Sunrise in Perissa
When you are sleeping in a hotel located an eastern side beach would be sacrilegious not to wake up one morning to see the sunrise. I woke up at 5:30 and went to the black sand beach in front and watch a magnificent sunrise. It did not look like one but it ended up being a perfect picture sunrise. Latter on, a dive in the pool and a quick breakfast kicked off the day.
We left before 9 to Accordo travel where we bought tickets for a day trip to the three other islands in the Santorini volcano caldera after that going quickly to do some shopping at the supermarket and pharmacy. A bus came at 9:00 and picked us up from the agency and dropped us at Athinos port where the boat was waiting outside of the harbor. The harbor was full and the boast could not come to the shore so we waited more than one hour in the reassurance of the guide that this would not shorten our trip. So we passed our time trying to make some international calls but it did not work so easily. Finally some ferries left and the boat came to pick us up and we started to sail to the island in the middle of the caldera.
Nea Kameni, Santorini
The island that we visited first, Nea Kameni, is a national park with an active volcano in the middle, it was formed between 1570-80 in a completely empty caldera. It came out of the sea and the volcano is still going strong today, being spots in its middle when the sulfur presence can be smelled making the ground around green. If you dig a small hole on top it is so hot that you can obviously boil an egg inside. The entire island is looking like a giant dug it from the lava that flowed many times in recent history. The trip on the island last for about 2 hours, on top the guide giving us a entire presentation about the geological and social history of Santorini. From there the boat took us to the older of the two islands in the middle, Palea Kameni, formed in an eruption at 49AD that has in one of its gulfs hot springs at the shore of the sea. The boat cannot get closer to the shore because of the rocks and you have to swim quite of a distance to the shore where the hot springs are. A nice white chapel is located on the shore near the springs. After about 45 minutes we left to the third stop, the larger island of Tirassia, that closes the circle of Santorini. The island is nice and its shore became recently, because of the tourist boats, full of restaurants in spite of the lack of real beach. One of the restaurants has also a remodeled windmill in operation. From the shore, one of the attractions is to mount on a donkey for E5/pers and climb the hill to the top village that is not interesting but commands beautiful views of the shore. You can also walk up in 15-20 minutes arduous walk. The views are stupendous and they justify the stroll or the donkey ride. The boat stays quite long, almost 2 hours, docked on the island giving you enough time to eat and do the uphill hike.
From there the boat goes to Oia and dropped the tourists who want to spend the sunset in Oia, part of an extended trip and returned to Athinos port from where the bus picks you up and brings you back to your hotel. We grabbed the car and went back to Fira, parking in the same top parking, for another night stroll and a well deserved dinner in one of the hanging restaurant at Fanari. Great dinner and great views! We were amazed how you can eat hanging over the caldera.
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