Santorini bus tour in parts - Pyrgos monastery, a kitten and Kamari beach

The previous post on this series is here..

After our lunch, ocean fun and ice cream at Perissa, we were back in the bus climbing to the top of the hill on this side of Santorini to go to the Monastery.. a few hundred years old, this place had reclusive monks who did not want to contact outside world for some time. They even buried their dead inside is what our guide told us.

 They did open up and have a store near the outside chapel eventually. The whole place was interesting and quiet. Then it got pretty windy and we were told not to have high hopes for later in the evening, given rain clouds were rolling in. 

We saw everyone go kiss the same objects and pictures.. couldn't have been good during COVID times! The small chapel was really beautiful. 

While we were being told that, a kitten walked out of nowhere and decided to sit on my lap. I love animals. They seem to love me too.. however god has played a cruel trick. I am almost allergic to all cats. Initially the family panicked. They did not want me sick before the last stop. A few people tried to lure it away, but no! The kitten just sat on my lap for a good 10 minutes. Finally the little one grabbed it and placed it on the floor and we had to leave. Apparently six kittens were just born a few weeks back in the Monastery. This was one of those six. Did have watery eyes for a few minutes later in the night, but didn't get sick as everyone expected. 

We got amazing views of the Perissa beach from the Monastery.

The little one was still mesmerized by the cat...

Then we drove down to Kamari beach area. Guess this tour has a tie up with some wine makers in Santorini. So we stopped at a rest area near the black beach, and were offered three wines or Cherry juice. Skipped it and ate the crackers. For some strange reason we were hungry. We walked to the beach across the street and took pictures. This beach was full of pebbles but there were no people on this side as far as the eye could see! There were pistachio trees here other than olive trees in this area.. that was a change!

Caught the little one in one of her moments..

We did get to see a real donkey on the way to this place..Apparently there was a time when every house had a donkey to haul things up and down the hillsides of this island !!

A video clip of this leg of the bus tour! 

After this short break, we were off to to go up and around all the way to Oia.. the last stop and grand finale for the tour!

A bus tour in parts - Akrotiri : Caldera rim view, red sand beach and historic site

The previous post on this series is here..

On our second day in Santorini, we had booked an all day tour of the island. If you have only one day in Santorini, just do this tour. Apparently this is not news. There are cruise ships that dock in Santorini. The tourists get off the ship and go straight to this bus tour.. almost a 1000+ people. Puts a huge surge in the population at breakfast time as some of them try to grab food before getting on the bus.. (same thing happens when you get dropped off!). 

So to beat that, we went for an early breakfast and waited for the bus to pick us up. They were on time and off we went. Viator really rocked this tour! Recommend you book this well in advance like we(San) did! She got 110/100 for booking this!!

My own Blue Angels.. they all looked so pretty and happy that I was glad to be at their bidding for anything they asked for..

We started with a ride along the rim to see the caldera to the ancient city of Akrotiri.

This is one of my best clicks of San on this entire trip.. so including it in the blog as it will get printed as part of the blog book.

There were two options given the time we stopped there:

a. walk half a mile to the red sand beach and walk back (part of the path to the beach had caved in and was dangerous) 

b. walk right out of the bus stop and see the excacation site of what was probably Atlantis before the volcano covered it. 

We decided to go to the beach with half the group. The other half of the bus went to the site. There is also a nice cafeteria outside the site and good restrooms. 

It was already hot and bright. So me and Jr. bought blue sunglasses to match everything else..

we learned that all buildings had to be blue and white in Santorini or they are fined!

Spent 15 minutes in the beach which was really nice.

I went from "not getting the memo" to the Bluest guy from head to toe over the two days!

this is the caved in section of the walk.. you have to cross this to go to the beach. if you are not able bodied, don't risk it and block the rest of the folks trying to make it into the beach below and back! 

Even the locals were proud of my blue at this point!

A pretty girl I saw on the beach..

Then we walked back. We still had 30 minutes. So I decided to make a run for it and also see the excavation site while the rest of them walked back. 

The run wearing wet Bata chappals paid off. Rushed to get tickets and walked through the entire site while clicking pictures of the boards and the site and made it back to the bus with 1 minute to spare. The rest of the folks were giving me the look, but once I explained that I saw both.. they were impressed!

The excavation site deserves a post in itself, but given that my blog backlog is growing.. have added a slide show of this massive complex. This is mind blowing. 2 storied buildings which date back 8000 years ago. Someone is doing something wrong in our history books.

Look at the pictures and you will start wondering why our timelines are messed up!

A video clip of this segment of the trip..

After this we were off to our next stop.. this was a 10 hour thing which ended up being much longer including the pickup and drop off. .  

As the day went by it just got better and better..

Sunset at Poseidon's temple

If you have only two days in Athens, make sure one of the evenings is set aside to see the sunset at Poseidon's temple!

It makes you wonder what it would have been like 2000+ years ago when people watched the sunset from a colored intact temple!

The previous post on the Greece trip is here..

After a quick rest in the early afternoon, we made it to our pick up spot in Syntagma square for an all evening trip. We had pre booked the trip on Viator. It was a bus with 20+ people being picked up at various hotels. It was a long drive to the tip of the land to see this temple. 

We stopped by at a lake of sorts which was also an expensive club where folks came to spend an afternoon swimming in this lake. It was a quick rest stop. Then we kept driving to Sounion, where this temple sits on a hill. 

There was some story about divers going into the cave and never returning.. over 100 of them over the years apparently..

There was one more stop, thanks to a pregnant lady on our bus who was sick because of the windy uphill road. We all got to take more pictures while the poor woman was throwing up!

The kids put their feet in water to check the temperature..apparently cold!

Once we were at the stop, there is a short hike to the top.. the sun already starts setting.. so the orange hues are inviting.. 

My recommendation is for folks to not stop and take pictures on the way up once you are at the temple!

There is a long line at the top as you have to buy tickets to get to the site! The line for the credit card counter is long and slow! The people might wait for you, but the sun won't!!! The guide gave us till 20 minutes past sunset to show up down to get back on the bus. 

We did get to see a glorious sunset with all the little islands jutting out in the water. It was amazing. Have never seen a large crowd clap for a sunset! 

Just got goosebumps watching the sunset through the columns. Imagined people watching the same sunset 2000 years ago. How magnificent it would have been with the statues all intact, the roof still intact, the colors on the pillars! What it must have taken them to build this without advanced technology and why would anyone desecrate a temple like that in the name of war? A lot of questions with not so great answers.. but thoroughly enjoyed that evening.

A short video clip..

Then we made a long drive back to the hotel. There is nothing to eat at this place. So you are better off packing some snacks or dinner that you can eat on the bus. We were starving when we got back to our rooms and thankfully, there was Maggi noodles to the rescue! 

The next day was another all day Viator prepaid trip around Athens with a focus on the Acropolis..