Sept 14

Today is our last day in Santorini and the plan is to hike from Fira to Oia. Got up more leisurely today and headed to Fira to begin our adventure. Found a parking spot easily and headed to the trail. We hiked 20-30 minutes and then stopped for coffee and breakfast at a little cafe along the trail. Food was good. Coffee not that great. My stomach was really unsettled but I managed to basically ignore it as we went along our way. Our next stop was Imerovigli. We took a detour at that point to Skaros Rock. We had read that there was cliff jumping in this location but we never were able to find it and it looked like anyone jumping in this area was anxious to end their life. As we hiked down the hill to begin the hike up to Skaros Rock and the church at the end of the path, sewer was running alongside us on the trail. Quite the experience. We know you aren't supposed to flush toilet paper in the toilets in Greece. They have signs everywhere. Apparently the plumbing in Greece is two inches instead of four inches like the US and other European countries and cannot handle toilet paper. Well, from the sewer running down the hill, it was obvious that many people were flushing toilet paper! Definitely not one of my favorite things about Greece. The cans they have in the bathroom for toilet paper smell like diaper pails. Yuck. Anyway, we avoided the sewer trail the best we could and hiked all the way out to the end of the trail. Beautiful views. Headed back up and continued on the trail. Based on reviews, we thought there would be villages all along the way but after Imerovigli, that was really it until Oia. It was hot and we realized that we needed water desperately. There were quite a few random hotels along the road as we hiked. We stopped and the hotel just gave us water. We were so grateful. On the way we went. This entire walk has views of the caldera that are so beautiful, you almost become immune after a while. You constantly go down and back up, rocky trails and steps. On and on we went. Took a few detours to chase after our 24 hour energizer bunny son who ran up many of the hills that were so steep and so rocky, I was in awe. Finally arrived in Oia 8.5 miles later even though it was supposed to be 6.5. Guess we added a few miles with our detour to Skaros Rock and other detours up and down hills to see more views! We stopped at a beautiful restaurant and paid American prices for food and drink and were happy to do it. Cold water never tasted better. The food was amazing but somewhat Americanized. We all had interesting spinach pie salads which was this baby spinach with some kind of filo cracker on top and bottom. For main dishes, we all had Moussaka. I've had this several times here. It is different every place you go but always delicious. This one was really good. David and I were pretty ready to catch a bus back to Fira at this point but Avi was desperate to cliff jump off a cliff at St. Nicholas Bay. You had to hike to the bottom of the mountain to Ahmoudi Bay and then around to the back of the mountain. You could swim at that point over to St. Nicholas Bay, hike a rocky mountain and jump. I thought we were all too tired and the wind was howling. Just didn't seem safe. But Avi was determined. So we all headed down these crazy steep steps to the bottom of the mountain. Steps were slick and slippery and we went carefully. Finally got to the bottom and the wind was really blowing. Avi is still determined. When we got around to the back of the mountain, it was a bit calmer. Avi peeled off his clothes and got ready to jump in. David wasn't about to let him go alone so he followed. I was mostly just worried about safety at this point. But they made it safely to the mountain and Avi got his thrill. Twice! Climbed up the rocky hill in bare feet and jumped off a cliff about 20-25 feet into the water. It was so beautiful here but I was so glad when they finally swam back and everyone was safe. I of course got the obligatory pictures. The guys got their shoes back on and we headed back up the hill. There were donkeys offered at the bottom of the mountain for tourists too tired to hike back up, but I felt safer on my own feet at this point. Such a steep hill. But we did get to the top in one piece and also found our bus stop in time for the 6:50 bus. The bus was quick and uneventful and dropped us off very close to where our car was parked. By now, we have hiked almost 11 miles and been on our traverse for about 10 hours. We piled gratefully back into our car and headed for Kamari for dinner, windblown and exhausted. We opted for a very authentic Greek restaurant for our last night in Santorini. Got Santorini salads, appetizers and Avi and I both got lamb dishes. I'm trying to like lamb because I know Greece does it right but it just isn't my favorite meat. But the salads never disappoint. Back to our Airbnb and fell into bed after a shower. We have a very early morning tomorrow to catch a flight to Nafplio.