Tag: atv

ATV(iews): Our Last Day in Santorini

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For our last full day in Santorini, we rented an ATV to ride around so we could easily hit any of the places we hadn’t made it to yet and places that are harder to access by bus, like the beach and cave at Mesa Pigadia.

We reserved a four-wheeler with Rent Me…Love Me before leaving the States (€30) and arranged a hotel drop-off for 10 a.m. (and a 9 p.m. return, also at the hotel). All we needed was one international driver’s license and our cash (for an in-person payment). The process for securing an international driver’s license is pretty straightforward: go into AAA with your driver’s license and $20, fill out some paperwork, and get an international license printed onsite (with a photo taken onsite or a passport photo you bring in with you). It took under 30 minutes, and the license is good for six months. There’s a steep fine for driving without an international license (a fine recently established, from what I understand, because of crowded main roads, untrained ATV drivers, and wrecks).

A note on driving the ATV: if you plan to rent one, practice before you go. You will have to be on the main road at some point, and Santorini drivers mean business. You need to be prepared to move with traffic and handle a lot of curvy roads.

Lucky for us, our small duffel fit perfectly over the handlebars, and the ATV also had a locked storage bin where the helmets were stowed.

atv

The four-wheeler gave us the opportunity to pull off the road anytime we felt inclined.

atv 2

Since we’d seen the caldera side of the island on our hike and on our sunset cruise, we decided to go up the coast on the non-caldera side. We went to the northern tip of Santorini, then curved back down to Amoudi Bay to see what access was like if you came in from the road rather than down the 250+ steps in Oia.

It’s quite accessible, though it does require some tight parallel parking on an incline if you drive a car (stick-shift seems to be the norm here). Parking a four-wheeler is much easier.

amoudi parking

Thinking we were going to the Volkan Brewery, we ended up at Volkan on the Rocks, a bright café/cliffside cinema with an excellent caldera view that we passed earlier in the week on our hike from Fira to Oia. (There are several outdoor cinemas throughout Santorini that play both new and classic films, including Mamma Mia.) You can rent cabanas for the evening here, too.

volkan

We each had a Volkan beer (white and grey this time, respectively) and smoked mackerel tostadas—the menu has a lot of shareable small plates.

We noticed several cruise ships laying anchor in the caldera and ran into a large group on a cruise excursion at Santo Winery. Even so, there was ample seating, including a table in the shade on the rail (we lucked out again!). In the evening, it’s best to make a reservation.

santo wines

We decided to forgo the tasting in favor of a glass of wine each. I tried a sparkling white (yum), and Perry tried Mavrotragano, a dry red, which he was very happy with (our server told him it was her favorite after he ordered it).

The winery has a great onsite shop, too, which had not only bottles of wine and Santo Wines paraphernalia, but also island souvenirs priced about the same as side shops in Perissa and Fira (which is to say, less expensive than in Oia).

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We drove down to the Red Beach next and purchased some deliciously ripe figs and plums for our short walk from the parking area to the beach.

red beach

It does require some maneuvering to get to the beach itself, so it’s important to not overburden yourself with things to carry and to wear the right shoes for managing a rocky terrain.

red beach 2

We stopped into Theofanis, a family tavern, for a beer and another small plate of food. Here’s the view from our table.

family tavern view

We decided on eggplant rolls for snacking and felt very good about our decision.

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Next stop was the Akrotiri Lighthouse with its magnificent view and intense sea breeze.

We passed a small farm and farm-to-table restaurant on our way. It was pretty neat to see the lighthouse up-close after having seen it from the water from afar on the sunset cruise. Even from that distance, you could see all the people crowded on it for sunset. (When we went, it was still several hours from sunset, so we didn’t encounter a crowd.)

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Back on the ATV, we spotted an intriguing dirt turn-off and decided to follow it and ended up at Mesa Pigadia, a fairly quiet beach with a nearby cave. We parked our four-wheeler beside the tavern, which offered its bathroom to beach guests for a €0.50 fee. Very nice patio here, too.

We had pretty much circled the island by the time we got back to the Black Beach of Perissa. We parked our ATV and got in the clear, cool (but not cold) water until it was nearly time to return our four-wheeler.

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After showering and packing for our early flight, we went out for a late dinner on the candlelit beach deck at Meet Me @ Coralli on Perivolos Beach (beside Perissa). They’ve really got the idea of ambiance down here. We had an exceptional final dinner, which included a complimentary onion soup and dessert. We started out with tomato balls, then moved on to grilled vegetables (for me) and tuna (for Perry). This was his favorite fish dish of the trip. I love eating beachside, and we highly recommend this place.

