Had made plans with Lyudmila to meet at breakfast and head out for the day together, but after she knocked on my door to wake me I couldn’t find her. Thinking she’d already left I set out alone, only to find out later she was in her room waiting for me, which was awful. So that sucked.
The main journey for the day was out to the Red Beach, a long bus ride away to the middle of nowhere. It was very red, and full of people. Went for a swim, but it’s not much of a beach beach.
I continued walking around the coast to a beach at the other end of the bay, covered with smooth pebbles, isolated by white cliffs and all but deserted. The water here was amazing and completely clear, you could see the rocks covering the bottom well after you could sink down and touch them. So that was a highlight.
After swimming and laying about on the beach for far too long, I walked back the same way to the few restaurants by the beach where the bus passes through. Picked out one that looked great, and wasn’t disappointed. The tomato balls were AMAZING, the list of ingredients was longer than my arm. They more than made up for yesterdays very average ones. I also had the local spin on moussaka, and was given my first try of proper Greek yoghurt with honey and fruit. Which was just incredible. And the view was beautiful too!
The buses on Santorini are awful. Really, really awful. Most places only get a few buses per day, if they even decide to show up. So instead of waiting forever, I walked up to Akrotiri to explore and kill some time until a bus hopefully passed through. The old fort in the center of the village was undergoing repair and was a great place to climb about. And there were animals everywhere.
Still seeing no bus I started walking along the road toward home, stopping for a horrifically overpriced Coke, until finally one went by. Jumped off that in the middle of nowhere to catch a connecting bus to Perissa. That one took over an hour to show up, time I spent standing in the sun with a Spanish mother and daughter who’d been stuck doing the same.
Finally arriving in Perissa, I walked the length of the beach as the sun disappeared behind the island. It’s a nice stretch, with lots of bars and restaurants lining the beach. Family friendly fun.
After some pacing about, I managed to get a bus back across the island to Santo Wines, a winery perched on top of the cliffs above the port. The sun had just set and the view was incredible. Waited for an age, had a couple of glasses of their wines, a slice of killer chocolate cake, and came to the realization I was never going to make the last bus home.
Called for a taxi, waited for another age in the cold, and finally made it home with a little time to spare before needing to leave for my flight. The crazy father of the lovely hotel family sped me to the airport at very high speed, I jumped on my flight with more crazy pretty Olympic Air hostesses, and got back to the same hostel on the bus in Athens like a total pro. Next, Paris!
From September 3, 2010.