Travel tips: Travel with baby to Santorini

For those who follow and still remember, our family visited Europe last year and I promised to blog about our trip!

In my last travel post (months ago...), I blogged about the 13 things to do in Athens. 

Today, I'm finally going to continue documenting our travel memories ... 

👉🏻Sharing tips on how to travel within Santorini with a one year old baby. 

I believe Santorini is on many travellers' bucket list. Santorini is famous for their caldera view, blue roof churches, traditional cave houses, black sand and red sand beaches. It's one of the hottest tourist destinations in the world. Before we went on the trip, many told us that Santorini is not a baby friendly place .. Or so we thought.. 🤔

Transportation 

Within Santorini, one of the most recommended mode of transport is their local ATV which you can find their rental shops throughout the island. ATV is an affordable mode of transport which provides tourist the flexibility and convenience to tour the island at individual pacing. 

 

Photo credit to @jaysteves

However, it's definitely not a safe mode of transport for family who travels with baby. 😱

Before our trip, one of the greatest concern was transportation within the island. We had considered to rent a car but were worried that non-international license may not be acceptable. 

I went on to research on their modes of public transport and read about KTEL. KTEL is their local bus agency which has a main bus terminal located at central Fira. It has many buses that travel from Fira to all attractions in Santorini. The best thing - it costs only 1.80 to 2.50 euro per ride! 🎉It was super convenient and cheap for us to travel around Santorini with their local buses. 

 

You can check their timetable online and enquire the bus number at their main terminal at Fira. There's no need to purchase tickets prior as you pay only after boarding the bus. It's free seating on the bus and seats are on a first-come-first-serve basis. The buses can be really packed during peak hours so it's good to arrive earlier to ensure you get a seat!

Accommodation 

If you are looking to travel around Santorini via their KTEL public buses, it will be most convenient to stay at Fira since all buses depart from Fira. Fira is located at the centre of Santorini so the accommodations around Fira are always high in demand and cost more than the other area. It's advisable to book your accommodation at least 2 months before your travel date to secure a good deal. I booked our accomodation through Airbnb a month before our travel date and already almost all the good ones were fully booked and we were left with very few choices. We believe we grabbed the last good deal. 😆

Attractions 

If you think traveling with baby will let you miss out some attractions

You are Wrong.❌ 

We travelled to most of the best spots on the island. 

 Everyone planning a visit to Santorini should not miss these four places! 

1. Fira 

Of course we toured Fira since we booked our accommodation there. But even if you book your accom elsewhere, you HAVE TO visit Fira. It's located at the centre of Santorini with awesome caldera view, many restaurants, shops, beautiful churches and the famous donkey steps.

 

 

 

2. Oia 

Oia is another area well known for their scenic view, white wash cave houses, windmills and little blue roof churches . There are also many restaurants and shops around Oia. It's the best place to have a romantic dinner in Santorini. 

 

 

 

 

3. Red Beach 

This is one of my favourites! For those who love beaches, you CANNOT MISS this. You can take the KTEL bus ride to Kamari. In order to reach the red sand beach, you have to either hike or take a boat there.  I highly recommend travellers to hike there. Along the hike to red sand, you will be able to catch a cute white church and beautiful sea view. 

Check out our walking trail:

 

 

 

 

4. Black beach 

Besides red beach, Santorini is also well known for their black beach. The textures and colours of the sands are totally different and it's interesting how nature creates these beautiful differences. 

 

After our trip, we realised that it's not really difficult to travel with a baby to an island. We had so much fun exploring. Of course, baby wearing has made it so much easier to travel and hike. Also glad that I breastfed Aedan so he could be fed wherever we were. 

"Travelling creates memories that last a lifetime" 

- Mommy eve 

13 things to do in Athens

To chronicle the memories of our recent Europe trip, I'm finally blogging it down before I forget about everything. 

In my previous travel post, I blogged about our pre trip planning with useful tips on where to book value-for-money flights, accommodations and how to stay connected in Athens, Santorini and Italy. 

Today, I'll start with blogging on our first stop - Athens. 

Sharing with you our travel memories with 13 things to do in Athens. 

