by bus most of the other areas of Santorini. Memorable times were: sunset in Oia and all of beautiful Oia, Greek food, wandering amazing villages, beautiful ocean, laying on the beach, meeting new friends, and being lazy.

Map of Santorini Island

Some history and information... Santorini is one of the great natural wonders of the world. Its main attraction is the landscape and seascape of the island itself. 

Santorini is a roughly semicircular island as the result of an enormous volcanic explosion which occurred probably around 1630 BC, literally blowing the top off the island and changing what had been a typical half-submerged mountain of an Aegean island into a flooded crescent caldera. 

For more on wonderful Santorini, please see our other blog post: 

Greece Santorini Greek Island (Rest of Island)

Please see our 10 other blog posts for other beautiful Greek Islands:

Greece Greek Islands Our Impressions and Travel Advice

Greece Antiparos Greek Island

‪Greece Crete Large Towns Rethymno Chania Agios Nikolaos

Greece Crete Smaller Villages Matala Georgioupoli 

Greece Ios Greek Island

Greece Mykonos Greek Island

Greece Naxos Greek Island

‪Greece Paros Greek Island

‪Greece Rhodes Greek Island 

Greece Tinos Greek Island

 

 

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ---->

Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, and experienced travelers (106 countries), our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips from weekend getaways to longer vacations and trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!
Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Huge Yacht Passing by Grand Casino
- Monte Carlo, Monaco

Beautiful Yacht Harbor and Apartments
- Monte Carlo, Monaco

Wayne Outside Grand Casino 
- Monte Carlo, Monaco

Pat in Princess Grace's 
Rose Garden

Changing of the Guard - Monte Carlo, Monaco

Grand Casino - Monte Carlo, Monaco

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Monte Carlo, Monaco (5/19/2009)

What a wonderful beautiful city!

Founded by the Grimaldi family (our home street’s name) in the 12th century, Monte Carlo lives up to all its current fame - one striking flowered and landscaped street after another, apartment buildings with gardens on top, and huge yachts crowding every harbor.

When we visited, Monte Carlo was setting up for the famous Grand Prix auto race scheduled to race a few days later. 

We visited Princess Grace’s rose gardens (wonderful), toured the palace, witnessed the changing of the guard, and had a wonderful French lunch on a quaint narrow side street before hiking up to the famed Grand Casino (see photos). 

The Monte Carlo Grand Casino is wonderful and pays for Monte Carlo (no taxes) but the Las Vegas casinos in the U.S. do not have to bow their heads.  

Travel tip: If you want to try your luck in the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo, you will need your passport to enter and the fees for entry range depending on what room you are going to. You can visit Monte Carlo’s casino without gambling for a nominal fee. The dress code inside is extremely strict - men are required to wear coats and ties. Casual shoes are forbidden.

Some information about Monaco... With a population of only 30,000 in less than a square mile, Monaco is a very wealthy and independent country with close ties to France. Princess Grace (former actress Grace Kelly) brought enormous attention to Monaco with her marriage to the Prince. 

Monaco is the second smallest independent state in the world (after the Vatican) and is almost entirely urban. With no natural resources to exploit other than its location and climate, Monaco has become a resort for tourists and a tax haven for businesses. Monaco is the world's most densely populated independent country.

Please enjoy 250+ wonderful places around the world, with award-winning photos, from our BLOG ARCHIVE on the right ---->

Travel for half the cost for all levels of travel from budget to luxury and 100's of other unique travel tips! From a former Economic professor, experienced traveler (106 countries), award-winning travel photojournalist/blogger, featured speaker at large travel shows, host of the travel TV show Plan Your Escape® TV aired on the CW network, and travel columnist for the Huffington Post, our popular 5-star customer rated groundbreaking and comprehensive how-to world travel book Plan Your Escape, Secrets of Traveling the World for Less Than the Cost of Living at Home reveals secrets how you can travel and see more for half the cost for all trips, experience more adventure and romance, safely realize your travel dreams with comprehensive planning tools and checklists, travel the world for less than $100/day for a couple, and much more!
Buy this popular book on Amazon.com (also available as Ebook for $9.99), CLICK HERE