Inspiration for Creativity in Santorini- Summer 2025

Jency and Aaron in Santorini, Greece, July 2025; Photo by Aaron Hogan/Eye Wander

After a long hard year in 2024, Aaron and I knew we needed a vacation to stimulate our creativity and to recuperate from the hard events we encountered in 2024. We started planning a trip we knew would be a month long, and we originally thought we were going to Portugal but last minute we decided to try the island of Santorini, Greece because it had always been on a the bucket list. I’m a beach lover and could spend every day in the ocean if I could— Aaron not so much (he doesn’t care for the beach). But he felt like there were enough other natural things we could do in Santorini he would find fun, so we decided to find a quaint and small Airbnb and go ahead & rent for the month of July for 2025.

I brought all of my painting supplies and set up a painting studio in the kitchen of the Airbnb. Aaron had a small office where he could do his Eye Wander photography work and find inspiration for future films he wanted to make. The Airbnb was located inside of an Ancient Greek castle. And it had the perfect romantic flair that made us feel like were were living in an old-fashioned world inside of an old village where we got to meet lots of local Greeks and connect with them for for the month.

In the village there was a small cafe covered in grape vines with large grapes hanging over the awning where I would sit and paint and think about my future in producing and what I actually want to create. After about two and a half weeks, I found that my creativity really started to flow. I don’t know if it was the visits to the beach for an afternoon swim, eating the Greek food, or listening to Aaron play his handpan drum over and over, but it all became so relaxing and ideas started to come to me. I was so thankful to be in the flow of creativity finally. Taking time off as a creative has always been hard for Aaron and I because we always feel like we have to hustle to create the life we really want, but after 14 years of marriage and working like crazy people, we decided that we needed time to spark and reignite our passion for what we do. We were both on the edge of burnout and wanting to care about our craft.

Aaron took multiple photos of different Greek churches and sunrises and sunsets. He went to bonfires and played his handpan drum for his new Greek friends, and we went to barbecues and dinners at Greek family’s houses. We found ourselves really enjoying our downtime every night. One of my absolute favorite places to go was a place called Franco’s at the very top of the city of Pyrgos. The sunset view was like no other, and the owner, we came to find out was a very creative, beautiful human who loved the arts. He had crafted a playlist for the sunset every night, where at the beginning of the sunset it was soft beautiful jazz and as the sun went down it turned into dramatic classical music that would pull tears out of your eyes at the combination of the music with the sunset. We had the privilege of going four times to this amazing restaurant. And I will say that it definitely was one of the greatest highlights of the trip and of my life.

The final night I was there was a very windy night and many of the guests left early and we had the restaurant for ourselves, and I got up and danced like a ballerina throughout the restaurant with the wind blowing my hair and my dress in all different directions. The sun had set on our trip and I felt like my farewell dance was a beautiful way to end my love affair with the restaurant and with the sunsets I had seen. I have never eaten so many greek salads, and now I’ve become a pro at making them myself and now I’m going to be brining one to every party I’m invited to in the future. “Jency can you bring dessert to a party?” “How about a Greek parfait?” The Greeks know how to do it right. Feta cheese, homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, olive oil, black pepper, salt, red onion. And occasionally a few bell peppers tossed in. Those brilliant, bright, festive salads brought me back to life. It was such a beautiful trip, great for restoring my creativity and inspiring me in so many different ways.