Anne, Jay and I roared around Santorini on quad bikes. It was the most exhilarating fun I’ve had for years. Anne and Jay were on one, and I drove the other. Easy to drive, and once again I had no problem with driving on the right hand side of the road. It was a great way to see a lot of the island.
Santorini isn’t huge so it was a great thing to do on the first day to get your bearings, as then we were able to choose what we wanted to do the next day.
We first went over to Kamari Beach – Black volcanic ‘sand’ which wasn’t really sand at all, but pebble. Very pretty setting with huge cliffs as a backdrop – and it was close to the airport. We then went up this switchback road that took us up about 300m to Ancient Thera.
The view looking down from the top - you can see both the switchback road, Kamari Beach, and the airport in the distance...
We wandered around this ancient city, now all in ruins. It was hard to believe that thousands of years ago people once thrived here, on top of a cliff. We wandered around the ruins for an hour or so, then got back on the bike and headed over to Perissa Beach.
To do that we had to backtrack the way we came, then turn left to come through the middle of the island via a little village called Pygos. We stopped there for a drink and a wander through the alleyways. Fascinating doors , art shops, churches and a castle. It in the end became my favourite place of Santorini.
Perissa Beach was beautiful – black sand again, and deck chairs and umbrellas you can ‘rent’. Gorgeous Greek young men calling you to come into their restaurant. I tried to negotiate a kiss for Anne and Jay from one, but he would only do that if we bought a drink. We keep having to fan ourselves because the men weather is so hot!
On to Red Beach where massive red lava cliffs hung down onto a black sand beach with blue blue water. Unfortunately there was a bit of a walk so we decided to bow out because of my foot and carry on.
Out to the lighthouse with views over the volcanic Caldera, Fira and Oia in the distance. By this time it was getting quite late so we hightailed it back to Fira to pick up another flash card and battery for my camera as I had forgot to pack spares that morning.
By this time it was getting on, and we were in a hurry to get to Oia for the sunset, so it was a mad dash to get the battery and cards, then back on the bike to hightail it to Oia which was 25 minutes away. We got there just as sun was setting – incredibly beautiful. Oia itself is a bit more upmarket than Fira with beautiful marble walkways and gorgeous houses. Very colourful.
This was the crowd of people just at this spot out to watch the sunset - there were many more at other vantage points around Oia!
We headed back to Fira for dinner and an early night. I am now totally in love with Santorini!
1 comment:
Ah, it looks so peaceful.
Post a Comment