J and I started out by exploring the empty streets of Fira in the early hours of the morning after our plane landed, as we couldn't yet check into our cave house. After traipsing up and down the steep, cobbled streets, we found a restaurant that had just opened for the day and served us a breakfast of Greek yogurt with walnuts and honey, olives, two kinds of cheese, bread, and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was seriously one of the most delicious (and healthy!) breakfasts I've ever had. I could live on that stuff every day, especially fresh squeezed orange juice.
Not ones to vacation without seeing something historical, J and I rented an ATV after breakfast and drove down to Akrotiri, a Minoan Bronze Age settlement destroyed in an eruption around 1627 BCE and buried in volcanic ash. To put it in perspective, Akrotiri was ancient history to the Greeks and Romans, in the same way that the Greeks and Romans are ancient to us. Totally blew our minds. We swung by the Red Beach on the way back to Fira, though we decided not to attempt the rocky path up (and then down) to the beach on account of my pregnant, fatigued legs.
We finally checked into our cave house in Oia in the early afternoon, and the place didn't disappoint. Our private piece of heaven was literally in the middle of the picturesque scene that's on every postcard, and it had the most spectacular, unobstructed, panoramic view of the sea. Best of all, we were below the main road, away from the crowds and congestion. Given the idyllic location, our patio turned out to be a popular spot for numerous wedding shoots (all Chinese people from China, incidentally) and for tourists to take photos, but the trespassers all cleared out as the sun began to set. J and I settled into our lounge chairs overlooking the water, snuggling against the chill sea air, J with his beer, me with my cherry juice box, watching the light fade. One of my favorite moments of the trip.
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