December 28, 2014 1:30 am
This is post fifteen of sixteen of our summer trip to Greece. Check out our other posts in the series here:
Visiting the Greek Islands was a dream for Mrs. Selfish and I, and they certainly are beautiful. This is not to say that the trip was perfect, however. Our trips frequently aren’t, and we tend to gloss over some of the crappier parts of traveling: food poisoning, scams, mediocre foods, gross hotels, etc.
I have often found, however, that our experiences are tinged by our expectations and for better or worse my expectations usually match the pictures I see online: a solitary monk visiting Angkor Wat in the morning omitting the tourist hordes just off camera, the perfectly framed cafe in Paris minus the next door McDonald’s, the Great Wall of China at sunset with the silhouetted screaming hawkers pushing their wares.
Stunning… so what’s the catch?
So here, in no particular order, are the many downsides of visiting Santorini and Mykonos. Hopefully they help you make your own informed decisions when traveling to these high profile hot spots.
Donkeys are everywhere in Santorini. Thanks to Oia’s narrow streets, it’s nearly impossible for a car to maneuver, so donkeys are used to haul trash and tourists around.
Unfortunately that also means there is copious amounts of donkey crap around, which can make walking a tad tricky. Especially walking down a bunch of already slippery steps at night.
Yeah, that’s not dust on those stairs. Hooray, old poop.
Not a big deal you say? Who cares about a little donkey dung, right? I came for the view! Well, prepare for…
I knew there were tons of Mediterranean cruises that went to Santorini before we planned the trip. Yet somehow I didn’t picture them coming every single day or bringing thousands of people.
Or also the ferries, which come several times a day and also bring several thousand people.
Accordingly, there are tons of people visiting the islands and the streets are narrow. Be prepared for long lines and flaring tempers (especially if going during the summer).
More people means more problems, but also means…
This shot was awesome – look at that sunset. Not a person in sight right? I mean, I can totally picture myself sipping a glass of Greek wine and watching it sink from the comfort of my balcony. Well… maybe… if you’re really rich, but for the rest of us the reality involves something a little more like this.
Pretty much everyone and their mum is packing DSLRs & tripods these days and they are all waiting for the same shot. So much so that they’ve been there for hours already, staking out a good place to get it.
Our solution was twofold: 1) be really aggressive (you haven’t lived until you’ve heard Mrs. Selfish yell at someone in a movie theatre for using their cell phone), 2) walk to places other people didn’t want to go.
In the case of the Santorini sunset shot I ended up climbing up an abandoned cliff in order to get a people-free shot. It worked out pretty well, but we still had to push our way through the crowds to get back to our hotel.
Like Santorini, Mykonos is renowned for its beauty. This is why we decided to go there in the first place:
Unfortunately, it does have the reputation of being a party city. I assumed (because we actually don’t do as much research when choosing locations) that there would be tons of clubs, and that Mrs. Selfish and I would be unaffected since we primarily stay in at night.
Well there are tons of clubs, but if you’re an old fuddy-duddy like me, you will still be affected. There are parties everywhere, all day, every day.
If you’re young and single, hey, that’s cool. There are parties at the club. There are parties on the ships. There are parties at the beach – not only Paradise Beach or Super Paradise Beach, but almost all of the other beaches as well. Parties, parties, parties.
Since the partying culture is so huge, it is also immediately reflected in the rest of the town. Not just in the drunken 20-somethings you see strewn about, but in the type of stores you see on the streets (and type of trash you see on the ground).
I’m not sure what’s better, honestly. Ugh.
While I’m glad we visited Santorini and Mykonos, I wish I had known the general vibe of each island before we had planned the trip. Crowded, dirty, trashy (Mykonos more so than Santorini) – yet still very, very beautiful.
Would I still go if I knew then what I knew now? To Santorini? Absolutely. To Mykonos? It’s hard to say. At the very least I probably would have cut back our stay at Mykonos to one night instead of two.
Anyway, for those of you who are considering a trip to these two islands I hope this perspective will help inform your own journey. Or that you at least enjoyed the rant.
Join us tomorrow when we board a plane for Montreal and get upgraded to an obscenely large suite at the Hyatt Regency!
Posted by misterselfish
Categories: Europe, Greece, Mykonos, Rant, Santorini
Tags: Mykonos, Santorini, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
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Hello! I wanted to get in touch to see if I could use one of these photos. Thank you!
By Stella Kyriakopoulou on September 15, 2020 at 1:59 am
Hey sure! Which ones, out of curiosity?
By misterselfish on September 15, 2020 at 2:14 pm
We could definitely do with a site re-org. Of course, we’re running shorter and shorter on time these days. Happy New Year!
By misterselfish on December 29, 2014 at 10:28 am
Thank you for posting this. I’ve been following your posts, and this one is one of my favorites. It helps with the expectation if we ever consider Greek islands.
By Thaiha Nguyen on December 29, 2014 at 12:02 am
I hope it is useful. The Greek Islands are beautiful, but heavily touristed. We made the mistake of going during high season, so perhaps a change of date would help.
By misterselfish on January 1, 2015 at 1:11 pm
I love all of your TR’s. You both do a great job. If it makes sense could you do a post about some of the lessons you have learned in your travels that would be helpful to others? My wife and I like to travel like you do(not clubbing and partying) and would love to learn some of your insights.
By James Merrill on December 28, 2014 at 7:36 pm
@James
We had a post on the 33 things we learned while traveling for a year in our “BEST OF” section: http://theselfishyears.com/2013/09/24/33-things-we-learned-while-traveling-abroad-for-a-year-part-1/
Is that along the lines of what you were thinking of?
By misterselfish on December 29, 2014 at 9:39 am
I think I missed or forgot about that post. That is excellent. I really appreciate you sharing your adventures with the world. I hope everything is going well with the baby and the rest of your lives!
By James Merrill on December 29, 2014 at 10:24 am