Getting Around Santorini

Today started like any other, and like every day should: with a delicious cup of coffee. Enjoying the element of surprise instead of reading the itinerary, Greg was not expecting to hear we were headed to the beach. In Greece. An Island. Sigh.

The beach here is just as perfect as you imagine it. We chose to spend the day at Perissa Beach, a black sand beach. It is lined with one beach club after another. Although they all look inviting, I picked one based on reviews: Pepito. Free beds and umbrellas, and good food and drinks. It was a treat to spend a few hours here. The water and view were so refreshing. In the water, the ground was strange like one solid rock (not the small tiny pebbles like the beach), slippery from the moss - which oddly grew more slippery with each passing drink. Huh.

Our view at Pepito in Perissa Beach

The black sand beach of Perissa is the longest beach in Santorini and is lined with beach clubs (restaurants/bars offering sunbeds and umbrellas)

Our on-the-go breakfast snack was a Greek koulouri. To me they are almost similar to a big pretzel - covered in sesame seeds. 

Trying to keep our balance on the moss-covered "rock".  The water is calm and clear. 

This is the life!

We got the "big variety" platter of food for 31 euro

I would highly recommend you figure out a way to make it to the beach on Santorini! But today's lowlight was taking the bus 3 times. We don't have Santorini bus finesse yet. The beach is ~30 minutes from Fira. It would be awful to get to the beach from Oia because you have to change buses in Fira; one way would take a minimum of an hour, if the odds are in your favor. By the end of it all we were pretty cranky, which is very normal for us every trip on Day #2 - when the jet lag hits us the hardest.

Lessons in taking the bus in Santorini … First, they run on time. Strike that. They run ahead of time, as we missed it because it left 2 minutes early. Second, try to figure out the route so you don't always have to get on/off at the Fira station. Third, be on the lookout for bonus buses not posted on the bus schedule at the main terminal. The posted schedule and the driver told us it ran every hour but after missing one, a second came in half the time, which we missed because they wouldn't let me on with sand on my feet. (In their defense, the buses here are pristine.) Fourth, throw in a 30-60 minute buffer on any time-sensitive plans you have, just in case. Fifth, don't take my word on any of this because after five bus rides we still haven't been able to figure any of it out! And finally, forget the bus and just hire a driver (or take a taxi if you can find one)! But before you rent a car, know that Greece has the highest automobile fatality rate of all EU countries!

After the beach we moved our belongings over to our new place in Oia, where we will be for the next 2 nights.

We are staying in Oia at Zoe Aegeas Houses. The "roof" of our house is amazingly inviting with an uninhibited, sweeping view of the caldera.  The "street" (pathway) above us is the main one that goes through Oia all the way to the castle. 

A piece of our sweeping 180 degree view

There was a single cruise ship at port today so there were a lot more people here. I can't imagine the normal day (pre-Covid) of 8,000 passengers arriving, down from 12,000 since limits were instituted in 2018. They all converge on Oia for the sunset, which makes the small village unpleasant for a few hours each night. While Chris and I were taking pictures of the sunset, Greg, Jeremy and Kate made the mistake of trying to get to our dinner (Pizza Edwin to go) just as the sun finished setting. We are staying 60 seconds from the castle (the best view of the sunset) and the walking paths were at a standstill.

At twilight, just after the sun sets, the view of the three domes* is phenomenal.  

*The three domes is a gorgeous view at sunset.  This is not the castle's (and "best") sunset view, which we will try out tomorrow.