Stunning Santorini

Perissa Beach
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Santorini was by far my favourite Greek island. We spent 4 nights there and I could have spent a lot more time on the island.

We were staying at a hostel about half an hour from Thira, the main town of Santorini, at Perissa Beach - a black sand beach overlooked by a rocky mountain. It was strange seeing black sand but really beautiful... although the sand was so hot it hurt even to walk on it wearing thongs, which explains the wooden walkways that scatter the beach.

...by far my favourite Greek island

Elena standing on the black sand of Perissa Beach
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On our first evening we decided to explore the town of Thira. The town is perched on the edge of the island, overlooking the ocean, 'caldera' (crater) and volcano which sits in the ocean a short distance from Santorini. It is beautiful seeing the white traditional buildings sitting on the side of the cliff... words can't really describe it. We sat down for a drink at a cafe overlooking the ocean - expensive, but the view was worth it!

On our second day, we visited famous Red Beach. It is quite amazing to see with red rock cliffs behind the beach making the sand a reddish-black colour... very unusual.

Elena and Richard in Thira
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Our next day was very busy as we took a full day tour around Santorini. First, we caught a traditional boat out to the volcano. The views of Santorini from the boat were quite spectacular, and the volcano was amazing too... black rock and pumice, and completely bare of vegetation except for a few weeds. We walked for about 40 minutes up to the top of the volcano, which was quite a struggle in the heat, but the views from the top were incredible.

Next, we continued our boat ride to some hot springs on a nearby island, where the water is kept warm by the volcano. The boat stopped a few hundred metres away from the springs, and then the only way to reach them was to jump and swim! The bottom of the springs is covered in mud, so we covered ourselves in mud too which left our skin really soft.

A Santorini church
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The boat then continued on to the island of Therasia, where we had a quick lunch and then took a donkey ride up to the town on the top of the island! It cost us 4 euros each and was very fun but also scary... 15 donkeys winding their way up a steep, narrow, cobbled path and trying to push past the others to get to the front of the group! By the time we got to the top (it only took 15 minutes), we had to race back down again on foot and almost missed the boat. I must say I feel sorry for the donkeys walking up and down the hill all day in the heat. I hope they get enough breaks.

Red Beach
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Anyway, next we took the boat back to Santorini, but this time to the town of Oia on the tip of the island. Oia is famous for it's sunsets over the ocean and is incredibly picturesque. I thought it was prettier than Thira - not as touristy, very clean, and better views (if that's possible!). We had dinner on a restaurant's rooftop terrace where we had a perfect views of the sunset, and then made our way back home around 9pm.

Our final day was spent on Perissa Beach, lamenting that it was our last 'beachy' place before we continued our journey. I can't believe we only have a month of our holiday left!