We slept well that night – we were so tired after exploring and walking around Santorini. The next morning we woke up and enjoyed a nice breakfast at our hotel (I fed a cat an omelete…like an entire one…shhhh) and went wandering around Oia for some more adventures. The first place we stopped was a famous bookstore called Atlantis Books.
Andy LOVES books and reading. It’s one of his favorite things in the entire world. He reads quickly and with passion. He collects first edition books and signed books by some of his favorite authors. If you ever are worried about a gift to get him, get him a book. He had done some research prior to our Honeymoon and had learned that Atlantis Books is one of the most famous book stores in the world. So, naturally, we had to go there. And you should too!
Atlantis Books is an independent bookstore opened in 2004 by a group of American and British friends. They have all kinds of books – fiction, non-fiction, biographies, poetry, children’s books, etc. – in English, Greek, Spanish, French, German, Italian, and Dutch. The bookstore is intimately involved in the community; throughout the year they host literary festivals, film screenings, dance parties, and book readings.
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| Atlantis Books |
The entrance, as you can see from the above picture, went down into a small inner cove. The inside of the bookstore was homey and inviting with rows and rows of books even the most minor of book lovers could get lost in for hours. You could tell the bookstore had been visited by numerous people with a variety of experiences, backgrounds, and relationships to the literary world. People had written different quotes across the wall; some from their favorite books, some from their own hearts. I’m a big believer that everyone has something important to express; what they have to say may not be important to you, but it is important to them. And that’s what matters. I wandered around looking at the things people felt needed to be said.
People had also written heartfelt messages to loved ones, meaningful moments from their life, and book quotes that touched them. It was my favorite part of the store.
Andy fell in love with the bookstore and ended up finding a first edition book of one of his favorite authors.
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| Andy looking around |
There was also a delightful little dog outside who was taking the warning sign a little too literally.
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| We are DEFINITELY not jostling. |
We perused the book store for a while, wandering through the shelves and piles of books. Once we finally left, our conversation turned to the Santorini sunset. Oia is one of the best and most beautiful places to see the sunset. Within Oia, the best place to be able to catch a great view is at the westernmost point of Oia at an abandoned fortress. Despite it being abandoned, there are usually groups of people gathered there to take pictures or enjoy the sun. It’s relatively obvious where it is if you continue to walk west down the main street.
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| Side of the fortress looking out towards where the sun will set. |
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If you are able, this is where you’d want to stand or sit to watch the sunset. You can also
sit on the sides of the fortress above the benches (approximately where the photographer
in this picture is standing). |
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| Sunset would be off to the left in this picture |
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| Sunset is directly across the fortress from this spot. |
Our guidebook, along with the many websites we had visited prior to our Honeymoon, described the fortress during the sunset as one of the most crowded areas of Oia. Apparently, if you didn’t get there early enough, it was near to impossible to find a spot to sit to view the beautiful sunset.
As I stated earlier, Andy never does anything with only half the effort. So, naturally, we had to get the prime spot to watch the sunset. To do this, Andy decided he need to sit there
all day long. He turned out to be right. If you want to see the famous Oia sunset, follow the Andy method – get to the fortress at around 11am and stake out your spot. The
best spot is at the main westernmost CORNER of the fortress. You can sit right on top of the wall of the fortress above the benches. The trick is to catch that spot as the sun starts to go down. Rotate as you go – look for shady spots at first, keeping an eye out for the westernmost spot to become vacant at around 2pm or so. Once you get it, stay there and don’t move. It helps if you have a loving wife to bring you food, water, and sunscreen (me). Andy said it felt like a FBI stakeout. At one point one of his legs went completely numb.
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| Andy at his first spot, about to move to the prime sunset spot. I had just loaded him up with water and sunscreen. |
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| THIS is the prime spot to sit. |
I truly have the best Husband any woman could ask for. Andy staked out our sunset spot for 9 hours, until 8:00 p.m.! What did I do that entire time, you ask? I went SHOPPING. I stopped back at the fortress every couple hours to bring Andy water and food, and reload him with sunscreen. He read his book and enjoyed the people watching.
