what's going on everybody this is island hopper tv today we're going to talk about the things to know
when visiting the greek islands let's do it all right guys first thing let's
talk about which island is for you or in this case islands since it's really easy
to go from island to island and do some island hopping they have the ionian islands which are
towards the north west almost in the adriatic sea then you have the aegean island which is
where we're at right now the ionian islands are known as being more relaxing but having
more uh dramatic style beaches like shipwreck beach which you can get on zaknos or kefilonia has
some beautiful beaches white sand powder beaches down here in the aegean you can see you have
multiple different islands almost 30 plus islands for you to explore that are available to you
that includes santorini mykonos the island that we're on right now noxos you can see perros in
the background over there we go just south we're in mykonos so many different islands
around here that you can explore you go towards turkey there's roads so crete to the south
i would say overall if you're looking for relaxation santorini and mykonos you don't
want to go there that's where the uh people go for honeymoons and the parties but if you want
relaxing you can find that on paris noxos eos some of these other islands so it's really difficult to
go from the ionian to the aegean or from the aegean to the ionian islands so you're gonna
have to pick one of the group of islands but the aegean has way more islands than the ionian side
what are some things you can expect to see when you come to the greek islands
well you can expect to see clear water translucent water with many many beaches
also on those beaches expect to see lounges and day clubs lots of those also plenty of history
you can expect to find archaeological museums and archaeological sites across many of these islands
from the ionian sea all the way down here to the aegean plenty of unique art
handmade original handcrafted art right here on the islands also unique orthodox churches
as you'll see in many of the pictures around the world for travel magazines you can find those same
pictures right here in the island photogenic towns with quaint walking areas where you walk
through these paths with bougainvilleas or flowers and white buildings on each side and
painted or sometimes colored grout with stones walking through there very relaxing and peaceful
all right guys let's talk about money so in the greek islands yes they do except card mostly
visa mastercard u.s ucb but they don't take american express i've yet to find very many places
maybe five to ten percent of the establishments take american express but the older people from
greece they actually prefer cash i don't know why that is but uh they only transact mostly
in cash a lot of the restaurants especially in the smaller towns cash not really cards
and if you tell them that you're going to pay with the card they kind of yeah
okay whatever and then they'll tell you it might be cheaper you'll save like 40 to just pay with
cash but let me tell you something about the atms especially the euro net atms i just pulled out 200
200 euros they charged me 240. that means they took 40 dollars off the top on that transaction
all right guys let's talk about food in the greek islands you can expect a lot of different seafood
lobster other shellfish sea bass variations of bread and other types of falafel also grilled
octopus salad or just octopus alone greek salad which includes plenty of tomatoes
lettuce and greens olives and cucumber but let's not forget about souvlaki and euros
with pita bread and several different sauces and that fresh seafood with the fresh sauces
really amazing you add some cheese goat cheese all that good stuff wash it down with some wine
or a beer calamari some shrimp some hummus some rice so much variety out here in the greek
islands for food even unique things like vegetable ceviche greek islands has you covered on the food
and another thing to know about the greek islands it gets really hot during the summer time that's
the peak season too but one of the things you'll notice the ancient greeks or the people who
inhabited these islands before modern era they used to build really thick walls made of stone
and if you go right inside this building here this is the noxos castle you can see just how thick
these walls are and they did that for a reason that was to cool down during this baking hot sun
this is so hot right now but let's also talk about the winters in the winters it gets very chilly and
breezy so it's humid and cold and windy so that's a recipe for not very pleasant but some people
like to come to the greek islands during that time because they get away from all the crowds
let's talk transportation in the greek islands the number one way to get around island island
in my opinion is a ferry boat they have high speed ferries they also have slow fairies that have
cabins on board overnight ferries you leave at 12 arrive at four something like that
the high speed ferries you can take one from milos to santorini took two and a half hours
you could take one from santorini to crete so i prefer the ferries they also have airports
so when you come to the greek islands and you choose to fly in or out
expect very small airports like what you see right here in mykonos
for example here on santorini they have a big airport i flew in one time from venice
italy uh you can get around to some of the other locations uh in the met from santorini
also when you arrive on the islands taxis shuttles i'm trying to book a tour plus a taxi
they're expensive for example to go from the port in santorini to thera it cost fifty dollars per
person in a shuttle that didn't even include the taxi okay the cheapest way that i've seen
