Today was our third official hike day. We had a transfer scheduled to pick us up at 9am at our hotel. Before we left, we enjoyed the breakfast at the hotel. It was delicious and had a little bit of everything. Including normal scrambled eggs, stuffed grape leaves, mushrooms and of course feta.
Our driver picked us up in his fancy Tesla. We chatted during the drive to Oia. Turns out, he is a former Greek Navy Seal (retired). He trained several times in San Diego. He was very nice and encouraged us on our hike. Oia was chaos. It was incredibly crowded with everyone wanting to get the perfect picture. Plus, there were multiple women doing photo shoots and clogging the paths. We honestly just wanted to snap our pictures and get on with our hike. Here are a few from Oia. It is beautiful and stunning. I just could do with out the crowds.
Here are my favorite doors from Oia.
Here was the crowd, waiting to get “the” shot of the three domes. Also, I took a picture of the lady who was causing the line. And then I photoshopped her out. It was a quick edit. I’m sure I can do better.
I would also like to share my pictures of the cats of Oia. So cute.
Most of the hike was along the top of the ridge. However, there were a lot of ups and downs. And lots of stepping on igneous rocks. They are so sharp and pointy. They really started to bother my feet towards the end. Here are a couple up pictures of the trail.
I’m not sure I’ve mentioned, we booked our trip through Macs Adventure. They have truly been amazing. All hotels, transfers and ferries have been prearranged. Also, they put everything on an app that is easy to access. The app includes maps of all your hikes. Here was our map for today.
Once you start hiking, it will track your journey and give you alerts for upcoming points of interest and way points. If you’re looking for a guided trip, we highly recommend. We would both consider booking another adventure. Ok, let’s continue. The east side of Santorini is so different from the west. Here are a few pictures looking down at the farm land on the east side.
I would also like to share my favorite bougainvillea pictures from the day. I’m so inspired, I want to plant one when I get home!
There were so many churches along the route. They are striking with the blue domes.
The buildings and flowers were beautiful. It was also incredibly peaceful walking above the caldera. We were so high up!!
Humor me with a couple more doors.
The middle section of the hike was through a bunch of fancy hotels. Most said no pictures and do not enter. The view remained incredible.
The highlight of any hike is the cold beer at the finish line. The finish line for this hike was conveniently our hotel. We came back and showered before our well earned beer. Cheers!
We picked a nice local spot for dinner. We watched the cruise ships boarding passengers as we dined.
As always, thanks for reading. We have our last adventure tomorrow. We are sailing on a catamaran in the caldera!