Skala

After sunset, we walked back through Oia with everyone else in search of some dinner. It was still on the earlier side, starting to get more crowded now that the sun had set, but we were able to get a table at Skala overlooking the caldera without too much trouble. We had spotted this restaurant on some of our walks through Oia earlier and were glad to finally get to try it.

The first thing to arrive was the bread, which from the receipt, it looks like they didn't charge us for. We thought that maybe this was the time when we finally realized that we could turn it down, but from other pics, it looks like we ate it. It clearly didn't make too much of an impression on us, and we can't even remember what was in that little sauce cup. (Why didn't we take notes?!)

We started off with some wine from the Sigalas winery located in Oia (€4 a glass, all pricing as of six years ago). We got one glass of Assyrtiko (a dry white wine) and one of the Ean Rosé (their dry rosé wine, which looks kind of red in the photo). We don't remember much about the wines, and we're also not very good at describing wines anyway so there's not much missing from our recap about these.

We started out with the fava, pureed yellow split peas (€6.50), which was topped with some onions, olives, and capers. It was pretty hard to go wrong when ordering fava in Santorini, as it was so good everywhere, and this was no exception. We planned to order it everywhere since this special kind of yellow pea was only really cultivated in that area. So delicious and Skala offered a pretty good portion size too. Since then we've been able to order something similar from other Greek restaurants in the US, but none of them ever compared to the ones we had here in Santorini.

Along with the fava, we got one of our other favorite dips, the melitzanosalata, traditional eggplant salad with garlic, onion, parsley, vinegar, oregano (€4.50). We can get good versions of this at home, but the smoky eggplant and all the fresh vegetables in Santorini just made this even better. This had an ever-present but not overpowering smokiness to it, and the overall texture was rich and creamy.

We also got two main courses. One was baked fresh cod fish with olive oil, fresh tomato and vegetables (potatoes, onion, garlic, parsley) (€14). The fish was flaky and tender, and you could tell it was caught that day. The added vegetables gave it a good balance and freshness as well as being filling because of the potato.

The other was soutzoukakia, cumin flavored meatballs baked with tomato sauce (€10) which was served over a rice pilaf. We love meatballs, perhaps M a little more than A, but we both do love them. These were very tasty. Cumin is a spice we both love, and they added a very unique flavor to the soft meatballs. The tomato sauce was fresh and tasty. Everything we had here just felt fresh and clean because we're guessing that everything was freshly picked relatively close to the time they were cooked.

Our dinner at Skala was quite good, probably better than our taverna lunch, and it cost less than lunch too. Perhaps had we known more about the scorpion fish we might have had a better meal for lunch, but we at least had a really good dinner. We were pretty satisfied with dinner, but unfortunately when we left, we had a bit of a craving for cookie ice cream (well, at least M did) and there was nothing like Milkato to be found in Oia. We settled for a cookie ice cream bar from the little market on the way back to our hotel (which we don't remember too much about). After that, it was back to our hotel to end another great day on our awesome honeymoon.

Skiza

Looking back at our time in Santorini years later, it feels like we didn't really do that much while we were there. Before getting there, we had grand plans of visiting the black sand beach, maybe a red sand beach or a vineyard too. But after riding in the taxi from the port to Oia and not liking the twists and turns of the road thanks to our driver, we decided to just relax and take it easy and spend most of our time in Oia. We also realized that we were just really, really, really tired. We loved our visits to Athens, Mykonos, and Naxos, but we had also traveled a lot in each of those places. In Santorini, we ended up just napping a lot, trying to get in as much rest as possible before we had to rejoin the "real world."

So after our visit to Ammoudi, I think we took another nap during the afternoon, or otherwise just rested in our mostly ant-free new room. We headed back out in the late afternoon to stroll some more of Oia, and decided to get a snack from a little cafe window on the main pathway called Skiza, choosing some sort of cheese pie.

