Santorini Rest Day

After our big walk yesterday, my right knee was extremely painful. Uphill walking does not agree with it. ☹️ Sarah had already suggested we take it easy today and not go to one of the beaches, which had originally been our plan. Secretly, she just wanted a sleep-in, and I could hardly blame her for that. So the plan was to stay at the apartment most of the day and enjoy the pool.

My internal alarm clock had other ideas and woke me at 4 a.m.! I dozed until 6, got up very quietly, had breakfast, and just before 7 a.m. went out walking. Yes, my knee was bloody sore, but I’m here and had to go see Skaros Rock up close. Sarah had already said she didn’t need to do that. Any Doctor Who fan will tell you Skaro is where the Daleks come from—so this walk came with some risk involved. 😂 I’m assuming Skaro and Skaros may have a tenuous link? They do now thanks to me. 😉

I was retracing the start of yesterday’s walk to Imerovigli, which of course is uphill. I took it very gently and purposely favored one knee over the other. That helped a lot. Skaros Rock is a rocky outcrop below Imerovigli. It was once a Venetian fortress, but you wouldn’t know that to look at it—it just looks like a big rocky lump. To get there you descend steps. I was not looking forward to the climb back up!

At the saddle, there are remains of old stone buildings—a bit of a clue that people once lived here. Amazing. There’s a signboard with more information, which I photographed to read later. Then it’s more steps, heading out and up to the large rocky outcrop. Oh, and a sign that says Extreme Danger – Access Forbidden! Obviously to prevent health and safety or negligence claims. I ignored it and carried on. I had already seen two people return from up there who had done likewise.

The climb wasn’t far—less than 100m, maybe even less—but it gave an even better view back to Imerovigli and across towards Fira and Firostefani. That was the real reason to go. I took a few photos and enjoyed the views. It looked like you could follow a goat track around the rock, but that looked dodgy as hell. I wasn’t that silly! Time to head back up the steps slowly to protect the knee.

By now it was 8 a.m. and I was walking back along the beautiful caldera pathways of Imerovigli. Anyone passing me would have thought I’d been out for a morning run—it was already that warm and I was dripping wet. But the walk is a thing of wonder. You’d never get tired of it.

I was back at base by around 8:30 a.m., and Sarah was already having breakfast. I guess you can call that a sleep-in?

The rest of the morning went as planned: reading in the shade by the pool, with the odd dip to keep cool.

At lunchtime we walked up to Firostefani to reserve a table for dinner—our last night in Santorini. ☹️ It’s been a wonderful few days and far exceeded expectations. I thought it would be an overhyped tourist trap. It is a tourist trap, but it more than lives up to the hype. Very glad we’ve ticked it off.

Something I didn’t know—Sarah told me over breakfast—is that the Santorini volcano, which created the massive caldera cliffs and the island in the sea off the coast, is actually not extinct. It’s just dormant! What!? I knew there had been earthquakes here earlier this year and that the area was still seismically active, but I didn’t realize the volcano itself was still considered “alive.” Its last minor eruption was in 1950. The massive explosion that created Santorini as we see it today, though, happened about 3,600 years ago. Still, it’s a scary thought that it could one day erupt again, even if not on that scale.

We walked from Firostefani to Fira as Sarah wanted to visit a shop. While she browsed, I had time to make some new friends. 😂

Once Sarah had finished shopping, we grabbed something from the bakery for lunch, then parked ourselves back at the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

For dinner we went to the restaurant Vanilla in Firostefani. It didn’t have great reviews for the food, but the prices were “reasonable” and the upper terrace was a perfect spot to watch the sunset. We started with a Paulaner wheat beer (A) and a Coke Zero (S), plus Greek olives and dolmades—flavored rice wrapped in vine leaves. For our main, we had to order the volcano pizza. Drinks were rounded off with a red wine (S) and a large coffee (A). The meal wasn’t brilliant, but the epic views of the sun setting over the caldera made up for it. Worth the €49.50. Near the end of the meal we even got treated to a short fireworks display—lots of noise very close by. So close we couldn’t see it because of the umbrellas. 😂 Someone nearby was having a party, I think. Pretty sure that doesn’t happen every night.

Meal finished, we walked along the caldera pathways toward Fira to soak in the views one more time. They never get old. Tonight the apartments and restaurants were lit up, and there was even a full moon to complete the show.