I really want to start this off by saying that Greece is the most beautiful place I have ever visited.
That’s not an easy decision either, Ireland and Scottland are definitely up there. However, I am a die-hard beach brat who loves being in the sun.
Summer 2016 I was blessed enough to be able to spend two amazing weeks with a Contiki tour group hopping the Greek Islands of Mykonos, Santorini and Ios.
Santorini was our middle stop and by far the most laid back island we visited. The daredevil in me has always wanted to go cliff jumping and the whole trip I had been bugging my super cool tour guide for some inside information on the best spots to go jumping.
The night before our free day in Santorini he finally gave in and told my small group of girl friends I had made to talk to our hotel receptionist in the morning and she would get us situated.
So the next morning me and four other girls meet at the lobby bright and early to start our adventure.
My broken Greek and her broken English were not a problem because as soon as I mentioned “Cliff-jumping” her whole demeanor brightened. She gestured to all of us excitedly and when I nodded she quickly told me that she would call us a taxi right away.
Our 45-minute ride across the island, featuring beautiful landscapes and commentary from the driver, cost the lot of us only €40, but as we finally drove down a steep road none of us expected how beautiful our drop off spot would be.
If you’ve ever seen the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants you may recognize the bay as I did, not by name but by memory. As soon as I saw where we were I pointed out that this was the famous place from the movie (No one believed me).
If you’re traveling to Santorini and want to visit for yourself ask a local how to get to Amoudi Bay.
The driver pulled right up to a concrete pier lined with open air cafes overlooking a small bay with the most gorgeous coloring I had ever seen. Behind the shops were rocky cliffs with a sudden incline leading to the town of Oia, which looked like white toy houses.
We were instructed to walk through the restaurants, around the edge of the island to a spot that we “Can’t miss.”
Walking through the bustling restaurants getting ready for lunch was fascinating, everyone looked at us in our swimwear knowingly, and the excitement only grew with how excited the locals seemed for our obvious path to their well-known spot.
The Agean splashed against the rocks to our right as we came around the bend, stumbled over some rocks on the path, and finally made it to the place that everyone had raved about.
Before us, was a flat outcropping on the land,.where people had laid towels down to sunbathe and someone had built a shelf to help swimmers more easily enter and exit the water.
Just beyond the edge of the land was a small island where someone had built a little church, with stairs, and a place to jump off of into the sea. The only way to get to it was to swim, which we did, and then to climb up the rocks to the stairs.
The water was clear and cool. You could watch your feet for prickly sea urchins, and it looked as if you are standing on the sea floor even though it’s so deep you can’t even touch it if you dive.
Each of us jumped off of the around 20-foot cliff three times, I don’t think we could have taken much more.
The first time was amazing, I landed just right and immediately wanted to try again. The second time, my ears popped when I went too low in the water and I landed a little harder than the first. The third and final time I jumped the impact made me release the hold on my nose and salty sea water cleared out my sinuses extremely well.
I never wanted to leave the water, but by lunch time we were forced out by hunger and the cold. After sunbathing on our own a little bit we began the trek back to the cafes on the sea to eat lunch.
As hungry as we were there was plenty of freshly caught seafood to sate us and we sat on the water watching the boats come in and out of the harbor until our taxi driver arrived again to take us back to our island home.
If someone had to ask me about my favorite day, it would be this one.
For anyone trying to spend two weeks in the best place on earth, here is my exact trip:
https://www.contiki.com/us/en/destinations/europe/tours/greek-island-hopping-131
Where are we again? 