Day 4 - Hit the Road, Jack...

Today started with a trip to the beach - hooray! Our hotel is about a 5 minute walk to Perissa beach, which is a long strip of black sand. I think it's gorgeous, and even though the bars spill out onto the sand it still manages to be peaceful and relaxing. I love swimming in the sea, so it was a great start to the day. Andrew scooped me up after a couple of hours and we went to pick up our car from the rental place. Our little, automatic car (christened Costas...) is fine - a little rough round the edges but more than serviceable! We then commenced a little tour of the island visiting villages we've not been to before. Someday, we would like to buy some property on Santorini, so we thought it would be a good idea to investigate other less touristy, residential areas. Monolithos was first on the list. This is a small village on the coast, the other side of the mountain from Perissa and just a bit further up from Kamari. It's much more modest than those two tourist hubs, and a lot quieter. We started our exploration having lunch at a taverna called Mario's, which is directly on the beach at the bottom end of Monolithos. The beach here was absolutely deserted, apart from an impossibly bronzed French couple, and the food served up at Mario's was completely delish. We shared feta cheese rolls drizzled with honey and sesame seeds, a colourful salad with an orange and balsamic dressing and tzatziki (natch). Again it sounds very plain, but the tastes and colours were really fresh and amazing. Also the service was delightful, and Andrew successfully tried out some Greek. (I didn't...).

The main part of Monolithos is a bit further up from Mario's Taverna, and here there is a more organised family beach with loungers and umbrellas. It's still very sleepy, and the centre consists of a mini-market and two tavernas. Whilst it's still charming, it's probably a little too quiet for my taste, so we had a little wander around and then hopped in to Costas to move on to the next village.

Next, we visited Karterados. I really liked this village. Tiny streets jumble and tumble down the hill, with dazzling white buildings and blue domed churches rising above bright bougainvillea. It was so bloody hot walking around these labyrinthine streets, but I loved getting lost and fantasising about which house we would go for.

We did much the same in Megalochori, a slightly bigger village, and if possible I fell in love with it even MORE than Karterados. It had the same higgledy-piggeldy feel, but also has a very pretty central square with three or four tavernas and bars. We didn't actually eat here, but it was very welcoming and charming. I liked it a lot!

After a brief return to the hotel, we motored back out again to the open air cinema at Kamari. It's an ultra-cool place with a bar for drinks and cinema treats, and it's just generally a lovely experience. It fills up quite quickly, so I'd recommend getting here quite early to get a good seat, and the pre-film jazz playing whilst you settle down amongst the trees makes for a great atmosphere. We watched a film called Tully with Charlize Theron, but it doesn't really matter what film you see - just get a frozen daiquiri down your neck and enjoy relaxing under the stars!

Not much planned for tomorrow, so it'll probably be a short entry! Also, check out the photos!xx