2017 - Greece - Day 4 [Santorini]

Today, we do the boat cruise which has a bus picking us up from the hotel taking us to the port, from there, on a boat to the nearby island volcano, a swim in the local hot spring, a stop at Thirissia island and finishing off at Oia for sunset and a bus back to our hotel.

Our boat cruise ticket

Breakfast was the same at the hotel, so I'll skip that part today. We woke up, ate and got ready for our bus ride to the port for our cruise. While we got there pretty early (we were the first people onboard the ship), it was clear that we weren't the only people since we were only one coach bus load and we ended up waiting for other buses to arrive which ended up taking about an hour for this to happened. I wonder if something happened that caused this issue or if that was the actual scheduled departure time.

Our boat for the day

Other boats

Volcano

People balance rocks everywhere!

 Anyways, onboard the ship, they do sell drinks and snacks if you want. Food is not included with the cruise and the sandwiches look a bit depressing, so, bring your own food. We were told that the stop at Thirissia which would have restaurants would be at approximately 2:00pm.

Volcano (can you see the steam?)

 First stop, volcano! My second volcano visit, the first being Vesuvius in Italy, and it was very different. For one, it is an island instead of being on land. You'll see various types of rocks and rock formations, and even changes in colour. With the cruise, the tour guide does provide us with a lot of information about the volcano, how it came to be, what the surrounding area used to be like and more. Our guide also dug out a small hole in the ground and if you felt it, it was actually REALLY hot. By dug, I mean she literally scooped out maybe two handfuls of rock and if you left your hand there, you would probably burn yourself.

Still on the volcano!

The guide took up most of our time unfortunately, which left very little free time for exploration and pictures. There isn't a lot to explore, but it was a bit disappointing that we only had roughly 15 minutes of free time before we had to head back to the ship. The guide was very good at making sure that she had rounded up most of her guests, although it would likely be impossible to make sure everyone has returned since there were over 100 guests on the ship.

Jumping and swimming to the hot spring off in the distance

Second stop, hot springs! This part was on Allison's radar, until we realized that it wasn't an actual stop. Let me explain. The hot spring isn't the type that you normally thing of where there is a pool surrounded by land and you just walk into it. The ship actually stops NEAR the hot spring and you need to swim to it and they said that it is a 50m swim but that seems like a low estimate, it seemed much further than that. If you aren't a good swimmer, it was advised that you don't try it. Note, don't wear light swimming outfits since they will come back stained due to the high sulfur contain. There were plenty of people jumping in and doing it, although they mostly came back and said that it wasn't as hot as expected. We just stand on the ship and relaxed. Also, the ship is only partially covered, so expect that you might be sitting out in the open sun the entire time.

Thirissia (do you see the zig-zag? That's the only way up!)

Snack at Nick the Greek

Allison pointing to our destination

Third stop, Thirissia! By now, we were starving and ended up getting a snack at the gyro stop right by the dock, it was 3 euros, a bit more expensive than normal, but not crazy expensive. With our growling stomachs calmed, we decided to walk up the steps to see what Thirissia had to offer. Honestly, it is a very long and tiring walk. I didn't think it would be too bad since it looked similar to the hike in Amoudi Bay, but I think a combination of the time of day (it was around 2:00pm) and the fact that it was hot with no breeze made it very tiring for us.

I guess they only sell blue and white paint here too in Thirissia?

Fried cheese on the left, octopus on the right

View of our hike down (can you see the people?)

Ended up at Different Snack Bar for snack #2. Ordered the octopus, and fried cheese. The octopus was very nicely cooked and tender, not chewy at all. The fried cheese was too salty. Also got some drinks and it came out to 19 euros. The shop seemed like a family run business where two of the kids were helping out, a boy and a girl. The girl was very cute and was trying to assist all the time, running around with a tray and offering to take things from guests even if they had nothing to return. It had a nice view of the surrounding area as well.

View of the Oia port/dock area, can you see the zig-zag path up? Yup, by foot again

The stop at Thirissia was for 2.5 hours, so there was plenty of time. However, if you don't plan on hiking up the steps, there is very little to do by the docks. And the only way up is by hiking up the steps. I would guess that the hike up is similar to Amoudi Bay (70-100m or 230-330 feet). As from the shops there, we saw that some people were just lounging by the water.

Lotza! Pork in a clay pot on top-left, Oia's past top-right, mussel saganaki on the bottom

Fourth and final stop, Oia! Once we docked and were off the boat, the tour guide told us when/where to meet and we were free to explore and it was around 6:00pm at that time with a meet up time of 8:35pm by the big church square. Since we were here the day before, we knew where it was, but it isn't too hard to find. By now, we were fairly tired of all the hiking and guess what, we had to do another one! Either hike up the long and tall set of stairs or pay for a donkey. I know that Allison seemed really tired and wanted to ride a donkey (which cost 5 euros) but I convinced her to walk up with me. We ended up getting to the top before the donkeys did!