Six years later, we honestly don't remember much about the pie itself (no idea if it was better than the breakfast pies or not), but we must have generally liked it or we would probably remember not liking it. (Assumptions like this are not how we like recapping things, but can't go back in time to create notes!) Mostly though, we remember this little dog that kept following us after we bought the pie and trailed at our feet as we ate the entire thing, hoping for crumbs to drop (or maybe for a bite). This wasn't an uncommon sight in Santorini, but we didn't mind. Although we didn't feed it any of our pie, we didn't feel bad about that since there were stray food bins for dogs all around the town. In fact, at one point, A pointed out the bin to the dog. The dog walked over, looked into the feeder, and then immediately walked back to look at our pie (and us). Guess it didn't want that.

After our pie, we joined the crowds to catch the sunset, which was supposed to be most spectacular from Oia, and it was the best one we witnessed while we were there. Once the sun had set, it was time to get some dinner and close out our first full day on the island.

Sunset Taverna

Somehow it's already mid-May, which means we're coming up on the six year anniversary of our honeymoon in Greece. Sadly we've not finished recapping that, so getting back to that...

Our first full day in Santorini started off stressful (dealing with the ants but luckily they were able to move us into another room in the villa; less scenic but less pests), but immediately improved after getting some pies for breakfast. After the pies, we wandered around Oia for a bit, just taking in the sights (lots of weddings, stray dogs, and ants, but also pretty buildings and the caldera) before heading for the (very long) staircase that would take us down to the water and the small port area called Ammoudi. We figured that we would just relax a bit by the water, explore the town (we thought it would be bigger than it was), and have some lunch.

There were a lot of steps and they took far longer than we thought, and they were also covered with donkey droppings everywhere, especially as we got closer to the bottom. We were pretty happy when we finally got to the port and didn't have to walk on the steps anymore. After looking around the port a little bit, we picked a taverna that had tables steps away from the water and decided to go there for lunch. The meal started with the usual bread (€2 six years ago), which was fine but we don't remember it being anything special.

We also got the horiatiki salad (€7.50), lots of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers and onions topped with feta cheese. We loved getting salads in Greece because all of the produce was just so fresh since everything was local.

We also got the tomato keftedes (€7.50), something we had previously read was a Santorini specialty. They were basically fried tomato patties, and we learned here that this was definitely something we wanted to get more of when we were in Santorini, especially if you couldn't really find them elsewhere. There was just something about the flavor, probably from all the fresh, local tomatoes they were made with, that made them so unique and so good.

Along with our vegetable appetizers, we got some freshly grilled fish (€29.25). A picked out the fish because M trusts him to do this. He picked out a skorpion [sic] fish because the workers said it was local. What they didn't mention was that it was a trash fish that was mostly just used in stews and not eaten whole like we were asking for. After reviewing the prices, he was happy to see that it was a moderately priced fish and not one of the more expensive fish types. (Whole fish could get really expensive at some spots in Greece.) He picked a medium sized one and asked them to grill it (and again, they never mentioned until later that that was not how it was usually prepared). As with all fresh fish grills we had gotten in Greece, it was a simple salt, pepper, olive oil, and herb grill with a lemon wedge on the side.

The fish wasn't bad, but it definitely wouldn't be our first choice if we were to ever do this meal again. A remembers that certain parts of it had a bit of a bitterness to it, and those could be the parts that were closer to the poisonous spines that this fish is known for. Thankfully neither of us got sick from eating this, but it's possible that those parts of the fish would have been left out if it were prepared in a stew. Otherwise the fish was a fairly standard flaky white fish, maybe a little firmer than the other ones we had gotten.

Overall, our meal here was nice. It was a great location on the water, the food was solid, and the weather was fantastic. A also got a frappe since he had fallen in love with them on this trip. The only real downside was that there was a very rude and loud family dining at the restaurant at the same time who seemed like they might have been from one of the many cruise ships that were docked in the area that day. They yelled at the staff about a simple mistake they made in a dish, and they were just generally so loud, what people usually think of as stereotypical loud Americans. They also seemed completely clueless about the geography or even where they were, and somewhat (loudly) proud of their ignorance, reinforcing more negative American stereotypes. Not the restaurant's fault though, and we felt pretty bad for the staff.

