Our stay here was amazing! Nicoletta was very responsive leading up to our trip and Christina was fantastic during our trip when we had questions. We took a ferry over from Athens and then Nicoletta arranged a driver to pick us up. Christina met us in the village and stayed with our bags while she invited us to shop at a grocery store. (Tip: there are several grocery stores in the village and you'll need to shop around on your own to find good prices. The one across the street was a very good one for us.) We had four people in our party and the place was perfect for us. One couple slept on the top floor with their own bathroom and another on the bottom floor with their own bathroom. When you walk outside the front door of the house, you’re literally on the beach. It’s rocky, not sandy, and we all brought water shoes which helped immensely. Gorgeous! It’s one of the only houses on that part of the beach. We also used the two kayaks that are available. I read all of the reviews before going and understood clearly that there was a very long hike up to the village. The four of us are pretty fit so we were ready for the hike. What I was not ready for was that the hike was over 1,000 footsteps on stairs that are gravely and slippery. Our iPhone app said 36 stories and .5 mile elevation. And between about 4pm-7pm there are donkeys running up and down the stairs taking people to the village. Be careful - this is no joke. I was imagining one donkey at a time going slowly and leisurely but it’s a group of them all at once. There is no guidance on what to do if the donkeys are coming and they move fast. Plus there’s donkey poop everywhere on the trail. It’s not fun and honestly was a bit of a deterrent to us going up and down more often. There were some days that we just stayed at the house on the beach and talked and swam and cooked our own food. It was actually really lovely!! So if you go up to the village, go early to avoid heat and donkeys or go late. The restaurant next door is really good but we didn’t eat there much because there were so many great places to eat up in the village as well. We took the bus into Fira and did the hike back to Oia. We didn’t quite make it the whole way and found a bus stop to take us back, but we did see the sunset on the hike and it was stunning. I wished we would have spent more time in Fira. It’s a great town with a lot of shops. There is also a tourist center in the village that is very helpful! One more thing about the location of the house. There are boats...