Beach Day

Third day is the charm! Today we got on the bus and rode to Kamari, a beach area about 20 minutes from Fira. Since it was still early morning, we walked around the area and scoped out the restaurants. Since the island is formed from a volcano, the beach has black stones as sand. It takes a bit to get used to and it is a little hot, but neat. There are multiple rock jetties both leading from the beach and also a little ways from the coast. The locals used them as diving boards to swim in the ocean. It is hard getting into the water because it is a little steep and when the stones get wet they are slippery and you sink as you walk in them. The water was way too cold. I can’t ever remember our ocean being that cold. I never got in more than about knee deep because it just wasn’t worth it. What is also interesting is the swim wear or lack there of that you see there. Speedos are popular, but not an attractive alternative for most who worth them. Then there were those wearing bikinis, some of which should not have been wearing them, but if you waited long enough, they would sunbath without their top.
It was a nice, relaxing day in the sun and then we ate lunch at a café that was right on the beach. Heading back into Fira, we got ready for the evening and headed back to Dionysos, the same restaurant we had eaten at the night before. The prices were really reasonable, but better than that the food was amazing. Probably the most memorable meals I have had during the trip. I had spaghetti and dad had meatballs. The staff was friendly and you could actually get your check in a reasonable amount of time. It was almost too good to be true. The island has many great pastry places and I had been eyeing this chocolate cake every time we went by one of them, so we went by there for dessert. The cake was chocolate icing with sprinkles and inside was vanilla cake layered with a chocolate mouse. Yum! Tomorrow is an early morning, flying into Athens then to Barcelona. I will be excited to back in a bigger city with a better transportation system.