After relaxing in Ammoudi a little longer after our meal, we ended our time there by taking a taxi back up to Oia because we didn't feel like walking back up the donkey poop-filled stairs. There were also even more donkeys on the stairs after lunch so we could only imagine the fresh batches that would be awaiting us if we walked up. If you're going to Ammoudi, beware of the donkeys!

Passaris Nikolaos

We began every morning in Santorini the same way - with pies. On the pedestrian walkway into the heart of Oia, there was a small bakery that we passed by every day, and every day, we got some pies. I think we had read somewhere in our research that the bakery was really good, so we figured that would be a good spot for breakfast, since this was the one hotel on the entire trip where breakfast was not included.

The bakery's name appeared to be Passaris Nikolaos (if I am converting correctly from the Greek letters), and they were certainly popular. We aren't early morning people, no matter what time zone we're in (maybe someday that'll change), and by the time we got to the bakery in the morning (and it was still morning), there was never that much left. We were able to get some pies every day, but there were always some unavailable because of the demand.

One of the pies that we really liked (and I only know this because I see that we have photos of this pie on multiple days) was this special cheese pie. It reminded us a little bit of the one from Ariston in Athens, but that one was a little better, if we remember correctly this many years later.

We got a bunch of different types of cheese pies from the bakery over the few days we were in Santorini, and couldn't tell you at this point the names of the different ones or how they differed, but we definitely liked them for breakfast.

We didn't only get cheese pies though. We tried other pies including some with vegetable fillings. Unfortunately we couldn't tell you which pies we got on which days or any details, and we really wish we had written something down, but we've learned for the future. All we really remember is that we liked the pies.

One of the things we liked a lot about Greece was all the savory pies that you could get as snacks, whether you were in the city or the islands. There were pies everywhere. That's not as easy to do at home, especially for savory snacks, which is part of the reason we treasure the Greek bakery in our neighborhood. We love Greek pies!

Nectar and Ambrosia

We had high hopes for Santorini, since so many people described it as an absolute dream destination, but adjusting to the island, even in the spring when it wasn't as busy, was tough after our wonderful time in Naxos. It was much more crowded, there were so many more people, and we could feel the frenzy in the air that just wasn't there in Naxos. Add in a motion sickness-inducing taxi ride from the ferry, sudden cold and windy weather, and parades of ants everywhere, including right outside our cave studio, and we weren't the happiest people on the island.

We tried to make the best of it, and spent our first afternoon exploring the village of Oia in Santorini. Our hotel was in Oia, and it was supposed to be the most picturesque part of the island. It was definitely nice wandering the narrow streets, and the landscape of Santorini, especially the caldera, was breathtaking, even under the thick clouds. We had wanted to watch the sunset but considering the clouds and then the rain that started to fall, we just gave up for the day and decided to grab dinner. We picked Nectar and Ambrosia, a place we had on our list (I don't remember where we heard about it - maybe Chowhound?), which has apparently closed sometime between our 2011 visit and now. We didn't make advanced reservations, but since we were eating relatively early on Greek time and most of the tourists were trying to catch whatever sunset there was going to be, it was pretty empty.

We started off with some wine, choosing a local white wine made from grapes grown in the Cyclades. The winery was called Atlantis, and we got a blend of Assyrtiko, Athiri, and Aidani. Assyrtiko is a grape that is indigenous to Santorini, Athiri is indigenous to Rhodes, and Aidani is another grape indigenous to Santorini. The wine itself was similar to the retsinas we had in Athens as Athiri grapes are used a lot in those, but aside from that we don't remember a lot about it.

We started off with the Santorini Island Fava, which was a fava puree with caramelized onions, local capers, and pita triangles. When we had done our research in advance, one of the things everyone said you had to try in Santorini, as far as spreads, was the fava, as it was a local specialty. For our first dinner in Santorini, we knew we had to try it, and we were not disappointed. Fava spread is thicker than hummus but it has such a deep and unique flavor. It was a great start to our meal.

