Day 20 - Sunday 13th September

Breakfast at the hotel starts at 8:30am and we got there a few minutes early to ask them about some problems we had had.

The first problem was that we couldn't turn off the TV last night. Whenever we turned it off, it would come back on again. We thought we were going mad. After pressing every button on the remote controls, I had given up and pulled out the power cords from the wall socket. On hearing this, the manager went upstairs and found that the batteries in one of the remote controls were flat and the TV would turn off successfully when he replaced them. So we weren't mad after all.

Secondly, the WiFi connection was brilliant last night - the fastest WiFi I've ever had. However this morning I couldn't get a connection. He said he needs to reboot the router and in the meantime he let me use his personal WiFi network. We were impressed by his service.

We'd planned to go on a boat cruise this morning out on the caldera to the volcanic island and so we walked down the pedestrian path to the tour booking office. After booking the trip, we told her that we wanted to go to Ancient Thira tomorrow. She told us that Ancient Thira was closed tomorrow and so we switched days.

For Ancient Thira we needed to get to Kamari Tours at Kamari which is on the other side of the island near Ancient Thira for the 11:30am tour. She explained how to catch the local bus there. She drew a map for us and patiently explained it to us while asking us to concentrate because some people get lost. In the end we chickened out and caught a taxi, deciding that we could catch the local bus back.

We reached Kamari in plenty of time and walked down to the beach, looked at the shops and picked out one cafe out the many delightful seaside cafes as our first choice for lunch when we got back from the tour.

It turned out that Ancient Thira is at the top of a mountain. It contains the ruins of a city that was first established about 800 years BC. Basil had suggested to me that I should go there and the Michelin Green guide gives it their top rating (3 stars).

As the minibus started to climb the mountain, we understood why we needed transportation up there - it is a long way up. The road is narrow with countless hairpin bends. For most of its length, it is paved with cobblestones and has stone walls holding up the excavated hillside. We've seen narrow cliff drives before on our holiday but this was the narrowest and had the most hairpin bends. We were relieved when we made it to the top.

From the parking area, we walked up the path as it led through the ruins to the top of the hill. It was indeed a fascinating site and had simply amazing views of the island in several directions. We took plenty of photos.

The bus picked us up at 1pm and made the slow tortuous journey down to sea level again. It was quite an adventure. A very memorable morning.

Lunch at the cafe we had selected was very pleasant. We then went to the beach and hired an umbrella and two lounge chairs next to the water. The beach is very nice except that it is made of small grey stones rather than sand and so it is hard to walk on with bare feet.

We waited at the bus stop for the 4:30pm local bus back to Fira. When it came, it was already full. A few people got on and there was almost a fist fight as people struggled to board. We didn't get close to getting onboard and ended up sharing a taxi back to Fira with an Italian couple who had also missed out on getting on the bus.

Our plan was to go to Oia this evening to watch the sun set over the water and to have dinner. The hotel owner explained where to catch the local bus near Firostefani. Once again the local bus was full when it arrived and we couldn't get on and so we managed to hail a cab and shared it with an Australian couple who had also wanted to catch the bus.

Oia seems to be more upmarket than Fira. When we found the vantage point to watch the sunset, there were hunderds of other people already there - along every walkway, cafe, rooftop, etc. The sunset was very impressive but, like yesterday, there were clouds on the horizon.

For dinner we found a cafe with a spectacular view of the caldera back to Fira and beyond. It would be hard to find many places anywhere on earth that provide a better view.

When we got to the bus stop for the local bus, there was a large crowd waiting for it. Somehow we managed to get onto the bus this time. We were the last people to get on through the front door.

What followed would be a delight for any thrill-seeker looking for an exhilarating bus ride. The bus hurtled through the night down the road towards Fira - around all the bends and ignoring little details such as the centre line and other traffic. The driver was smoking but thankfully he had at least one hand on the steering wheel at all times. I was hanging on tight with both hands to the bar above my head.

Safely back in Firostefani, we decided to have coffee and found a nearby cafe with yet another fabulous view of the caldera.

What an amazing day. We were lucky with the weather because it was sunny and warm all day. This meant we could go to the places we wanted to go to and we got clear long-distance views of the stunning scenery.