Our last full day - not only in Santorini but on this amazing trip! Hard to believe it is coming to an end - all too quickly. Decided to try and make the most of it and hired a car for the day. Our little manual yellow Daewoo Maitz was delivered to Villa Ilias at about 10am just as we were finishing a late breaky.
Headed off towards Fira and continued south following signs (thankfully in English as well as Greek) to Akrotiri. It was recommended to us by a few people not only the village but the archeological site. We weren't sure what to expect and were quite overwhelmed as the entire site has been enclosed within a modern structure with boardwalk style pathways elevated above the excavations. Incredible to see this whole ancient "town" that was only first discovered in 1967 with digging still continually in progress. The prehistoric settlement dates from the start of the Late Bronze Age - (1650-1500BC!) Unreal!
We looked at the quaint little pebbly beach area of Akrotiri beach as well as Kokkini or Red beach so called due to the red colouring of the imposing cliff face. We continued meandering along the tip of the island, not exactly sure where we were going; through an area called Faros with several impressive looking resort hotels and villas; of course the church around every corner typified on Santorini by the archways with hanging bells; and the expanses of vineyards. Santorini is well known for its wine, as are many of the Greek islands, and as we have been sampling local wines on a regular basis are becoming more familiar with the varieties. (Particularly fond of Assyrtiko, quite similar to a Verdelho or Pinot Grigio. )
With a bit of luck we found our way to the lighthouse at the very tip of the island and the views back across to the caldera and out to sea were nothing short of spectacular! The vivid colours of the layering of the rock formations are amazing and the coastline breathtakingly rugged.
We headed back up towards Fira but turned off in an easterly direction in search of other beach areas. Drove through the village of Emporio then on to Perissa where we found a bakery for some yummy lunch snacks (and some baklava for later). The wide expanse (about seven kms) of Perissa beach is extremely popular and certainly worth the visit. Bit different to any other beaches we have visited thus far - this one is BLACK sand. Makes sense I guess, being volcanic. Quite coarse and very hot to walk on. The other side of the roadway running the length of the beach was lined with tavernas, bars and hotels - each servicing a section of the beach with timber walkways on the sand, sun lounges and umbrellas. Really would not be a pleasant experience to lay directly on the sand - hard enough to walk on it. Decided to have a swim here (bit rocky and slippery under foot but water lovely) and then moved on. Found another popular holiday beach area further north not far from the airport called Kamari - again black sand. Atmosphere a little different as we had to park nearby and along the beach was a pedestrian thoroughfare lined again with hotels, tavernas, bars and restaurants. Each had some feature - hammocks, lounges, a pool, specialty food etc - but their seating was generally on both sides of thoroughfare as well as having walkways on to beach with lounges and umbrellas. Found ourselves a spot and ordered frappes. Ate our baklava, swam and had a relax for a while.
Negotiated our way back to the chaos of Fira and managed to find somewhere to park. Wandered around for a while before heading back to Villa Ilias to enjoy our last Santorini sunset - decided no better position than our own balcony! Sensational!
Once the sun was gone and the lights of the caldera slowly flickered on, we showered and changed to head out for our grand finale dinner. Actually ended up at our third option - called Vanilia- as our initial choice was closed and another one had a long queue. Regardless, proved an excellent result. We sat upstairs overlooking the walkway of the caldera and shared three appetisers - the Greeks do them so well! Saganaki prawns, meatballs and fried calamari! Delicious!