For a starter, we also ordered the Santorini Salad. If it's not already obvious, our plan was pretty much to order anything that sounded local, whether it was a specific dish unique to Santorini or, more likely, ingredients that were locally grown. This salad had small island tomatoes, cucumber, olives, capers and caper leaves, and green peppers on a bed of green leaves with Santorini Chloro soft cheese, balsamic vinegar, and Greek olive oil. (Thank goodness for photos of the menu when you don't have notes.) Everything was extremely fresh, and similar to when we were at Lefteris on Naxos, you could just taste the difference when the ingredients were local. We don't remember a lot about the cheese, but we do remember that everything in this salad felt and tasted so clean and fresh. You can really tell when food didn't have to travel far before being prepared.

For the main course, A got Nectar's Oven Lamb, which was lamb stuffed with manouri cheese and Florina peppers with herbed potato puree and rosemary sauce on the side. The sauce was very rich as it was made from stock (most likely lamb), and it paired very nicely with the roasted lamb. The lamb itself was cooked very well and was very tender. A doesn't remember much about the cheese, but he does remember that the potato puree in the rich sauce was quite delicious and the perfect complement to the lamb.

M's choice for her main course was the Santorini Moussaka, described as "white Santorini aubergine/eggplant layered with country lamb, beef, and pork, topped with a yogurt creme and red paprika accent." Moussaka is basically comfort food, and this was a very good version of it, even if it was a little bit fancier than your normal moussaka. It was rich and heavy, but that was to be expected.

The meal ended with a digestif that neither of us really remembers. This seemed like a fairly common practice in the Greek Islands though, as we got the same treatment (digestif) while in Naxos as well. All in all, we had a nice dinner at Nectar and Ambrosia. We had a little bit of sticker shock though, having just come from much more affordable Naxos. Here our entrees were around €18-19 with our appetizers coming in around €8-9 (and this was the pricing 5-6 years ago), while in Naxos our dishes were more around this appetizer price. The cost of being in a tourist haven, and also at what seemed like one of the nicer restaurants in the area! We did enjoy our dinner though, and strolled around Oia some more afterwards, as much as we could take since it had gotten pretty cold. After that, it was back to the hotel for a stressful night with the ants that we had realized were also all over our room, so invasive that we considered changing hotels if we couldn't get another room that was ant-free. At least we had a nice, filling dinner before having to deal with that.

Blue Star Paros

Our trip from Naxos to Santorini was on the Blue Star Paros, another large ferry with lots of amenities (unlike the small ferry we took to get to Naxos). We paid for business class again to get some space to comfortably relax on our afternoon journey, and it was totally worth it. About an hour into our trip, we decided to get some lunch, and we were happy to see that there was another Goody's restaurant on the boat so we could get more from the Greek fast food chain. Unfortunately, since it's now almost six years later, we don't really remember that much about all of the stuff we ordered (really wish we took notes back then so we didn't lose all these memories; at least we've learned our lesson now), but here's what we got.

Onion rings fried in olive oil, which were like the soft onion rings with mashed up onion inside:

I love onion rings like that, but I have no idea where to get them regularly at home. Sometimes the AYCE Chinese buffets have them but it's very hit or miss.

Fries, just like the ones we got last time, fairly standard and just lightly salted:

"Chicken Fillet Goody's," breaded chicken breast fillets (basically chicken nuggets) served with mustard sauce and salad with vinaigrette sauce:

It was nice to get some salad with chicken nuggets, and I wish that was common here too.

Western barbecue burger, which added barbecue sauce, cheese, bacon, and onion rings to the burger:

After eating, we just rested and watched the seas and islands pass by from our window. The boat stopped briefly at Ios, where it was raining, and then finally we were in Santorini, the last Greek island on our adventure!

Goodbye Nissaki Beach

Our last morning in Naxos was bittersweet. While we looked forward to new adventures, we loved our time in Naxos, had made so many good memories, and were so sad to leave. Leaving also meant we had gone past the midway point of our honeymoon and were that much closer to the end of our vacation. We tried not to think about it and attempted to extend the morning as much as possible before our ferry departure, even wading out into the shallow water at the beach one last time.

