Red Beach is an impressive location, with towering red cliffs hanging over a beach of black sand and pebbles. We had a bit of a look around and then headed off for our next destination.

I saw a sign saying lighthouse. Ever a sucker for a lighthouse I turned the car in that direction. We came to the far end of the island, yet another location with stupendous views. Although the lighthouse itself is not accessible you can walk around it and get out onto the headland to see off in the distance islands dotting the Aegean.

Feeling a bit peckish we headed down to Perissa Beach to see if we could find some lunch. Lucky for us there was a tavern open that had seats right on the beach so we enjoyed the late afternoon sun watching the waves crash on the black pebble beach, eating some typical taverna food. I have to say that we enjoyed the best Greek salad we had eaten in Greece.

After lunch we headed to Pyrgos and from here up to the highest point on Santorini – the Monastery of Prophet Ilias. The view from here appears to go forever.

Continuing our exploration we went back down the mountain then around a bit to Kamari Beach where we promptly headed back up the same mountain we had just come down from, but this time on the other side. We were headed for the ancient ruins of Thira. We couldn’t get in because it closes at 2.30pm each day and we were half an hour past that time. It looked worthy of another visit so we decided to come back the next day.

As sunset approached we found ourselves back at Oia. The rain and clouds put paid to any ideas of a magnificent sunset, but we saw the bay of Ammoudiou and Jess had a close encounter with a donkey. We decided to keep the car for another day.

A power cut in the morning meant we hurried out the door. Our first port of call was the church at Imerovigli where we had been told by Thanes there was a celebration in honour of Saint Nicholas (this being both Sunday and the feast of Saint Nicholas). Well we headed up there, parked the car and found that we would have to enter the church to be involved. Feeling like we were intruding we decided not to go in. It was great though to see the smiling faces of the congregation as it broke up, all carrying with pride the pieces of bread the church had given them.

We set our heading for Ancient Thira. Climbing back up the winding road we parked at top near the entrance. I opened the car door only to have it wrenched from my grasp. The wind at the top felt strong enough to blow us off the side of the mountain. We found the ticket office closed but the gates open so in we went. There was a fellow sitting just inside and when I asked him whether we need to buy a ticket he simply replied ‘tickets tomorrow’. Good enough for me.

Ancient Thira is well worth a visit. Perched impossibly on top of a mountain of pure rock it looks out to a view to forever. It’s not hard to imagine the reasoning behind setting a city up this high, even though it must have made life very challenging for the inhabitants. Wandering around the ancient laneways poking in and out of the ruins of houses thousands of years old made me wonder what life must have been life for the original inhabitants. Certainly different from ours. I wonder what they would make of our world.

In the remainder of the day we had a stroll around Pyrgos, the girls had a splash in the black sands of Kamari Beach and we headed back to Ammoudiou Bay, stopping for some late lunch at the restaurant Nikoy, perched literally on the side of a cliff View from the lighthouse.

We reach Oia again as the sun was setting and had a lovely half hour or so strolling around Ammoudia Bay and the trail that leads around the Caldera at sea level for about 500 meters or so.

We headed back to Fira, gave back the keys to the car and then had dinner at the Pelican Cafe. Now this is a place I can recommend. Food of immense quality in the coolest of surroundings. If you are in Fira makes sure you visit here. It was so good in fact that we decided to come back here tomorrow for my birthday. Better sign off now and get some beauty sleep as I will wake to find myself another year older…

By Guykb; excerpts, edited by Greece Travel Blog

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Tags: afternoon sun * ancient ruins * black sand * feast of saint nicholas * greek salad * Imerovigli * impressive location * magnificent sunset * pebble beach * prophet ilias * red cliffs * sand and pebbles * Santorini * stupendous views * thira * watching the waves * waves crash

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