Day 12: From Fira to Oia!
Tuesday, August 4th
Today’s blog is brought to you by Megan in Ms. Ramos’ English class.
From Fira to Oia!
The day started off with a lovely breakfast right by the pool, which included fresh watermelon, eggs and soft croissants. After breakfast, the classes walked over to a nice restaurant nearby (with AC!) to have class for the morning.
During class, a few of us took a break and went to the store down the road to get a little snack! I got the most delicious Snickers ice cream bar. At 11:00, when we had to leave the restaurant, we went for a quick dip in the ocean with beautiful black pebbles instead of sand, and then proceeded back to the store to buy some lunch. They had a whole assortment of sandwiches as well as fruit salads, which contained kiwi, apricot, peach, watermelon, honeydew, and cherries.
I ate lunch by the pool with a few friends and then read my book in the sun for a bit before going in for a quick dip. We then showered and got changed for dinner, and at 3:30 we hopped on a bus to go to Fira. The bus ride was 30 minutes, and on the way we picked up our tour guide Chara. We learnt about the volcanoes; the one here is dormant currently, and how the whole island was a volcano and was made from an underwater eruption which changed the shape of the island. We also learnt that the word “pyro” in Greek means fire, and “pyromania” is someone who likes to start fires, which is where the word “pyrotechnics” comes from.
We then arrived in Fira and walked around, looked at the stunning views and took some pictures. We had free time for an hour, and we got the most delicious gelato from “Zotos”. After our gelato, we hopped back on the bus and drove another 30 minutes to a town called Oia. Once we arrived, we walked right to dinner, where we had Gyros for dinner and honey cake for dessert.
From there we walked up to the sunset viewing point and saw the most gorgeous sunset with the beautiful white buildings in the foreground. We could see the sun disappear below the water, and the views were breathtaking. We had about 45 minutes to wander around town on our own in groups of four. We browsed in shops and got gelato for a second time!
We met back in the main square and headed back to the bus. The bus ride was an hour, but it flew by because the whole way home we were doing karaoke.
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Tomorrow some of our students will be sailing over to the center of the volcano, hiking the summit and going for a swim in the natural hot spring in the sea!
Can’t wait to share that adventure with you.
Bertan
Program Manager