Arrival night:

It was night time when we arrived at Athens, we took a cab from the airport to our accommodation. Our host, Evangelic, was a super host. When we arrived at the airport, I texted her and she was fast in responding to my messages. She advised me on the various modes of transport to her accommodation. She was really nice and even agreed to wait for us on the street in case we couldn't locate the place. The taxi fares were indicated at the taxi stand - a flat fee of 38 euro before midnight and 50 euro after midnight. However, after we board onto the cab, the cab driver increased the cab fare and reasoned that the place was very far away and not around the region for this flat fare rate.. bla bla bla. These were all lies for them to earn extra from us. Luckily, after we arrived, our host argued with the driver and we paid him the flat fee. 

Here's my advice for the 13 things to do in Athens 

1. Stay with a local 

We were super glad when we arrived at our accommodation. It was so pretty, spacious and cozy. We were really happy as we got to enjoy our private space with the entire house to ourselves and also the privilege of having a local host who stayed next door that shared travel tips with us. Best of both worlds.

Our host was very helpful and showed us the list of food, eateries and attractions to visit! 

2. Get a local sim card 

The first thing on our list was to visit the Cosmote mobile shop to get a SIM card. We felt handicapped without internet connectivity so it's a must to get on our first day. We bought a 3 GB data plan for 15 Euro (could not remember the amount of talk time and messages as our main interest was the mobile data to access to Internet). 

3. Eat breakfast like a local 

There were many bakeries in Athens and they served local pastries and delights such as Kataifi which are extremely sweet but something that we have to try in Athens.

Throughout our trip in Athens, every morning, we look forward to our breakfast from a local bakery recommended by our host. 

The shop have a wide variety of sweet delights, pastries, cakes, sandwiches and they sell coffee and drinks too. 

4. Visit the Syntagma square 

On our first day, we took a metro to Syntagma where we visited the the Syntagma square and saw the Hellenic parliament.

5. Enjoy nature walk at the National Garden & visit the Zappeio 

On our way to the Temple of Zeus, we walked through the National Garden to hide from the scorching sun. It was peaceful and nice to walk through the park. There were even people mediating and sleeping underneath the trees. 

6. Visit and capture moments at the Temple of Olympiad Zeus 

7. Visit Acropolis Museum before climbing the Acropolis 

It's a MUST DO thing to climb the Acropolis when you visit Athens. 

Acropolis is a historic site which you can climb all the way up to see Pantheon and other historical structures. To make your climb more meaningful, I suggest to visit the Acropolis Museum first. 

At the top floor of the museum, there is video screening of the history of Acropolis. I'll advise you to watch the video as it summarizes the history so it's easier to digest.

Admission fee to the museum is 5 Euro per person. 

Admission fee to Acropolis is 20 Euro

Link to the Acropolis museum: http://www.theacropolismuseum.gr/en

8. Walk and take pictures along the beautiful streets at Plaka area

9. Shop around Plaka, Ermou street and the many streets where I cannot remember the names. 

Walk the area and explore the streets yourselves!

10. Eat souvlaki like a local 

You can never miss having a Souvlaki in Greece. It's a MUST! 

Souvlaki (stick meat) with or without a pita bread. 

Places for Souvlaki: 

Meatropoleos 3
Kolokotroni 39
Kostas at Agia Irini square
Savvas
Tylixto

11. Watch sunset wherever you are 

12. Watch the night view of Acropolis from a rooftop restaurant. 

There are many restaurants near to the Acropolis which allow you to dine at their rooftop for this stunning view. 

Restaurants with rooftop view:

A for Athens
360 Degrees
Cityzen
Couleur Locale

13. Visit the many other historic sites to take more pictures

Other historic sites:

Ancient Agora

Temple of Hephaistos

AgII Apostoli

Stoa of Attalos

Roman Agora

Hadrian's Arch 

With love,

Mommy eve

All photos are credited to Twentysixoctober 

Pre-trip planning tips: Greece & Italy

Hi all,

Daddy, baby Aedan and I have just came back from our 13 days & 12 nights Europe trip where we travelled from Israel to Athens, Santorini, Rome, Florence, Venice & Pisa before returning to Singapore. 
It was one of our best trips in our lives! Though it was exhausting to travel with a baby, the joy from travelling as a family made it all worth it. Glad we did it!
After this trip, we are more motivated to travel more before Aedan turns 2 when we will have to pay for his flight ticket. :p

Today I'll be sharing with you my pre-trip planning with useful travel tips!

