Good Morning Monday! I’m headed to NYC today with my mom and sis for a fun-filled day. Can you believe that it’s my mom’s first time in NYC? Yep, she’s excited. There’s so much to squeeze in today that I’m hoping the cloud-but-no-rain forecast falls true.

I’ve finally finished the second installment of my travel photos from Greece and they have been taking forever. I love taking photos but sifting through them can be a challenge at times. And in Greece’s case, downright frustrating. There are so many great photos that it is hard to just pick one so I’m hoping you don’t mind and that you fall in love with this beautiful island as much as we did!

TOURING FIRA

Fira is the capital of Santorini and is located around the middle of the island. There are plenty of shops and in fact, I would recommend touring Fira just for the shopping. I also overheard two 20-something girls commenting on the night life and how fun it was so I’m guessing it’s popular with the the young(er) crowd for something other than the breathtaking views…

If you’re staying in Oia, visit Fira for a day and then concentrate your efforts on the other parts of Santorini. Also, it should be worth noting that once noon hits, the whole city comes alive and there are people everywhere. We were fortunate to visit during the morning/early afternoon and so we got to experience a quieter part before the main rush.

I can’t recommend too many places to eat in Fira as we only stopped at three. We visited Fira twice, once while we waited for our home to be ready after our short flight from Athens (if you’re in Athens for a connecting flight, read about how to spend 5 hours in Athens) and once for a VERY short stop after our 3-hour hike from Oia to Fira. One of the three places we stopped at was a small coffee/restaurant overlooking the caldera – most restaurants were closed and unfortunately, we stopped here out of necessity for coffee. Because of this experience (dirty, mediocre), I would highly recommend looking up reviews for places in Fira before you decide to try them out. The second place we tried was Franco’s Bar and while the orange juice was out of this world and the views were exceptional, I would hesitate to recommend their food. It was fine but there are definitely better. What I can wholeheartedly recommend is Lucky’s Souvlakis, a small gyro joint on the outskirts of town serving up the best souvlaki and gyros around the area – and they only cost 2.90 euros a piece.