Exploring Oia and Baxedes Beach

The powerful Santorini sunlight pierced through the windows and notified me that the morning had arrived. I walked outside on the lanai and quickly felt the wave of heat, even though it was only 8 in the morning. The views from the lanai are indescribable, even the pictures probably won’t do it justice. Santorini is everything I expected it to look like. However, actually being on the island, staying in one of the traditional whitewashed caves, is a bit surreal. I sat outside on the lanai taking it all in, until the heat was too overwhelming. Since the sun rises over the Caldera, the heat is the strongest during the morning and early afternoon at Chelidonia Villas. As I was relaxing on the lanai, Rose (the owner) stopped by because he needed some additional information from me. He also told me how to find Oia's port (Amoudi) and the nearby restaurants serving the best seafood. He explained how to get Baxedes beach (one of the few sandy beaches near Oia) via bus as well.
I took my time getting ready this morning and finally headed out to the port. There are 300 steps leading down to the port from the main part of Oia town. The walk down offered picture postcard views at every turn. After taking countless photos, I finally found my way to the bottom and easily located the waterfront Sunset restaurant that Rose and Leandros recommended. My seafood spaghetti lunch was good, but the calamari that was ordered at the table next to mine looked even more delicious. The ambiance was reminiscent of the many waterfront Amalfi Coast restaurants, with the boats docked randomly on the water. After lunch, I walked around the corner and found the spot where locals and tourists alike hang out and snorkel. Unfortunately, most of the flat rocks already had towels and people on them, so there wasn’t a lot of free space. I decided to walk back up the 300 stairs and head to Baxades Beach from Oia via bus. The walk up was great exercise and gave me a taste of what I will be doing when I return home: hiking Koko Crater at least once a week!
The bus arrived 10 minutes late so as I was waiting I bought some homemade honey roasted cashews. The bus ride took only 5 minutes and it dropped us off right in front of Baxedes. I rented an umbrella and a beach chair and spent the remainder of the day relaxing, napping, daydreaming, and enjoying the sandy beach on the Aegean Sea. Since Thao’s flight was scheduled to touch down at 7:45p, I took the 7pm bus back to Oia. After traveling for over 24 hours from Oahu, Thao arrived close to 9pm exhausted but ready to eat her first dinner in Santorini. We went to Scala’s and had a tasty seafood dinner overlooking the Caldera with a bottle of Santorini red wine. Although it’s only been a little over two months since “the girls” all went out for my farewell dinner, it seemed like yesterday we were on Oahu living our daily lives. I’m glad that she decided to join me during this final leg of my journey. We’re both so excited to explore Santorini and Mykonos during the next 9 days!

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