Having failed to find a travel agency to buy boat tour tickets on Tuesday night, we decided Wednesday would be a trip to see Ancient Thera and the black sand beach at Kamari. Finding the bus station and the bus to Kamari turned out to be pretty easy, and we were in Kamari before 11 am.
Finding the mini bus to Ancient Thera was a little more challenging. We were looking for a public mini bus and stop, which turned out to be wrong – when we went in to a travel agent to ask about it, she told us it’s a transfer we have to arrange and we had about 3 minutes before the next one! So she kindly called them and told them to wait for us and we booked our 10€ mini bus.
That mini bus was worth every penny. I would have taken pictures of the view but I was trying to control my stomach’s flip flops as we went up a steep, narrow road with tight hairpin turns, sometimes requiring the driver to back up to a wide spot so traffic from the other direction could pass. It was a good 15-20 minute ride, but felt longer! And there was no way we would have wanted to walk up!
Especially since it became immediately apparent that touring the Ancient Thera site meant walking up the mountain. It was p
retty cool to see the ruins and how the town was laid out; residents definitely had a gorgeous view! Although trekking down to the water to fish must not have been fun.
The minibus allows you 1.5 hours at the site which turned out to be a perfect amount of time. Between climbing up, the lack of shade, and the relentless sun, more time wasn’t needed. The drive down wasn’t as bad – mostly because I closed my eyes!
After seeing the sparkling water from the top of the mountain, we were anxious to get in, so we headed to the beach and got our chairs, and then headed into the water. The bottom was pebbly and dropped quickly. The water felt cold at first, but was really refreshing after being so hot.
We air dried then ate at the taverna just above the chairs. Our waiter was a huuuuge flirt, asking “Is there anything else I can do for you?” with a suggestive smile after taking our orders. Ha! The food was good, especially the stuffed zucchini.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach then walked around the town a bit before catching the bus back to Fira. Kamari looked like a cute, resort-like area to stay in, but we were quite happy we chose to stay in Fira.
We had passed a couple of travel agents in the morning when walking to the bus and went to one now to book the volcano tour. The first place was very nice, but upon getting my credit card pretended it did not work. I told him it did, it’s an American card he has to swipe, try again. He “tried” again, but I didn’t see him swipe it; we said goodbye and I fumed as we went to the next place. Greece is such a cash based country but you’d think on Santorini, they’d be a little more accommodating of tourists and their plastic.
Luckily, the next place – recommended by Katerina, our hostess – was no problem and we were set.
We were lured in to a bakery we were passing and after eyeing the pies for several minutes, decided dinner would be pies and the wine we’d bought in Kamari. On getting back to the room we stuck the wine in the freezer while we showered and changed, then had a feast of cheese pie in whole wheat, potato pie, and dessert of chocolate banana croissant. Yum!
We thought we would have a nightcap in town, but found that most places were empty or closing at midnight (only 30 minutes away, and very early for Greece!). So instead, Charlotte ended up buying a pair of shoes. J
Tomorrow we get up early and take the boat around the Caldera Sea – I’m looking forward to it!
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