Today we hiked six miles from our hotel to the village of Oia to watch the sunset. The hike along the rim of the volcano overlooking the Aegean Sea is impressive. However, Santorini is dry and dusty as it gets less than three inches of rain per year.
As I said earlier, Oia is the northernmost point on the island and popular for its sunsets. Some years ago National Geographic claimed that the Oia sunset was one of five most spectacular in the world. I’m not sure how it could be any better than other beautiful sunsets.
The cruise ships stop in Santorini and the passengers head up to Oia to watch the sunset. We hear it’s a tourist madhouse but we’re hiking there anyway. We will take the city bus back because we heard that the six mile taxi ride was about 50 euros.
We stopped to watch a couple take their marriage vows along the way. It’s interesting. Marriage is less popular yet several people stopped during the hike to watch and comment how beautiful it was. It’s part of human nature to be drawn to the idea of marriage.
We made it to see the Oia sunset. Yes, it was jammed packed with tourists holding up their cell phones for pictures. The sunset was beautiful, but it wasn’t worth fighting the crowd to see it.
In honor of John D. we stopped at Skiza Cafe for pizza, beer, and a great view.
The bus ride back was 3.50 euros. Then another one mile walk to our hotel.