Just in case you couldn't see the people from yesterday

Seriously, literally thousands of people must be watching

Anyways, dinner was at Lotza and we ordered the mussel saganki, oias pasta and pork in a clay pot. The food was good, view was okay since we weren't by the edge and the bill came out to 40 euros. 

Oia's sunset

Oia's sunset

Wandered around some more, found a different spot to look at the sunset, took some pictures, made it back to the square in time for our bus to take us back to the hotel and we got back to the hotel by around 9:30pm.

Tomorrow, we have the morning in Santorini before we head to Crete, the second island of Greece we plan to visit before heading to Athens for our final leg of this trip.

2017 - Greece - Day 3 [Santorini]

Today, we do the hike from Fira to Oia, which is expected to be around 3 - 4 hours long with basically no shade (sorry, I wrote that we would be doing the boat cruise in the previous post).

Signage of various hiking routes

Breakfast was the same this morning with a slight change to the Greek items at the end of the table. Still fairly good in my mind.

Some vases from the Preshistoric Museum of Thira

Our first stop was the Preshistoric Museum of Thira. We were told that it would be an hour long but we only took about 30 minutes. It really depends on what your interest is, it isn't very large. There are a lot of old pots, vases and we didn't seem to keen on them. The museum is located on the southern side of Fira and costs 2 euros but was included in the museum pass.

Random Santorini pic

This morning, we were debating about which boat tour to take and walked to several different tour companies and ended up with the one that the hotel is connected with, however, since we were talking to the tour company in person, they told us that the hotel normally gets a commission and if we booked with them directly, they would reduce the cost since they didn't have to pay the commission. The company was Kamari Tours and the tour will consist of us visiting the island volcano, the option to go swim in a hot spring (this is included but optional), visit Thirassia Island, drop off at Oia for dinner (at your own expense), time for some sunset pictures and a bus back to our hotel. It cost us 40 euros and will last basically the entire day.

Skaros Rock from above

With that completed, we did the hike to Oia and it took us about 4 hours to complete. There are a few major climbs and descents, so do beware. Also, there is basically no shade, so wear enough sunscreen and try to protect yourself. We lucked out that we had a bit of a breeze while doing this hike, without it, I think it would have been much more grueling. Overall, it was a very nice hike to do and it isn't very hard, just long. There are lots of people doing the hike which means, you shouldn't get lost and there was sufficient signage in cause you are worried.

Santorini

Oia

Santorini

Santorini

When we reached Oia, it oozed upscale when compared to Fira. The walkways are nicer (cobblestone in Fira vs granite/marble in Oia), the roads were cleaner, the shops are nicer, there are brand name shops here and people were even dressed nicer here.

Skaros Rock (view from the bottom)

Panorama of part of the hike

After our hike I knew that we needed a snack since it was still too early for dinner and we ended up at Karma where we ordered mussel saganki, tomatokefdes, and watermelon with feta which came out to 32 euros. Food was okay, due to our time, the service was a bit lacking since it was between lunch and dinner time.

Mussel saganki top left, tomatokefdes top right, watermelon and feta on the bottom right

With our stomachs a bit filled,we wandered Oia a bit to take in the scenery and get some pictures and ended up at Amoudi Fish Tavern for dinner which is at the bottom of a steep zig-zag staircase which has an elevation drop of between 230-330 feet (70-100 meters) where there are actual donkeys at the bottom which are offered (at a price) for people who don't want to do the climb. The steps are uneven, cobblestone, and covered with donkey/horse poop, so, do wear proper footwear.

Look at all these donkeys!

Oia

At Amoudi Fish Tavern, the server showed us the fresh fish that they had and we picked a 0.5kg sea bream and also ordered fried zucchini and loukoumades for dessert, total came out to 40 euros.

Fish selection 

Fried zucchini

Our grilled sea bream

Loukoumades (basically, fried dough with honey and walnuts on top)

With our bellies full, we walked over to a spot that the server suggested for looking at the sunset which we did. After that we walked up the steps and made it to the local bus which cost us 1,80 euros each which would take us back to Fira's bus terminal. Fira's bus terminal is the last stop, so there was no announcement, but we noticed that everyone left, so we did as well. Check the bus schedule beforehand since it changes quite frequently.

View from Amoudi Bay, if you look closely at the top wall, it is full of people watching the sunset

Close up of the wall and sunset viewers

Again, look at all these people!

Oia sunset

Tomorrow, we do the boat cruise for real this time!

