Woke early and headed down the 588 steps from the town to the old port to catch our boat for our day excursion! It was a boat designed to look old, varnished to perfection!
The sun was shining and it was a stunning day as we headed out to our first stop, the volcano! We docked at the edge and walked to the top and it was amazing. The first time I've ever stood on an active volcano (I think!) and it still had the toxic fumes spewing out from it, amazing to see and smell. The views from the top were incredible and we were told that Santorini is also a volcano! Years ago, Santorini, the volcano and Thierra were all one land from and the volcano ripped them apart.
We hopped back on the boat, got changes into our bikinis and ready for the hot springs. Once changed and ready to go at the front of the boat, our guide chose to then tell us that the water was 14 degrees and the hot springs only 18-20 degrees! Apparently spring is the coldest time of the year.
But there was no turning back, so those crazy enough to brave the temperatures lined up and jumped off the ship. Woah! Cold! Not as bad as I expected actually, but not wonderfully warm. It was about a 30 metre swim to the hot springs which definitely didn't feel much warmer. The rocks were all red/orange-y in colour and there was a lot of orange fungi floating in the water. A fellow American told us it was actually iron. Pretty cool! Guess I don't need to eat spinach for dinner.
We chilled in the water, literally, for as long as we could handle before jumping back on board and speeding off to Thierra, another island split off after the volcano. It is another place perched high on the top of a hill and the walk up takes about 30 minutes. Instead of making the trek up with only a small amount of time to check out the place, we stayed on the ocean front and walked up and down the beautiful coastline.
We had lunch at an awesome little restaurant that was ON the ocean. There was no barrier between the restaurant and the ocean so if you moved your chair a bit too far to the right you would end up eating fresh a lot of fresher than you had planned, from IN the ocean. It would also make for a very wet lunch.
The little places along the shore were mostly closed but we walked all along the rocks as far as you could go and it was just the cooler little place. We were also advised to go snorkelling here as there is a cliff about 10 metres from the shore that drops 400metres! Insane! It is as a result of the volcano and is one of the only places in the world where you can swim inside a volcano. Pretty cool, but a little chilly for us.
We departed after a bit of touring around and the boat took us past Oia, another part of Santorini that is further along the cliff and where we have decided to relocate to tomorrow night! It's quite amazing to see it from the ocean, looking up and admiring the houses on the cliff edge!
Back to Santorini and flat land, sort of, and with an intense walk up to Santorini ahead of us! A donkey rise up was definitely on my agenda but after looking into their sad, forlorn eyes I couldn't do it! Instead it was an agonising, sweaty walk up to the top.
We grabbed a delicious Arabian pita takeaway and were talked into tomato balls which are a speciality of Santorini, so delicious!! We were blessed with a spectacular sunset, the first since we've been here! The fog relented enough for us to see it, along with all the others lined up to watch.
Picture perfect way to end the day and our last night in Fira.
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