May 26 - Santorini: Sunbathing Dogs and Black Beaches

Perfect breakfast. Our hotel, Old Oia Houses, delivered fresh bread every morning and kept our fridge stocked with jam, honey, and juice and they also provided coffee and a French press. All we needed to buy was Greek yogurt and water for this spread.



Morning Oia view from hotel terrace.



We took the bus to Fira, and then changed buses to go to Perissa Beach. The ride took almost an hour from Fira and was the last stop. The beach was lovely and unique. The black sand was rougher than white sand, but easy to walk on. Perissa also has a cool rock/cliff right next to it that juste out into the water. It gives the beach an even more unique feel.

A dog wandered onto the beach and lied down in the shade of a beach chair near us.



After a little while, it moved into the sun. Ten minutes later it moved back into the shade.





Lunch at Yazz Beach Bar. Perissa Beach has a lot of fun, hippie bars and they are cheaper than the rest of the island. Yazz was one of them. I had an Alfa on draft, which was my favorite widely available Greek beer of the trip. Hubs had a Red Donkey. We also ordered an appetizer platter for two which was quite large and had a lot of variety. 2 beers + bread + app platter = 21 euros. Not bad at all.



Lunch view.



Perissa Beach while walking south to Perivolos.



As you walk south towards Perivolos, there are less people, but the beach is not as pristine. Meaning, there is more dried seaweed scattered about. But we were the only people on the beach as far as we could see.



Took the bus back from the Perivolos stop and stopped at Pyrgos. We hiked up to the castle to take photos from a high point on the island. It's a beautiful view and Pyrgos is a quiet little town that's fun to wander around in. Not many tourists there on the afternoon we stopped by.





From Pyrgos, we walked down the main road in town to get to Santo Winery. This place had amazing views.



And a huge wine tasting selection with extremely generous pours. And some cheese and crackers.



As usual in Santorini, there was a bride...taking a photo of her water.



Sunset over the caldera from Santo Winery.



Glasses AFTER tasting them all. We were buzzed and out of cheese, so it seemed time to call it. The wines were hit and miss, but some were quite good. The setting alone is worth it and we had a lot of fun. Giant wine tasting + snacks = 23.50 euros.



There is a bus stop at Santo Winery, but it was unclear when/if the next bus would come, so we took a cab back to the Fira bus station for 10 euros. After busing back to Oia, we grabbed dinner at a gyro stand. I don't know the name of the place, but if you get off the bus and walk back up the street the bus just came down, it's the first turn on the right and just up the street on the left. Sausage in a pita. Yes, please.



And a gyros pita. They cook the gyros meat horizontally and it was delicious.