[Itinerary Page]The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
May 16 - Santorini Road Trip
Since yesterday was a down day, we felt that we had to go and actually DO something today. We decided the way to go was rent a car and see what there was to see of the island. We were all a bit nervous about driving on narrow roads filled with busses, but once we set out, it wasn't bad at all. I think the problem was that we had always been on those roads in busses ourselves. Busses passing busses makes the roads seem a lot narrower than they really were.
The big attraction was Akrotiri, an ancient Minoan city at the south end of the island which, like Pompeii, was buried under tons of volcanic ash for 3500 years. When we got there, it was "closed for technical reasons." I discuss what we learned about those reasons on the photo page. Next time we will think to ask first ... but we were just exploring anyway, so no huge trauma. We passed several wineries but it was a little early (and a bit too hot) for wine-tasting.
Next we headed to the resort area of Perissa where there were supposed to be the best black sand beaches on the island. We found the beaches but the area itself seemed rather stark after the spectacular visuals of Ia. It may just be early in the season but assuming that all the empty tavernas on the beach fill up at some time, the summer should be a real zoo! After gagging at the prices they wanted for even basic items, we got out of Dodge as quickly as possible.
All roads lead through Thira, but we managed to avoid the city traffic and take the coast road toward Ia, making a few unexpected discoveries along the way. What we really discovered today was that 1) the island is a lot smaller than it seems and you can easily see it all in a day, so there is really no need to rent a car for much longer than that, 2) Ia is the most beautiful place on the island and we are in precisely the right spot and 3) there's no place like home -- our villa is a delightful spot to hang out and watch the world turn.
© 2007 Restaurant Doctor