Day #8
I am going to warn you now - what follows will be an extremely long post. This day on our honeymoon was jam-packed with excitement and activities, and I want to detail all of the fun!
During her research, Julie discovered that we could hike from our place in Oia (the northern tip of Santorini) to the main hub in central Santorini called Fira. The hike was about 5-6 miles along the coastline ridge, and Julie said it was relatively flat (more on this later).
Church stop on the hike
We left our house early in the morning to beat the heat, and we started by walking through our small town of Oia, and right away we were approached by two random dogs patrolling the town. Julie, of course, immediately started talking to them and petting them, and that was enough for them to hang out with us as we embarked on our hike. One of them kept running way ahead of us, so I named him Rocket, and then the other one had some problems walking in a straight line, so I named him Drifter. So the dynamic duo started walking with us as we finally reached the edge of Oia, and then we couldn't find the launch point for the path for the hike, and before we knew it, our two canine guides walked straight to it and led the way!
Did you really think I wouldn't find one of these?!
The hike started as a steep uphill climb through some biting, swirling wind. We could see the top of this initial incline, and we took our time as our two doggy friends forged ahead, never straying too far to be out of our sight. We began to worry that they would venture too far from home, but these two obviously had done this trek before, and were perfectly content to have some human company on this particular day. We reached the top of the mountain and found ourselves at a small church in the middle of nowhere, with no roads to be found. The dogs had vanished too far ahead of us, and sadly, after calling our dogs (by the names we named them), we continued on the path without our friends. No more than five minutes later, I heard the most excited, genuinely happy squeal I've ever heard from Julie behind me. Wanting to see what the excitement was, I turned just in time to see Rocket and Drifter come running over the hill. Julie held her arms open wide and hugged both of them as she was reunited with her buddies. Including our wedding, that was the happiest I've ever seen her.
The church where we met more dog friends!
We kept walking and came across four more dogs, who we quickly named Deuce, Stringbean, Wallaby, and...wait a minute, is that...Flops? Holy hell, it was! Sure enough, our sunrise buddy from the day before was out gallivanting with his homeboys on the path of our hike! As if it was planned, the four new dogs fell into stride with us and continued on. Mind you, by this point Rocket and Drifter had been with us for 2 miles, and these dogs had no intention of leaving. And we had no idea where they lived.
Flops returns!
I have plenty of dog stories about these six dogs, but for purposes of this post, just know they all had unique personalities, and Julie could not contain her excitement and laughter as we did voices for them the whole hike. Oh wait, did I say the whole hike? Indeed I did. These dogs stayed with us for anywhere from 3-6 miles, each slowly departing on different stops along the way. Such a hilarious start to our day.
*Side Note* - This hike was awesome (don't let the dog talk fool you). I recommend it to anyone. The hike was a steep climb to start, but it certainly was not overly difficult, and there were churches sprinkled throughout the hike that served as great stopping points for rest and photos. It climbed up, and then dove down, and there was rarely a time you didn't have an ocean view. At one point, the island narrows down to about a kilometer wide, and you stand with ocean visibly on both sides of you. Absolutely breathtaking. Just don't believe your wife when she says "Oh, and it's pretty flat!"
Finally arriving in Fira, we set out to grab a snack and then my most anticipated part of the day - renting ATV's! We grabbed a quick cheese pie (duh), and then found an ATV rental place. The gentleman renting the vehicles asked Julie if she'd done this before, and when she excitedly said "No!", he looked at her and asked "You sure you want to do this?" Classic moment.
Julie on her ATV
After convincing him we could do it, and getting a quick tutorial on the gears, we burned rubber out of Fira and set out to ride our hogs down the remainder of the coast of Santorini. We switched off riding lead and rear hogs in our two-man biker gang, and soon enough we reached our first stop of the ride, Red Sand Beach. Akin to its name, Red Sand Beach sits below some red cliffs, and the pebbled sand was of the same burgundy color as the cliffs. We parked the hogs, walked down the cliff, and quickly jumped in the water and explored the area. A beautiful site, but we had more to see!
Enjoying Red Sand Beach
We set out again and went just down the road to Kamari Beach. This was a fun ride through neighborhoods, main roads, and beach coastlines as we traversed the entire island coast. Now famished from our hike and ATV adventures, we checked the LP Bible for a food suggestion, and settled on Nechtheri, a small taverna on the beach that overlooked the crystal clear water of Kamari Beach. Ordering with our stomachs in mind, we were soon presented with octopus with fava, baked feta, tzatziki (surprise), tomato fritters and the house salad. Yet another solid meal on the island.
After lunch, we strolled down to the beach, paid eight euro for two chaise lounges and an umbrella, and crashed on the black sand beach of Kamari. This island is so awesome because in the course of one kilometer, you can go from red sand to white sand to black sand. The black pebbles of Kamari were very nice, and warmed the water up even more than the other beaches. While at the beach, Julie fully indulged herself as a honeymooner should, and hailed one of the walking masseuses and got a full foot and leg massage while she passed out on the beach. Girl was in heaven!
Biker Gang
A few hours later, we picked up our stuff and made our way back to the ATV's and rode them back along the remaining coastline as the sun slowly started to make its descent. This was an extremely "Zen" moment for me, looking out to the water every chance I got (while flooring it on my bad-ass hog). We made it back to Fira, and after an unnervingly long time trying to navigate the one-way roads and pedestrian-only alleys, we finally returned the hogs in one piece (much to the surprise of the salesman), and found our way to a local bar called Tropical Bar to extend our tradition of sunset cocktails. This bar was well suited for sunsets, with a beautiful balcony with limited seating, solid cocktails, and a breathtaking view of the volcano caldera.
Tropical Bar in Fira
Sunset caldera view in Fira
Once again hungry from our return trip, we decided to stay in Fira for dinner, and found another taverna called Ouzeri, another LP suggestion. We settled in and were greeted by an extremely nice waiter, and within minutes we dove into our white wine and appetizer of ouzo-marinated meatballs. The ouzo definitely seeped through to the meatballs, and although a simple dish, we found it refreshing and fun. From there I went and picked out my own sea bass for dinner, while Julie selected the prawns. This was some of the freshest seafood we had all trip, and Julie had humungous prawns! These suckers were outrageously large, and my seabass was almost creamy. I swear the Greeks know how to cook fish so much better than Americans.
We finally ended our time in Fira and caught a night bus back to Oia. We walked the streets, and despite Julie's urging to walk the stores, Marc was done. My loving wife put off shopping for one night, and accompanied me back to our amazing old house, and we crashed in the bed, with me muttering about how amazing the day was as Julie drifted off into sleep about all our dog friends...
*Up Next* - A day excursion to hike a volcano, swim in a hot spring, a huge lunch, and a late afternoon ferry ride to Crete!
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