Santorini Day 4 - Oia / Fira / Perissa Beach / Ancient Thera

Oia can get really busy but with an early start, before 9 am I'd say, you can have the whole place almost to yourselves. That's what we did, got up really early (by vacation standards anyway) and wander around before the busloads of tourists arrive.

Peaceful, empty streets in Oia. Lovely!

Hardly anyone at the sunset lookout point at this hour.

This old couple is celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and and their daughter has taken them to Santorini for a DIY wedding photoshoot.

We had to move out of oyr hoyse to the one upstairs for the last 2 nights. It was peak period and the other villa was pretty sweet, so it was alright. A worthy mention: Our Bulgarian porter, Vasillis, who helped us with our check in and out, and carrying our bags up and down millions of steps!
If you're interested in staying here, please note that the bedroom is a loft and you need to climb up a flight of stairs to get to it. Also, I don't think the bedroom has aircon.

The best thing about the villa was probably the balcony. We loved the hours spent out here having breakfast, evening drinks and nibbles or just enjoying the view.

Took a bus to Fira town after moving to our new villa. I highly recommend taking buses when in Santorini. They can get really packed but they are convenient, cheap and the bus conductors are pretty entertaining!

A colleague recommended Lucky's Souvlaki for gyros before coming here which is located on the main street in Fira - on the left in this photo. The gyros was pretty good, but we would soon discover that Obelix, somewhere inside Fira town was even better!

Lunch stop at Restaurant Nikolas, located in the heart of Fira.

Friendly staff and good food. Beers we've had so far: Mythos, Alfa, Fix Hellas... all good!

Strong, garlicky, delicious! This is how I like my Tzatziki now!

Looking for another excursion around the island after lunch.

Got the bus to Perissa beach. It is a black pebbled beach with nice cool water.

Located a walking distance from the beach is Ancient Thera archeological site that sits on top  Mesa Vouno mountain. We only made it to halfway since the path up was very windy and flip flops were not the best footwear to climb a mountain.

Back to Fira for sunset.

Dinner time at Obelix.

Really good gyros and pork on skewers! We're still dreaming of this now!

Ate: Restaurant Nikolas and Obelix in Fira
Stay: Pori House Oia Villas

Santorini Day 2 - Hiking in Santorini Oia to Fira

Some notes from our hike from Oia to Fira:

1. The trail is about 11km long and takes about 3 hours depending on your speed, and it is Gorgeous!
We both agree that Santorini was probably the most beautiful place that we've ever been to!

2. Wear proper shoes instead of flip flops like we did. We thought it was going to be a leisurely walk in the park kind of trail. We soon learn that it wasn't! There are certain stretches of the trail where the roads are steep, or gravelly  or is a tiny path with loose rocks and big drops down the cliffs.

3. It was probably easier doing the trail from Fira to Oia - less uphill climbs, but we were staying in Oia and back to 1. we did not expect it to be anywhere as tough.

4. Do the Oz thing and Slip-Slop-Slap! We were there in August so it was scorching hot! While I did not exactly Slipped on a shirt (was working on my honeymoon tan haha) I made sure I Slopped on my SPF 35 and Slapped on a wide brimmed hat for protection, which is not something I do very often - I have this notion that I don't need as much SPF because I am Asian and is used to the sun... it was probably just laziness.    

5. Bring enough water! There is a small cantina probably a couple of hours into the hike before you reach what seems like proper civilization (after being on the rustic trail for a bit) which is Imerovigli.

6. There are donkey caldera tours if you prefer not to hike, but those things look scary especially on narrow paths.

We passed some locals on their way back after church; the men on their donkeys and the ladies with bouquets of herbs.

 

 View of the opposite side from Oia.

 Oia from up here.

The caldera.

 

 


Beautiful village of Firostefani.



 A well deserved break!
 

 We're almost there Fira!

 Cable car that takes you from Fira to the Old Port.

Good advice!
 
 
We had a wander around Fira, and somehow decided to take a bus to Pyrgos, the highest point of Santorini.

 

 
 

Waiting for the bus back to Oia at Fira's main bus station.

Home sweet home after another awesome day in sunny Santorini - our little villa, second teracotta coloured house on the right.