August 6 SANTORINI

Yesterday’s bus tour started with a visit to the Museum of Prehistoric Thira, which we had visited the day before. We opted out of the museum visit and went for coffee instead. From the museum we went to the highest hill/mountain on Santorini for a photo op. The view was quite disappointing so we didn’t take many pictures.

From there we drove to the ruins at Akrotiri, but couldn’t actually go into the ruins because they’re closed to the public. It was underwhelming. Our next stop was the beach at Perissa. We were all hungry so we went into a local taverna for lunch. The service was terrible but the food was good.

Grape vine decorations:

I went for a swim after lunch. The beach is a volcanic black sand beach and you can’t walk on it in bare feet because it’s so hot it will burn your feet in under a minute. I followed the wooden footpath toward the water and then made a dash across the sand to the water’s edge. I left my sandals there (everyone did) and waded into the water. It was a shock because it was quite cold. I eventually dove in and it was lovely.

Mom and Simone weren’t interested in swimming so they walked along the beach. They told me afterwards that it was quite long and that certain sections were definitely “party zones”. Some people had even rented deluxe leather loungers with fridges!

The next stop was a “traditional village”. We dutifully got out of the bus and walked into the village but it was again quite disappointing. It was old, yes, but not nearly as enchanting or traditional as the villages on Amorgos.

A scene from the traditional village:

Our final stop of the day was the Santo Winery. It looked a bit like an abandoned building from the roadside, to be honest. A winery guide, Yiannis, took us into the large industrial building and explained how they made wine. The winery is actually a cooperative, set up by the grape growers to ensure fair prices for crops. The building itself is three levels, which means they can use gravity to move the grape juice from one production area to another rather than machinery.

The 1-day resting tanks that allow sediment to settle:

The fermentation tanks:

After the tour of the production facility Yiannis took us to the tasting room. We sampled three wines – a young wine, an old wine, and Vin Santo which is a very sweet dessert wine. We all preferred the young wine over the others and Simone bought a bottle for Bruce (shhhhhh, don’t tell Bruce).

The wall o' bottles:

French oak wine barrels:

We got back to Fira around 5:30pm. I had a shower to wash off the salt water and Simone laid down in bed for a bit of quiet time. Mom bustled around, collecting laundry and sorting out luggage.

Our final act of the day was a trip to the supermarket to replenish our water, fruit, and yoghurt supplies. Oh, and iced espresso. I’ve got Simone hooked on them.

We were planning to go to Kamari beach today but it is very windy and cloudy so we’ll probably catch the bus to Oia instead. I’m keen to go to the Chinese restaurant for dinner tonight. I love Greek food but after two weeks I’m keen for something different.