is to book a rental car ahead of time for example today we did a rental car it cost
eighty dollars and that included insurance because i do recommend insurance
but on melo's last minute booking they charged me 120 per day and it wasn't a very good car one guy
told me he wanted to charge me 160 a day for the same car at a different agency so i do shop around
a bit but i wanted to put that out there the last thing is buses most of these islands do have buses
but you're going to be sitting at some very unique bus stations with no shade oftentimes especially
if you're out on one side of the island where the beaches are and you want to go to the town
all right let's talk about safety in the greek islands you what do you have to worry about what
are you concerned about it's going to be the sun probably more than anything petty crime is not
really an issue here violent crime is not an issue either between the sun and maybe renting a car or
an atv all-terrain vehicle and having some sort of incident those are probably going to be your top
concerns but as far as safety walking around at night walking around in the daytime you don't have
much to worry about in particular on the greek islands whether it be eos or santorini or mykonos
or noxos or peros or milos really a safe place in my opinion and i would
say you could totally be a solo traveler stay in an airbnb off the beaten path
leave your window open your door open and not really have any issues i've talked to the locals
about this too it's not a dangerous place now if you go to the greek mainland athens you might hear
conflicting stories about safety but the greek islands for the most part safety
that doesn't mean completely let your guard down and think that everything's hunky-dory
but it is a safe place from my experience having been here solo and with friends
one of the things to know about the greek islands is there's many stray cats
as you can see right behind me a cat there if you look right over here there's his brother but
there's cats everywhere around the greek islands i actually like it some of them are really friendly
and some of them just want your food but some will just come up to you and like
hang out with you for 20 30 minutes and just show you a ton of love
and just some quick facts about the greek islands there's over 5 000 islands around greece okay that
means greece has some of the most coastline in all of europe also there's 18 unesco world heritage
sites across greece many of them are out here in the greek islands with that being said the gods of
greece apollo and etrimus they come from the greek islands you'll see that over on delios but if you
go to some of these museums around the world that have greek architecture or greek artifacts
like the british museum many of those artifacts come from the islands of noxos or milos or delios
even the athens museum has artifacts from here in the greek islands also you'll notice those
blue doors on those white structures those are blue doors to ward off evil spirits and just two
fun facts that are interesting santorini is an active volcano do with that what you want
but it is an active volcano as you'll notice the caldera i'm not saying it's going off anytime
soon but hey you never know also the pelican you'll see that across mykonos that's actually
the mascot of the island i've seen the pelican walking around right there by the windmills
let's talk about what to wear on the greek islands me personally i found linen to be a really good
solution for shirts they're lightweight you can get the long sleeve linen short sleeve linen both
for men and women also ladies getting shawls that you wear around your bikini when you're
walking around it is hot make sure you definitely bring some flip flops maybe even some water shoes
because you might want to get in the water and there are some beaches that have rocks just keep
that in mind but flip-flops overall i wear those the most in the greek islands tennis shoes maybe
every once in a while if i'm going in the land to do some hiking uh in terms of hats i would say a
full brim hat but any hat in general is gonna work but those full brim hats work the best
also consider bringing a snorkel fins something like that if you want to get in the water at
least goggles also one thing that i've noticed in the greek islands doing your own laundry
daily they call it the poor man's laundry but it's hand washing your laundry you can pretty
much do that every day at the hotels and then you just let it air dry with the sun
all right guys let's talk about cost and affordability in the greek islands
i've noticed that you can find a variety of different pricing but the most expensive are
going to be santorini and meek nose for sure some of the hacks that i've used are checking airbnb
checkingbooking.com pricelinehotels.com looking around sometimes you'll find different deals on
different apps for accommodation food across the board has been really affordable except for in
the tourist areas i've eaten breakfast for as cheap as five dollars per person
i've had breakfast for as much as 45 to 50 per person just for basic breakfast so it
really depends on where the location is but you can find cheap food when it comes to uh getting
around the island transportation it is fairly affordable the ferries sometimes vary i've seen
the same ferry going one hour later for double the price on a different carry line so that's
kind of interesting right 45 dollars to go on one ferry to the same place and then 90 dollars
per person to go on a ferry the other place also one more thing they use the euro currency
so the currency here is euro i've heard in some places they do use us dollars but it's very rare
for the most part you're going to want to have visa and mastercard those are your best friends
you