6 May 2018, Sunday

As we had brought forward our Oia visit to yesterday, we had the whole day available to explore Fira today. That meant waking up slightly later, but not too late, as the weather forecast still showed that it was likely going to rain later in the day. At about 8:30am, we left our apartment and walked towards the town centre.

Our objective was to take a walk along the caldera to soak in the views. We had also considered taking a walk down the zig zag steps to the old port below and then take the cable car back up to the top of the caldera. However, the path down didn’t seem especially exciting or scenic, and the one-way cable car ticket costs 6 Euros (S$9.75), which didn’t feel very worth it, so we decided to skip the hike and cable car ride.

Anyway, if you don’t feel like hiking or taking the cable car, you can also ride a donkey down to the old port. However, I didn’t check the price for the donkey ride. As you walk around the town, it is not uncommon to see donkey poo strewn on the footpaths, so watch out for those dung bombs!

In the end, we just walked on the main path along the caldera. We passed by many nice hotels and resorts along the way, each trying to outdo the other in terms of luxury and fanciness.

At 9:15am, we reached the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church, informally known as the Three Bells of Fira. The front side of the church is quite ordinary but it is the view of its back side that the church is famous for, giving rise to its Three Bells namesake. To get to the back side, you need to climb up a short flight of steps around the corner of Mama Thira restaurant. A helpful map at the church’s entrance and pictorial signs along the way ensure you get there easily.

Once at the top, you’ll find yourself in an open area with an elevated view of the church’s famous blue dome and its three bells, with the tantalising blue Aegean Sea as backdrop. The church is one of the most photographed churches of Santorini because of this view. Bear in mind that you can’t actually get close to the dome and you’ll be quite far away from it. I spent some time trying to capture the best angle and recreate the iconic shot.

After that, we walked back towards the Fira town centre and stopped by the Catholic Cathedral Church of Saint John the Baptist. Unlike most of the other churches, which are painted in white and blue, this one is painted in a distinctive beige, peach and gray colour. The design of the bell and clock tower is also very special, like it doesn’t really go together with the church. Located right next door is the Catholic Monastery of Dominican Nuns. We popped in to both churches for a quick look.

At about 10am, the dark clouds cleared and the sun was out in full force. In fact, the rain did not materialise for the rest of the day. We spent the remaining morning walking through the alleys of shops and did some light shopping. Things were just as expensive here in Fira so we practically didn’t do any shopping, but we managed to unearth some good deals. We found a shop selling SantoNuts at just 1 Euro for a 100g packet. They’re actually just peanuts coated with caramel and sesame seeds, but we love nuts and bought several packets to eat, resulting in sore throats a few days later!

Nevertheless, they make good gifts for friends and family because they’re small and easy to carry around. But remember that 10 packets make 1kg! We were particularly mindful of the weight because for our Sky Express flight out of Santorini tomorrow, we only have baggage allowance of 15kg, so every bit adds up.

Just like in Oia, there were many restaurants and hotels in Fira being built on the steep caldera slopes offering wonderful sea views. The better the view, the more expensive it is. However, we found an unoccupied bench outside the Cathedral Church of Candlemas of the Lord, essentially offering the same view for free. So we sat down and munched on our nuts while enjoying the view and breeze.

At 12:40pm, we had enough of window shopping and it was time to have lunch. We were craving for Chinese food so we went to an eatery at the town square called Asia Club. We ordered vegetable noodles, beef noodles, egg fried rice and two cans of drinks. The bill was only 22.30 Euros (S$36.30). Certainly one of the cheapest and most satisfying meals we had in Greece.

By then, we had covered most of Fira so we retreated back to our apartment to rest and chill out for the afternoon. We headed out again at 6pm for dinner. Our host had recommended a restaurant called Louis Family Restaurant, which offered caldera views at more affordable prices compared to other restaurants offering similar views. When we arrived at about 6:10pm, there were no other diners yet so we had the place to ourselves and we picked the best table. The view was indeed quite good.

I ordered a chicken risotto (13 Euros) while mum and dad ordered a pork chop (12 Euros) each. The prices were comparable to those in Athens, so that’s quite cheap by Santorini standards. We also ordered a cup of filter coffee and a bottle of Fanta orange. The food took some time to prepare, and when the food was finally served, we wondered why the pork chop looked a bit different from the ones we had had for the past few days. It had more ribs and the meat was drier and thinner, and less tender. We concluded that it was simply prepared in a “different style”.

It was only when we received the bill and discovered that the final amount of 51 Euros (S$83) was more than what we had calculated, and the two servings of pork chop were mistakenly priced at 32 Euros instead of 24 Euros. When we asked the waiter, he said that it was correct and we had ordered lamb chop, and not pork chop. I was very sure that I had said “pork chop” and not “lamb chop”. Even mum heard me. Nevertheless, no use crying over consumed lamb chop. No wonder it tasted and appeared different. We can only blame ourselves for not being savvy enough to recognise and taste the difference between pork and lamb!

I think it was an honest mistake and the waiter really thought that we wanted lamb chop instead of pork chop. I don’t think that he was being unscrupulous and trying to sell us something more expensive. I think it’s because English is not his first language so he may have made the cognitive error when processing our order. Anyway, ever since that incident, we now are more careful when ordering our food. The waiters in Greece don’t have the practice of repeating your order, so the best way is to point to the item in the menu instead of just saying it out.

After the unexpectedly expensive dinner, we walked around the town centre for one last time before going back to our apartment. Thankfully, there was no power outage tonight. And that’s all for Santorini. A long day of travelling awaits us tomorrow as we make our way to Kalabaka!