And at the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy and your eyes sparkling.”

Shanti

Those government covid rules are so weird sometimes. While Germany is in lockdown AGAIN with all hotels closed, we could easily book a flight to the Greek Islands for 2 weeks where everything was still open. No complaints though 😉.

Mykonos, Greece

How to enter Greece in Covid times

In order to enter Greece in October 2020, you only had to fill out a health form. This gave you a number and a QR code at the end.

Many people got tested at the airport in Mykonos. But for some reason (we still don’t know why), we could just pass the entire line and could walk straight to our luggage.

Where to stay on Mykonos

As always, we try to stay as flexible as possible on trips. Therefore we usually only book the first two or three nights somewhere. This time we chose Maganos Apartments in the south of Mykonos, 4.5 km away from Mykonos Town.

It’s strange how we almost become obsessed with saving money on trips and going for the best (often cheapest) deal. In this case we were seriously debating whether or not to take the apartment upstairs with a better view over the ocean for an extra 4€ a day. Luckily, Blake convinced us to go for the “more expensive” option which was definitely the right choice.

Our apartment was painted in the typical white and blue Greek colours and we spent many nights on our balcony watching sunset. Since I’ve known Blake, watching sunsets has become “our thing” but just to make this clear: it was him who made it a thing in the first place 😉.

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Things to do on Mykonos

Our days on Mykonos looked quite similar. However, each day we chose a different beach and a different restaurant to change it up. 😉

Beaches on Mykonos

Note: you should definitely rent a quad or scooter on Mykonos

Mykonos is known for its great (beach) parties. But as you can see in the photos, the beaches were empty. This was due to two reasons: covid and the end of the season. So if you are coming here because of the big parties, come in summer! One night we went to one of the party hotspots and there were literally 6 other people there (and this already included the DJ, the waiters and the bartender).

Since WE 😉 love sunsets, a really good place to watch sunset on Mykonos is the 180° Sunset Bar. The entry fee is 20€ each which is definitely not cheap. But at least one drink is included (which would be 18€ anyways) and you get a fabulous view over the old town of Mykonos with the sun setting into the ocean.

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Where to eat on Mykonos

We always love to try the local cuisine and often ask the locals where it’s best to eat. Besides that, we also check the ratings and pictures on tripadivisor about different restaurants. A mixture of those two has worked really well for us in the past.

Kiki’s Tavern was a really great (hidden) lunch spot. In the main season you have to make sure to come early if you don’t want to wait in line. Apparently even Tom Cruise has already eaten here – at least this is what they advertise with ;-).

Even though we just raved about how we love to eat the local cuisine, D’Angelo Mykonos was very enjoyable, even though it was Italian. However, friends of ours recommended it to us and if you are into fresh pasta, pizza and fish, it won’t disappoint!

Some locals recommended Niko’s Taverna which was very enjoyable with a large variety of typical Greek food and fresh fish.

Santorini, Greece

Empty Santorini

We definitely wanted to explore other islands while we were here but we didn’t want to feel rushed either. In the end we decided to go to Santorini because we both have never been there before. The ferry return ticket cost almost as much as the flight from Germany to Mykonos and back. There is definitely something wrong with that system…

Of course the pandemic has so many negative aspects, but we tend to look at the positive and one major positive affect of the pandemic definitely was: Santorini was empty!

I don’t think we’ll ever go to Santorini again – not because we did not like it, but because we would never have the entire island to ourselves again.

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Where to stay on Santorini

If you ever get to Santorini, make sure you stay in Oia! Even though, it is a bit pricier than Fira, this is where you want to stay as this is the Santorini everyone knows from postcards. Of course you could always catch the bus from Fira to Oia, but let’s be honest: Do you really want to do this every single day?

Like I said earlier, we were “lucky” with the corona situation, because not only were there hardly any tourists, but also were the hotel prices so much cheaper (also because of the shoulder season). We stayed at Prime Suites which we got for a friction of the original price. Honestly, we couldn’t believe our luck: the accommodation had a pool, a hot tub and the apartment was built into a cave, right where the action was happening 😉! We loved it!

Things to do on Santorini

If we are being honest, all we did here was to enjoy the incredible scenery and our hotel.

You should definitely soak in the white and blue domes, go through the narrow alleys and watch sunset at the lookout (see map above). We’ve heard a lot of great stories about the “stunning sunsets” in Santorini, but we actually had much better sunsets in Mykonos. It felt like all the people that stayed on the island, came to that one sunset point in the evening, and then it wasn’t even a good one!

Mykonos or Santorini?

We think you should see Santorini at least once in your lifetime. However, it is mainly Oia that is so fascinating on Santorini. Mykonos, on the other side, has a whole island to offer with great beaches, a quaint old town, stunning sunsets and it’s small enough to explore it all in one trip.

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After this trip, Germany went back to lockdown and Blake flew home in December to spend a month with his family. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come back to Germany on December 30th, 2020 because the Netherlands (where he would have only been in transit) changed their rules last minute, so Blake wasn’t allowed to board his flight in Calgary. This is why we spent New Year’s Eve apart from each other and Blake only came back to Germany on January 5th, 2021.

How did we make travelling work in spring 2021 when Germany’s borders, hotels and restaurants were still closed? Find out here.