1. Flight ticket

If you have not heard of Sky Scanner or have not used it to purchase your flight tickets, you may be paying hundred or even thousand dollars more for your flight tickets.

It's only after i started using sky scanner that I realised flight tickets can vary A LOT from booking via different platforms. It can be a few hundred or even thousand dollars difference! Moreover, sky scanner helps in filtering the best value travel period and airline. 

We travelled with our baby so we were not looking for the cheapest tickets but the best valued tickets which were not too expensive, direct flight (without multiple transits) with short flight hours and good departure/arrival times (avoid too early or too late flights). There were many considerations and sky scanner worked awesome in helping us find the best options! 

We flew from Tel Aviv to Athens to Santorini then to Rome before flying back to Singapore. 

Price stated below are for 2 adults plus one infant

✈️ Tel Aviv to Athens via Aegean, 2 hrs: SGD 704.01 

✈️ Athens to Santorini via Sky Express, 45mins: SGD 369.09

✈️ Santorini to Rome via Blue Express, 2hr 15 mins: SGD 800.37

✈️Rome to Singapore via Singapore Airline, 12 hrs: SGD 1414.42

We managed to fly to 4 destinations with only SGD 3288 for 2 adults and one baby. 

Link to Sky Scanner: https://www.skyscanner.com.sg

2. Accommodation

To save on staying in expensive hotel, we stayed at local apartments and booked via Airbnb. Besides saving money, another good thing about staying with locals was that we got to learn from them the best places to see and dine and to avoid tourist traps.

Moreover, we got to use the kitchen to prepare food for our baby. :)

🏠Athens (3 nights): SGD 188

🏠Santorini (3 nights): SGD 462

🏠Florence (4 nights): SGD 432

🏠Rome (3 nights): SGD 363 

We stayed for 2 nights in Rome but paid for 3 nights as I got the check-out date wrong. I thought we were departing Rome on 31st Aug but instead it was 30th Aug ("dunno what I was thinking"). Paid the price for my mistake :( 

It costed us total of only SGD 1445.28.

We booked our accommodation at Athens directly with the host so there's no Airbnb fee!

All our accommodations are very spacious, located at central area and near to public transports. 

Link to Airbnb:

Receive SGD 45 credit for your first Airbnb booking when you book from this link: https://abnb.me/e/scDPZuwsXI

3. Connectivity

To me, travel is easy when we have Internet access.  Everything will be within your reach and you will never get lost with Google Maps. However, while planning for the trip, I have problem deciding whether to purchase a pocket wifi or to get a SIM card. After much research, we realized that it's cheaper for us to get SIM card as there were only 2 of us using the Internet and we only need to purchase one SIM card as the other person could simply use personal hotspot teetering. It will be more worth it to purchase pocket wifi for large group of travellers as it can be tapped by up to 10 users. 

In Greece, we have purchased a SIM card from Cosmote mobile operator that costs only 15 Euro for 3 GB of mobile data. We got it from their outlet near to our accommodation.

In Italy, we purchased SIM card from Vodafone that costs 20 Euro for 2 GB of mobile data. We got it from a booth located at the train station at Fiumicino airport. 

Frankly 1 GB is more than enough. We never exceeded 1GB usage for each country. Moreover, it's convenient that we have a local number to make calls when necessary. 

Link to Cosmote: https://www.cosmote.gr

Link to Vodafone: http://www.vodafone.it

4. Transportation within country 

Throughout our whole Europe trip, we mostly travelled by local public transports. I personally love exploring a country via public transport as not only it's cheap, it's also a good way to "feel" a country. We avoided taking taxi unless it was late at night or we have to catch an early flight.

In Athens, we managed to explore the country via their metro and by walking a lot. It costs only 1.40 Euro /person/ride. 