Before we left, we had one last breakfast at the hotel, which would also be our last meal in Naxos. We indulged in pasta salad, feta cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggs, and Greek pies. Not only did they have spinach pie this time, but also a hot dog pie. The breakfast spread at Nissaki Beach continued to be incredible day after day, and we were so happy we had chosen to stay there.

We also got our usual fresh squeezed orange juice, yogurt, and fruit. We certainly ate better breakfasts at the hotel than we ever do at home.

After breakfast and beach time, we bid farewell to the Nissaki Beach Hotel, and walked down the waterfront to the pier where we would catch our ferry to Santorini. (No need for a taxi this time since we knew where we were going and how close it was to the hotel.) Although we had high hopes for Santorini, we knew it was a lot more crowded there and would be a lot more touristy, so we were a little sad to leave quiet, peaceful, relaxed Naxos. We hope we'll be able to return someday. Until then, farewell Naxos and goodbye Nissaki Beach, and thank you for such an amazing time!

Goodbye Milkato

After our last dinner in Naxos, we decided to make another trip to Milkato to say goodbye and grab some more gelato. We had gone previously and gotten two flavors that were really tasty. We opted to try a couple different flavors this night, and from what we remember, they were stracciatella and cookies.

Stracciatella is vanilla gelato striped with chocolate and also flaked with chocolate within. It was incredibly creamy, and at the end of the day chocolate and vanilla are a great combination. The chocolate stripes on top were interesting because since it was striped melted chocolate it "froze" and became like a hard shell. The flakes within were softer and much more like regular chocolate chips you'd find in chocolate chip ice cream.

Cookies was, as we expected, just like cookies and cream ice cream. It was vanilla gelato studded with broken up cookies similar to Oreos. For all we knew it could actually have been Oreos. Cookies and cream is one of our favorite flavors overall, and this was definitely a good one.

We really enjoyed our trips to Milkato, and we hope that they're still around. Their Facebook page hasn't had a new post or picture in a little bit, and that worries us. If it is still there, we highly recommend that you sample the gelato they have to offer. We know we certainly will!

Potato-Free Meze Meze

For our last dinner in Naxos, we went back to Meze Meze, getting another table outside on a nice spring night. We had had such a good dinner the night before, and the menu had so many other things that sounded good, so we wanted to try more. But one thing was for sure - we were not ordering any more potatoes. The fries and potato salad from the night before were so good, but we had gotten our fill of delicious Naxian potatoes and now it was time for other stuff.

We started off with some drinks, a beer for A and some iced tea for M. Not too much to say about those.

The first thing to arrive was, just like last time, a basket of bread, which cost €0.80 for each of us. Same as the night before.

After all those potatoes, we wanted to get a potato-free salad, choosing to go with the traditional Greek salad - lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pepper, onion, caper, olives, xinomizithra local cheese, and Cretan crispy bread with olive oil and lemon sauce - for €7.50. This was very similar to the Naxian potato salad from the night before, but with the potatoes being replaced by lettuce, cucumber, and Cretan crispy bread. The Cretan bread was one of the things we were most interested in trying since we weren't going to Crete on that trip. Five years later, we remember the salad being good - light and clean and satisfying - but not too many specifics. It just didn't imprint in our memories the way the Naxian potato salad did. The bread also didn't leave a lasting impression on us.

Since we were in the Greek Islands, we also decided to get some fish, another thing we skipped the night before. We went with the grilled fresh mackerel for €8, which came on a platter with some rice. The issue with the mackerel was that it was a thinner fish than other fish we had eaten in Greece so it was harder for M to get much of anything skinned and also off the bone. The fish itself was very fresh, though, and most of the work went to A to get the meat out. Memories of the rice have sadly also faded over time.

