hi mom!

it’s smatt today! today’s our first and only full day on santorini, so we had to hit all the important stuff, aka oia (it’s pronounce EEEAH btw)

we started the day off with breakfast at the hotel, which was a lil disappointing but still ok. the best part was this cat that wouldn’t leave the eating area, so the manager had to take a piece of ham and lead it all the way to the back of the complex which we all found hilarious

what’s really sad is that santorini is usually a bit windy, but the weather report says that it’ll be much windier than usual today and tomorrow and then immediately go back to normal right after we leave. the wind was actually insane (30 mph) and we felt a bit discouraged and felt unlucky. our original plan was to take the highly recommended hike from our hotel in fira to oia, which was expected to take about 3 hours. given the wind and the fact that we were a bit tired, we scrapped that plan and moved out with our target for the first half of the day as imerovigli, the pretty town on the mountainside just 15 mins away from fira

and man, was it pretty! the walls that smike mentioned yesterday are almost blindingly white in the morning sun, and the dark rocks along the coast contrasted nicely with all of the lighter buildings built onto the cliffs. on our walk, we passed by so many elegant buildings, including the blue-domed churches that santorini is known for

and ofc we had to take some pics hehe

funnily, grandma borrowed smark for a pic and then dad left him on a wall but then realized 100 meters later and sprinted back. but it was too late cuz smark’s feelings were definitely hurt

one thing that we stopped for was skaros rock, which is this weird rock outcropping below the cliffs that you can climb up and get a panoramic view of the whole area. just dad and auntie and I went and “iT wAs tOo wiNdY” they said to climb on top but there was a nice-looking little church in the back

oh also someone on reddit described it as a nipple of sorts, so of course…

at the top of the hill that imerovigli sits on, we bought some ice cream and peach juice and downed it all in minutes. on our way back, we stopped by the three bells of fira, which honestly just looks like any of the other blue-domed churches with three bells that we walked past LOL

here’s dad looking nice

and here’s dad being dad

by the time we reached home it was 3 in the afternoon, so we took a couple hours to nap before driving up to oia for the sunset. oia is rly famous for the sunset but also this one church with three rly nicely positioned domes, so we knew we had to go there

the thing is, the really nice, famous photo spot is hidden down unmarked alleyways, so it was a good thing dad had to foresight to look it up at the hotel, or else we actually wouldn’t have been able to find it

look how happy dad looks!

and look how happy smark looks!

after we got our fill of pictures at the famous spot, we walked over the western tip and camped out for the next half hour for the sunset. there were a lot of ppl but it was really pretty and overall a close second this trip to the one two days ago

it was rly cool cuz right as the sun was reaching the horizon, it got dark enough that we could look at it directly and see the small orange glowing ball slowly sink behind the mountains. auntie took a time lapse but dad didn't have the patience to hehe

smark and i also got a rly cute picture in at the souvenir shop, and we were so adorable (as always) that the shop owners didn't even mind :D

on our way back, we got some dinner at an italian cafe (pizza, carbonara, crepes) before driving back in the dark with the local cars screaming past us at 100 kph. gramps honestly wasn't even driving slow, the locals were just crazy. anyway, that wrapped up our full day in santorini! the walls were truly spectacular and lived up to the hype, and we'll definitely remember it forever. we're looking forward to tomorrow when we explore the rest of the island and we miss all miss you!

love,
smatt (and others)