In Santorini, we explored the country via their public bus which costs only around 1.8-2.0 Euro /person/ride. We managed to visit most of the attractions via their bus from Fira bus station. 

In Italy, we took their regional high speed train to Florence, Venice and Pisa and spent our time walking around the city. The ticket prices vary depending on destination, time and train. You can book cheaper tickets online (remember to print hard copy as it's required for checking) or purchase on the spot. As we were travelling with baby and it's harder to be on-time, we purchased our tickets 15 mins before departure at the train stations. You can check the train schedule online. 

Link to metro route at Athens: http://www.ametro.gr/page/default.asp?la=2&id=48

Link to Santorini public bus time table: http://ktel-santorini.gr/ktel/index.php/en/services-eng/timetable-summer-eng

Link to train booking in Italy: https://www.italiarail.com

I hope these tips will be useful to you. I'll blog down our travel memories in other post! :)
Going to stay in Singapore for a month.. there are so many food, people and places to visit in a month.
Also, we are having Aedan's one year + one month birthday party this coming Sunday. 
I can't wait to meet my friends this Sunday! 

Never stop exploring the world ... even with a baby!

- Mommy eve

Travel with baby to Dado Zamir Beach at Haifa, Israel

Last weekend, we visited Dado Zamir Beach located at Haifa, Israel! 

Another of our little adventure. 

Dado Zamir beach is listed as one of the top 10 beaches in Israel on Israel21c.org website. 

It's clearly one of the best beaches we have been. 

Love the glare from the sun, 

The little pebbles on the sand, 

The breeze from the sea,

The waves gushing up the shore,

And the beautiful sunset.

Here's a summary of our visit :)

If you will like to visit. it is located along David Elazar Street at Haifa, Israel 

Bye bye,

Twentysixoctober 

#lifeinisrael 

Travel with baby to Jerusalem

You may notice, I have not been active in updating my blog and Facebook as it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to use my mobile as Aedan will snatch it away from me whenever he sees it. I can only use my phone when he's sleeping. 

And lately, I have been spending my precious "Aedan's napping time" to research and plan for our upcoming Italy and Greece trip. I have finally booked all plane tickets! Hurray!!  
still trying to decide on the accommodations. Will share more on the pre-trip planning next time. 

Today I'm blogging about our day tour to Jerusalem!! This post is super belated. We had travelled to Jerusalem months ago and it took me this long to finally blog it down. 

This day, we woke up early and set off for our adventures to Jerusalem. The rough plan was to visit the Holocaust History Museum before we head for lunch at the Mahane Yehuda Market and then to the Old City where we will spend the rest of our day there till dinner. 

We took about 2 hrs to drive from Haifa to Jerusalem. 🚗. 

Holocaust History Museum (Yad Vasham)

The first stop of our trip - Holocaust History Museum also known as Yad Vasham. We reached before noon and were super excited

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But just when we were happily driving into their car park, we were told by their security officer that 

BABY is not allowed into the museum! 

Who's to blame? Ourselves. For not doing enough research for this day trip. :(

#Babytraveltip: always check online whether baby is allowed. 

For those family who are planning a trip to Jerusalem, do note that baby is not allowed into the museum. 

We could only take pictures of the Holocust Memorial Museum from outside. 

"Tears 😢" Bye bye museum

#Babytraveltip: "Travelling with a baby, we have to be flexible with our plan and not be disheartened by unexpected obstacles" 

So we still looked forward to our next stop - Mahane Yehuda Market & Lunch! 

Mahane Yehuda Market 

Here we were at the market.

It was crowded!

Mahane Yehuda Market also known as "The Shuk" is a popular market amongst both tourists and locals. There are more than 250 stalls which sell a variety of items -  fresh fruits, vegetable, meat, egg, nuts, spices, wine, souvenir, pastries, textiles, hardware, etc.

It's a market bustling with vendors marketing their products.

#Traveltip: In Israel, you can always ask to taste the food before purchasing. Moreover, it's a common practice to bargain. In a market like this, do not settle for the first price! 

