In August 2017, Tyler and I were on our honeymoon, a Mediterranean cruise with Royal Caribbean. After a couple wonderful days spent exploring Dubrovnik and Kotor, we were so excited to spend some time in Santorini.
While beautiful, with the blue dome roofs you probably associate with any Greek vacation, Oia is packed with both tourists and tourist traps. The restaurants and souvenir shops are overpriced and underwhelming. After spending our morning hoping to uncover the “wonders” everyone seemed to refer to, we settled on a restaurant with wifi to determine our next steps.
A few Google searches later, we found the one and only brewery in Santorini. We finished up lunch, hailed a cab (with some difficulty without cell service) and were dropped off at the Santorini Brewing Company. The donkeys painted on the wall outside the building told us this was the brand behind the beer we’d seen served all over Oia.
We went inside to grab a drink, where we met a lovely Dutch woman who informed us we couldn’t actually drink inside the brewery because they didn’t have a license to actually serve alcohol, but she would be happy to set us up on the patio outside with our purchase. After all, in Greece, you are allowed to drink in public. She supplied us with glasses, and we split a .75L of White Donkey in the shade of the Santorini Brewing Company building.
Once we’d finished up our beer, we chatted with the staff to see if there was anything else to do in the area, as we had a few hours before we had to be back at the ship. They recommended the Kamari Beach, known for its black sand. That sounded perfect, so we asked if we could walk there. We were told we “wouldn’t want to,” so then we asked if they could call a cab for us. We didn’t want a repeat of our earlier cab struggles.
Our Dutch friend agreed, but as she headed to the phone, the team of staff got into a larger discussion in Greek, leaving Tyler and I to wonder what was going on. When she returned, we couldn’t believe her response.
We don’t know for sure when a cab would get here, she explained, but our delivery driver is heading that way, if you would be okay sharing a ride with him?
I mean, how much did we want a free ride, and how concerned were we about being taken?
The team had been so friendly and accommodating thus far, and since Tyler and I were together, we were willing to take the chance. We thanked them for the offer and said we would take them up on it, even after learning that the Santorini Brewing Company delivery truck had only two seats, so we would have to share.
I sat in Tyler’s lap for our short ride, sharing our tiny seat among crates and crates of bottles. We were soon “delivered” to Kamari Beach, which ended up being the perfect spot to wind down our day in Santorini. We’re so glad we didn’t give up on our search for the “wonders” of Santorini because we found them – they just weren’t in Oia.
While I don’t necessarily advocate getting a ride from strangers (use your best judgement there), I would highly recommend that you “trust the locals” on the best things to eat, see and do. Some of my best travel memories, including this one, have come from asking someone nearby what I should do next.