The last thing we ordered came as a recommendation from the waiter. We weren't sure what to order between three types of fried seafood, and he offered to let us have some of all three just like some other tables were enjoying. What arrived was a giant platter of what looked like "popcorn seafood" - half orders of small fried fish, small fried squid, and small fried shrimp - for €12. You ate the fish and squid whole, but the shrimp, you tore the head off and then ate the rest. It doesn't look like an especially huge plate, and the size of the plate itself wasn't very different from some of the others, but it was packed full of really tiny pieces of seafood. It took us an hour to eat all of it, as it just seemed like a neverending plate. We had eaten so much shrimp, fish, and squid, yet every time we looked up, the plate still looked full. We were happy though that we had the option to try all three and weren't disappointed at all with any of them. Everything was really good, but it took forever to eat, an experience we certainly wouldn't forget from our last night. Good thing we weren't really in a rush to go back to the hotel to pack.

After we (finally) finished our dinner, they brought out more complimentary citron and yogurt to end the meal, which we appreciated. The hospitality and the food at Meze Meze were superb, and we were so happy that we had chosen to eat there twice to try a wide range of what they had to offer. We were trying not to overdo it for our last dinner since we wanted to make one last trip to Milkato to get some more gelato, so there were so many more things we didn't get to try. We would definitely return here if we have the chance to go back to Naxos.

Yialos

Five years ago today, we had an amazing day in Naxos, Greece on our honeymoon. After starting the day off with a giant breakfast at the hotel, which had such a fantastic spread every morning, we went over to Agios Prokopios Beach, spending our time basking in the sun and wading in the crystal clear water. It was incredibly relaxing. We continued our beach day after returning to the hotel since our hotel was next to another beach, Agios Georgios (Saint George). That one was pretty different because you could walk out for yards and the water would still only be knee deep. It was fantastic.

Since we ate such gigantic breakfasts every morning at our hotel, we rarely ate a full lunch on our days in Naxos (which is the opposite of how we usually travel, when we eat a granola bar for a breakfast and then focus on having a bigger lunch), instead choosing to get a couple of light snacks before dinner. Our local beach had a bunch of small beachside tavernas, and it seemed like the perfect extension of our beach day to get some food from one of them for our daily snack. The one we stopped at was called Yialos, and we got a table with a full view of the beach. It was glorious.

We decided to order two dishes - stuffed vine leaves and a dip (which we think is skordalia, but aren't 100% sure this many years later), which we ate with some bread - and a couple of Mythos beers. We don't really remember a ton of specifics about how the food tasted there, other than that we liked it, but we absolutely remember the experience. It was perfect, exactly what we wanted on our last afternoon in Naxos. There was good food, cold drinks, a great view, and just a super relaxed atmosphere. While we sat there, just people watching, relaxing, resting in the sun, we didn't have a care in the world. It's a feeling I think we both wish we could replicate on every vacation, but we're not always successful.

The entire experience only cost us €11 (no idea what it would be now, but that's what it was 5 years ago), and it was totally worth it for a relaxing afternoon on the beach with tasty snacks. Once we left, it was time to head into town to buy our tickets for our next destination, take in a last sunset over the Portara (an absolutely magical experience in our opinion), and try to enjoy every last minute of our final night in Naxos. That was truly our favorite island, and the relaxing vibe and good food we had at Yialos was pretty representative of why we loved it so much.

Another Good Breakfast

Day 4 in Naxos started in the usual way with a relaxing breakfast in the dining room at our hotel. We didn't take a lot of pictures that morning and I know we ate more than what's here since we're gluttons for tasty free breakfasts, but here's a glimpse of what we got before we went out for our beach day.

One thing which caught our eye was this little bowl which looked like custard. They hadn't had this on any other days, and when we tasted it, it was reminiscent of an ice cream sandwich. (Thank goodness for notes/photo captions, because I had zero recollection of how this tasted.)

On a bit of a more savory note, we got a bunch of other treats. There were tomato slices with blocks of feta and capers; toast with tuna and capers; some apple strudel type of thing; scrambled eggs with tomatoes; and some other type of pie thing. I'm not sure we even knew what those pies and things were when we were eating them, but they were good.

We tried to savor each of our breakfasts at Nissaki Beach because we were pretty sure that these were going to be the best complimentary breakfasts on our trip. The variety of salads and pies and savory snacks was just so much better than anything we'd had so far, and the spread changed daily. They're also much better breakfasts than we eat at home, plus they had fresh squeezed orange juice every morning. We really loved these breakfasts!