Santorini Day 4: Pyrgos and a Final Sunset

My fourth day on Santorini and fifteenth in Greece. Today I really just wanted to visit Pyrgos, having heard how lovely it was. After yet another bus trip, I had lost count of how many buses I’d been on to that point, I was in the main square at Pyrgos. I found a place in the square to have breakfast, a honey drizzled, cheese filled pastry that took cheese pies to a whole new level.

After that I started wandering the streets of Pyrgos. Pyrgos is at quite a high point on the island, making for some amazing views.

Downhill in the distance I could see the village of Exo Gonia. Again subscribing to the doctrine of being my own worst enemy I wandered down for a closer look. Exo Gonia is quiet and not what you would expect to find on the most toursity of Greek Islands. It also has a lot of churches, which you probably would expect. It also has a rather steep walk back uphill to Pyrgos.

Apparently a walk down to Exo Gonia isn’t the most touristy, or even local, thing to do. When I got back to Pyrgos, both the waiter at the taverna where I ate lunch, and the shop assistant in the bakery that I dropped into because, duh, it was a bakery, thought I was crazy for having done so. I certainly needed a drink after that.

After lunch, back in the village square, I headed off in a different direction to see more of the village.

What I found was a maze of narrow streets full of cute and interesting shops, steps, doors, amazing views, churches and everything else you would expect on a Cycladic island. And a donkey.

I eventually made it back to the square, there may have been some shopping involved, and took a bus back to Fira, where there may have been more shopping, before my last Fira sunset. I had decided not to return to Oia for the sunset, as I had been so happy with the Fira ones, and really didn’t love the Oia crowds.