 |
| Probably the most photographed church in the world. |
The night’s sleep was somewhat interrupted by the bells of the local church. They would ring in a certain pattern of three or four tones; obviously there was some special day or celebration happening, as the same was going on the next morning from quiet early. Amazingly, we managed to take an easy morning and only set into town around 11am, stopping at Lucky’s Souvlaki for a breakfast yiros (when in Greece...!). I had read that Lucky’s was a “can’t miss” destination when in Fira. It was alright, but of the three I’d now had, Good Mood Food took the honours as best yiros in Fira!
 |
| "I've got... two tickets to paradise!" |
Today’s plan was to explore Santorini’s other major city, Oia. Situated at the north-western tip of the island, Oia is most famous for the reportedly spectacular sunset directly over the ocean. But we’ll get to that later. From Fira’s bus terminal, where the grumpy ticket booth attendants will tell you at which bus to line up, it will cost €1.80 to get to Oia. Tickets are bought on the bus after it sets off. The journey takes about 40 minutes; ours felt a bit longer due to the bus being full of local middle school students who didn’t quite understand how to use their inside-voices when on a packed bus full of people!
Disembarking at Oia’s terminal, the general flow of people will direct you into the town. We stopped off for some coffee at Lolita’s, just by chance. It seems like this is a hot spot for tourists and locals alike. Avy had an affagato, so she got to taste the gelato, too. Oia is good for a stroll through little laneways, choc-full of shops selling more-or-less the same stuff available in Fira. Only you will notice that Oia is just the little bit more expensive than Fira, obviously due to the large amount of tourist clientele. From the main shopping street, which can be insanely crowded, small lanes split off to the left side and go various distances down the Caldera. Without much trouble, you can easily find that iconic Oia photo spot, overlooking the blue-domed church with the three bells. The way I’d read about it on the internet, it sounded like such a gem that was hard to find. In reality, it took no effort at all.
 |
| Ekklisia Panagia Platsani |
We walked out to the end of the town and checked out the ruins of the Byzantine Castle that sits right at the tip of the island, then up and around the houses around the windmill, which features in many other Santorini photos (typically sunset ones). Back in the centre of town, we stopped for some lunch at Thalassia – wifey wanted some soup again, while I went traditional-Greek with some Moussaka. The food was good... but not great for the price paid. And the sneaky waiter tried to imply a tip when we paid the bill! Nothing against him, he was very friendly, but quality of fare counts, too.
 |
| A bell with a view. |
 |
| Looking over the Byzantine Castle ruins. |
 |
| Lunch at Thalassia. |
 |
| Lunch at Thalassia. |
We then retraced our steps and walked back to the church at the eastern end of town, stopping off for photos along the way. Debating with the idea of staying around for the sunset, we almost decided to skip it due to the large crowds that would be trying to get the bus afterward, but eventually decided to stick around. We returned to Lolita’s to share a gelato and get out of the sun; they also have free wifi if you can solve a simple exponent maths problem... but I’ll save you some time: the password is 12346789. :-)
 |
| Quite the popular spot for a photo shoot. |
Taking a slightly different route to the castle area, we searched around for a spot to see the horizon. Of course, we’d got there quite late, with less than an hour to go before sunset, and most of the best vantage points were packed with people. If you really want the best spots, you’re going to have to waste a good chunk of your afternoon waiting around and not seeing anything, so be prepared for that! We ended up climbing a wall that leads to the castle – this particular wall didn’t say “do not climb”, so I think we were okay! We could see the horizon, but it didn’t make for a great photograph with the roof and some aerials in the way. My suggestion would be to find a spot over near the windmill (yes, the over-photographed and stereotypical spot!) so that you can get the sunset and some of the houses into the frame. Even from the castle won’t really work, as the sun and Oia’s coast line will be at right-angles to each other, making it only good for panorama shots on a phone.
But anyway! We watched the sunset, and it was about the same as from Fira. Again, there was some cloud over the horizon which spoiled it a bit. I found it a little odd that the crowd of thousands erupted into applause as the sun went down, as if it doesn’t normally make it? Maybe this is just and Oia tradition! We made a beeline for the bus terminal, cutting and dodging through the crowd. There are extra busses on at sunset, but if you’re slow, you’re still going to be waiting a while. We managed to get on the second bus after we arrived, so we did alright.
 |
| Watching the sunset from Oia. |
Back in Fira, we supped on the best yiros in town (yes, that’s 4 gyrii for Matt in 2 days!), back at Good Mood Food. Avy agreed with me that this was the best one we had tried. I think it’s the seasoning on the chicken that really puts it a cut above the rest. Definitely try it when you visit Fira! One last wander through town and we returned to our room to get ready for the next day’s departure.
 |
| Good Mood Food for the win! |
 |
| Best yiros in town! |
No comments:
Post a Comment