Andy’s patience was worth every minute. I joined him about 7:30 and it was CRAZY. Everyone and their mom was at the fortress. Andy had the best spot of the whole bunch. I brought a couple Mythos beers and squeezed my way into the spot he saved for me. There were so many people I couldn’t believe it!
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| THIS is why you need to follow the Andy plan to see the Oia sunset! |
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| And this. |
While we were waiting for the sunset we met a fun and super cute couple from the Basque area of Spain. They were around our age. I didn’t end up getting their names (although I exchanged email addresses with the young woman). They were intelligent, incredibly friendly, and and well-traveled. Both were teachers and were spending their holiday in Greece for about a week. Andy and I loved getting to know them while we waited for the sun to set. I hope they email us so we can keep in touch!
We also observed some fun, party-animal Australians waiting for the sunset too. They did not follow the Andy plan, and found themselves sitting on the floor of the fortress. They were fun and amusing though; they seemed to be on some kind of group tour and had vodka, mixers, ice, and cups, along with gyros and salad to pass the time. They were entertaining to watch.
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| Handling the vodka |
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| Mixing the drinks |
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| Passing out the gyros |
Andy was right about the sunset – it was worth the wait. Beautiful, romantic, and legendary. I haven’t seen anything that incredible in my life. The pictures just don’t do it justice.
If you are lucky and the sun sets at the right time and you are sitting in the right spot, the sun will shine off the whitewashed caves and emanate a beautiful golden glow. We saw a bit of that but not nearly as spectacular as it could have been, apparently.
We stayed at the old fortress for a little while longer, snapping some pictures and saying goodbye to our friends from Spain. On our way out of the fortress area we ran into a Bride and Groom during the wedding, attempting to crowd their way to the fortress for some photos. It was fun to see them and watch them battle the crowd on the stairs.
Andy and I made our way back to our cave hotel where we showered, changed clothes, and headed to dinner. Our guidebook (for the record we used Fodor’s Greece, which we loved but found slightly lacking in maps and specific directions), along with some of the employees at our hotel, recommended a restaurant right up the street/stairs from Residence Suites called the Red Bicycle. Turned out to be a fantastic recommendation.
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| Dog friend guarding the stairs up to the Red Bicycle |
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| Up from the stairs there’s a cute little red bicycle near the door of the restaurant. (Picture from Gourmet Lovers) |
The Red Bicycle is located at the northern part of the island in an old 19th century Santorini mansion. It has a beautiful balcony with fantastic nighttime views of the caldera and Oia in general. Unfortunately we couldn’t get either of our cameras to take decent pictures of the Oia lights, but you can still get an idea of the beauty.
The type of food served at The Red Bicycle is Mediterranean with Greek influences and a large focus on seafood (although many online reviews of the restaurant rave about their pasta selections as well). The most famous and well-touted dishes, according to our guidebook were the Santorini puréed lava with onion chutney and kafaifi crust, baked feta in a nacho crust with orange preserves and lemon balm, octopus with crabmeat, fresh coriander, potatoes, and truffle foam, and the sea bass cooked in sea salt. The menu also had a diverse list of pasta and rice dishes, salads, and tasty appetizers.
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| Our table and view |
Whenever Andy and I travel, we get pretty brave with our food selections. In Hawaii we tried octopus a couple times (and even tried to cook it ourselves). While at the Red Bicycle we decided to order a sea urchin salad. I was not a fan of it but Andy loved it.
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| Sea urchin salad |
I ordered a rice pilaf dish and Andy got lobster. The restaurant was phenomenal and the food and service was fantastic. After dinner we made our way back to our hotel. Tomorrow was our last day in Santorini and we had to catch an early evening ferry to Crete!
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