We had our lunch at a food stall within the sheltered part of the market. This stall specialises in making fish & chips, the only thing on the menu. It's a small stall (as you can see from photo.) They cook their food at the 2nd level and sent them down to be served. 

There were really many people patronising here and that's the main reason why we decided to try this place. 

After we waited for about 20-30 min. We were finally served! They provided mayonnaise, chill and ketchup sauces at the side. Sorry.. Can't remember how much this costs. 

It tasted within expectations. A typical fish & chip you can expect. Fresh fish. Crispy. 

When we were eating, Aedan wanted to eat it too. He screamed and tried to reach for our food. He had never wanted to try our food so badly.. Maybe cause I was eating with him in the carrier :p 

Being #badparents, we digged out what's inside the unhealthy cripsy exterior and let him tried both the fish and fries..... And he LOVED it!! He smiled with his eyes wide opened ...the look like he has tasted the best thing in his life..the look was priceless. 

After we gained something priceless, we paid a price to another thing. :(

We went back to our car and saw a PARKING FINE! We saw many cars parked along the street and so we followed. The fine was 500 shekels. We had less budget for travelling that month.

Next stop - The Old City, Jerusalem 

The Old City in Jerusalem is one of the most popular tourist destination in the world for both the religious and non-religious. This place is filled with rich and layered histories. It contains stories from many religions including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam - which is no surprise why Israel is known as the Holy Land. It has been through several crusades, and cycles of destruction and reconstruction. 

We begin our tour at the Old City from Jaffa Gate. 

Like typical tourist, we visited the Tourist Information Centre to get a map before we entered into the maze. 

The Old City is huge.. It will take a few days to complete the whole place. We only had a few hours left for the day so we circled the main attractions where we wanted to hit first.

Our first stop at The Old City - Tower of David. 

This is our first stop as it's nearest to Jaffa Gate.

This place is not very baby-friendly. There are many steps and tunnels. Definitely not stroller-friendly. Luckily we were in baby carrier and we managed to visit most of the spots.

Tower of David requires admission tickets. You can check the prices and opening hours from the link here: The Tower of David - visitor info

After spending some time at the Tower of David, we went to the Western wall - the most holy wall in world. Millions of people visit this wall to pray. It's a tradition that people will queue to touch the wall, make their payer and insert a little piece of paper with their wishes into the wall. 

The Western Wall is free for admission. 

After the Western Wall, we headed to The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

It is located at the Christian quarter and it's one of the holiest places for Christians as it's the place where Jesus was crucified. This place also contains the empty tomb which Jesus was buried and resurrected. 

This is the Stone of Anointing on which tradition believes to be the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. Many people prayed and touched it for blessing.

Many visitors gathering in front of the tomb of Jesus. 

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is free for admission. 

Within the Old City, there are Christian, Jewish and Muslim quarters where there are stalls which sell food and souvenirs.

I got this pretty bracelet as a free gift from one of the stalls from which i had bought 4 bracelets. 

We were planning to visit the Temple Mount / Dome of the Rock after the Western Wall but it was closed. Sadly, we only managed to hit 3 attractions out of the many. I think we'll have to visit another time to cover more. 

After the super long walk, we were super hungry. We went back to the Jaffa Gate to find a place for dinner. 

There are many shops and restaurants at the Jaffa Gate area but most of the restaurants were very packed. We didn't read any reviews and just tried our luck at an Italian restaurant called Luciana located at the 2nd floor in the mall at Jaffa Gate area. 

The place has a nice ambience with a water fountain in the middle of the restaurant (forgot to take a picture). I have to say.. We were pleasantly surprised that the food tasted awesome. 

Their pasta tasted really good. (Considered that we were starving .. Maybe it added extra plus to this meal). 

I couldn't remember the price of the food but it's ranged between 70-100 shekels per dish (25-35 SGD for dish) excluding the service charge which is another 15% of the total bill.

Daddy was having fun with Aedan. Aedan was super good mood at the restaurant. Maybe he was glad that he  could finally come out of the carrier. :p

Ended the day with a family photo at Jaffa Gate.

Bye bye~~

Twentysixoctober

All photos are credited to Twentysixoctober
#Lifeinisrael