2017 - Greece - Day 2 [Santorini]

Our first full day in Greece, specifically Santorini, with the goal being that we rent an ATV and travel around the southern part of Santorini for the day.

Nemesis Breakfast Buffet

Nemesis Breakfast Buffet

Nemesis Breakfast Buffet

Breakfast was included with our stay at Nemesis Hotel and it was a good spread. Buffet style with a few types of bread, cereal, oats, yogurt, desserts, juice and coffee. There were also some sliced deli meats and cheeses as well as some local Greek items. Overall, I thought it was a nice breakfast.

ATV!

After breakfast we got our ATV delivered to the hotel which was coordinated by the hotel, it cost us 25 euro for a 200cc ATV for the day (return 24 hours later). We got the ATV at around 10:00am, they took my driver's license as collateral, it may not happen to you, but that's what happened to me (it was returned when we returned the ATV). Note, we did get an International Driver's Permit at the local CAA in Toronto since we read that if you run into problems with the local police, you WILL have a big problem if you don't. It wasn't very expensive, $25 for the permit, but you need to bring photos or get them there. We spent 10 euro on gas and it was good enough for the day for what we drove.

Megalochori

Our first stop was Megalochori and it was a cute little town, we didn't see much and it was pretty small. It had some views and there was a church, but we got fairly lost and just drove around and ended up back on the main road somehow and then we went to Akrotiri and we got there by around 10:45am. There is a private parking lot right next to the site and it cost 2,50 euro for an ATV, prices differ based on what you are parking there, however, it seemed to be for as long as you like and not an hourly rate.

Tickets

Akrotiri is a archaeological site that features an excavation of a Minoan Bronze Age settlement that happened to be preserved due to it being covered by a volcano eruption a long time ago and was only recently rediscovered in 1967 with excavation happening to this day. The cost to enter is 12 euros, however, 14 euros gives you an additional 3 sites that you can visit for a total of 4 sites. Since it was only 2 euros more to visit 3 other sites, it was an easy decision to make and we got the 4 site pass. We spent an hour at Akrotiri, your length of stay depends on your interest and how much reading you want to do. It is a fairly good sized excavation and there is a map that points out how the routes work and how long each route takes so you can plan it out accordingly. 

Red Beach

Red Beach

After Akrotiri, we decided to visit the Red Beach which is just a short walk away from the parking lot. Very easy to find with plenty of signage, or you can just follow the people. We spent an hour getting to the Red Beach, taking pictures and returning to our ATV. There were plenty of people there and it was different to see a different colour beach. Swimming here is no advised due to the amount of waves here. No cost to visit this.

The Dolphins

Stuffed calamari on top, swordfish on bottom 

The Dolphins is where we ended up at for lunch and we ordered the grilled stuff calamari, grilled swordfish, and an orangeade. It came out to 30 euro, food was good, it is right by the water with a small dock that you can take some nice pictures of.

Random church

With our stomachs full, we continued onto the Akrotiri Lighthouse and it is quite nice there. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the greatest, it was overcast this day but I can see how people would like to spend their time here. Parking lot here is tiny though, so I can see that many people just parking on the side of the road. You can't actually enter the lighthouse, but there are plenty of areas that you can walk around for pictures and views. Parking was free.

Dakos on the top left, greek salad on top right, chocolate souffle on bottom

The Good Heart is where we went for a snack and it was a good place to stop for food. Allison spoke with a couple next to us and they gave us some suggestions and we ended up with Dakos (a Greek appetizer which contains of bread as a base, chopped tomatoes and crumbled feta on top with herbs), greek salad (which is really just tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and olive oil), and chocolate souffle (which was really just chocolate cake with ice cream on top). It came out to 20 euros.

We ended up going back to the hotel to rest and it only took us 30 minutes to get back from the lighthouse, so it isn't a very large island. We would have stopped elsewhere but the weather wasn't cooperating with us.

View from Trani Taverna

Nemo spaghetti on left, mixed fish on right

Dessert at Trani Taverna

Trani Taverna was for dinner and it does have some nice views if you luck out and get the right table which we did for a nice sunset dinner. We ordered the Nemo spaghetti, mixed fish for one and a desert which came out to 40 euros. Everything was very nice here, would recommend.

Akrotiri lighthouse

Akrotiri lighthouse

We drove back to the lighthouse after dinner, but we made it just a few minutes before and since it was cloudy, there was nothing to really see, although I can see how it would be really busy if the weather conditions were better. Allison read that if you stay a bit after sunset, you will see the lighthouse turn on which we did and it was my first time seeing a working lighthouse which was neat.

Tomorrow, we go on a boat cruise for the day. During the day, we actually went to the tour company and found out that it cost 5 euros less to go through the tour company instead of the hotel. Up to you whether you want to do this or not (40 euro vs 45 euros).