We strolled back to Meltemi Village, already a little sad to be leaving in the morning on our early flight back to Athens (then on to Newark). Look at how great those Osprey wheels are on an uneven surface.

If you’d like more details about any aspect of our trip, comment below or message us!

 

Day 5/6: Hello, Santorini

As in Athens, we’d scheduled a private airport transfer from the Santorini airport to our hotel before leaving the States. Apparently, August is the apex of peak season, but it was our only option (#teacherlife), so we braced ourselves and took the suggestion of those who had gone before us: make reservations for things before leaving. So, along with the airport transfer, at least a month before leaving, we also reserved an ATV, made a reservation for a patio seat at a restaurant in Oia for a sunset dinner, and booked a sunset cruise. The ATV was the only pain in the process. We reserved an ATV with three different companies only to have them email us to cancel the reservation due to lack of supply. Happily, fourth time’s the charm, and we reserved an ATV and arranged a hotel drop-off with Rent Me, Love Me… (More on that later.)

Still sipping on the Mythos beer (“the Corona of the island”) our driver gave us for the ride from the airport, we pulled up to Meltemi Village, lit-up so its bright white stucco glowed, and looked at each other big-eyed and pleased with where we’d landed.

Here is a daytime photo.

meltemi

Check-in was a breeze, and the person at the desk not only answered our question about taking the morning bus from Perissa to Thira (Fira), she also gave us a bus schedule and let us now exactly where to catch the bus (on the bench in front of Bob’s Bar, across from Dorian’s Pub) and exactly how much we’d need when the money-collector made his or her rounds (€2.40 each). (When speaking, “Thira” is used to refer to the ancient island, and “Fira” is used to refer to the capital.)

Our suite was pretty magical. The bed was in the loft, and the private “Jacuzzi” (a soaking tub with bubbles, but no heat) was on the patio, along with two lounge chairs, a small table with chairs, and a drying rack. The room also had AC, but some nights were cool enough to leave the windows open instead. The temperature ranged from high 80s (Fahrenheit) to low 60s in the evenings (the temperature was a bit warmer in Athens, sometimes in the 90s). Like in Athens, the room’s lights and AC only worked with room key activation; but, unlike in Athens, the refrigerator stayed on regardless. There were also two plush robes and two sets of slippers in one of the closets.

Here’s a daytime photo of our private deck.

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After freshening up, we took the 5-minute walk to the Black Beach and the boardwalk to find some water and sunscreen for tomorrow’s hike from Fira to Oia (pronounced E-yuh) and to eat dinner. The water is not potable in Santorini, so be sure to stock up on bottled water for your room and excursions.

Perissa’s boardwalk is lively!

perissa at night

We let our hunger guide us and ended up at a table on a beach-deck at Apollon Restaurant. Our Armenian server, who, unlike a lot of the service industry people we met, stayed in Santorini year-round, explained that the dining area was makeshift: a cabana business had dibs on the deck during the day, so the restaurant just set up tables on the deck from dinner until midnight. Luckily, we got seated at 10 p.m., so had no need to rush. We ordered a Greek salad, bread, mussels saganaki (with olive oil, white wine, cherry tomatoes, and crushed feta), salmon (with a lemon and lime marinade), sparkling water, and a bottle of wine, knowing we could cart it off with us after the meal for a walk at the water’s edge.

Perry was very pleased that we got to dress the salad ourselves with a cruet of oil and vinegar.

The server gifted us with a limoncello (for me) and ouzo (for Perry) and let us know it was “the night of shooting stars” and to keep our eyes up during our walk. Perry, the one who can see a coyote in the trees off the interstate while driving, unsurprisingly saw two shooting stars on our walk; I saw none.

We stargazed some more on the lounge chairs on our private deck, then packed for our hike, opting to take my daypack from the Osprey Meridian. After calling it a night, we climbed into the cool sheets of our bed—a true full bed, unlike the pushed-together twins in Athens.

We woke early and left before the complimentary breakfast (8-10 a.m.), wanting to catch the 7:50 a.m. bus to Perissa. We didn’t have to walk far, as the bus stop is under one minute from Meltemi Village.

We saw some horses beside the bus stop.

perissa horses

And found Florida.

florida in perissa

This was the 2nd bus of the day: the first came at 6:30 a.m. Had we missed this bus, we would have had to wait until after 9 a.m. for the next one or call a taxi (~€25). We were getting scared we somehow missed the bus (even though we showed up at the stop around 7:35 a.m.), but it turned out it was just running behind, arriving about 15 minutes late.

So, off to Fira we went, arriving in the square, picking up some espresso and pistachio and honey bars, buying a linen towel (€8) near Hotel Atlantis, and easily finding the start of the 6-mile Fira-Oia trail for our caldera hike. More on that soon!