I couldn’t sleep well last night.. I knocked out at like 730pm but woke up 2hr later and couldn’t fall back asleep until like 1am. It was brutal.. woke up this morning feeling pretty delirious and sleepy and tired. We went to our hotel restaurant for free breakfast and to our delight, there were some new breakfast items compared to yesterdays!

There were sausage & cheese pies, egg omelettes and sugary waffles. Those were the new additions! This time I also tried some Greek yogurt topped with granola bits and honey. It was delicious.

For most of our day, we booked a tour group to hit some of the touristy highlights more south of Santorini. I made sure to book one that included pick up and drop off and for the ease of being taken around. It was dreadfully cold this morning.. the original weather forecast told us it was going to be rainy all day!!! I did not pack for this kind of weather.. Luckily, someone did not so the rain dance enough this morning and we’re having a pretty good day so far. The whole day has been consistently cloudy but no rain!

We visited the Prophet Elias Monastery, Megalochori village, Akrotiri Excavations, the Red Beach and Perivolos Beach. The Akrotiri excavations is currently an ongoing process of uncovering an old village from 4000 years ago that ceased to exist after a volcano eruption. Interestingly, there were many earthquakes prior to the eruption, which signaled the people to excavate prior. The ruins consisted of buildings and vases but no people or valuables. The red beach was a very small beach with some red sand and mostly red rocks.

Finally, at the last Black Sand Beach, we ate at Restaurant Filippos. The prices are very cheap and food was pretty decent. Food actually tasted better today than yesterday.

I got a glass of Watermelon juice and Vince got a glass of red wine.

We shared the Grilled swordfish fillet and the Grilled shrimp. Both came with fries. Their ketchup tastes less sweet than our ketchup and actually more tomato-y. Almost like a light purée version of tomato paste. The swordfish fillet was very meaty. It was like a fish steak, the thickness of the slice. The shrimp was really good! There were eggs and brains in the head of the shrimp, very juicy. Both grilled with very simple seasoning so we appreciated the protein for what it was. The whole meal was 42 euros.

Now the last stop of our tour is going to be wine tasting, 10 euros each. We went to Artemis Karamolegos Winery and tried a glass of white, rose and red wine each.

Even though we ate just 2 hours ago, we walked around Fira to find one last restaurant in Santorini. At first Vince wanted to pick the first place he sees because he felt desperate for a restaurant with a bathroom, but I wasn’t happy and it didn’t look like it had good food.

We finally accidentally saw KALIYA, a super cute looking restaurant with floral and greenery decor. It was probably the most expensive restaurant we’ve been to in Santorini but the food and service is much better and accommodating!

We started out with two cocktails: I originally wanted a hot tea latte but they only have coffee now at night boo.

Pellet of the Argonauts. Mezcal, lime & lemongrass cordial, mastiha spirit, citrus powder. This is Vince’s drink and has a strong sour and sweet taste.

Touch the Clouds. Zacaba 23 rum, averna, raw carob syrup, verjuice. This was a drink that Vince picked for me and I hated it! It tasted so gross and bitter.

Taramas. This is a salmon fish roe dip. I’ve never had fish roe as a dip before and it tasted so good! Texture is creamy like a green yogurt and there is a distinct salty and sea-ness from the fish roe.

Langoustine “saganaki,” graviera cheese from los, confit onions, bisque sauce with cherry tomatoes confit, basil and saffron from Kozani. This was my first time eating langoustine! Vince was very excited about this. He says it’s bougie shrimp that’s more expensive than prawns. I googled it and apparently it can be argued to be in between a lobster and a shrimp. In the pictures, it also looks like it is a large shrimp with very large claws. They cut the langoustine in half to expose the meat for us. The flavors of the sauce and condiments taste so savory and decadent. The foam is made of cheese and adds a nice salty touch.

Grilled octopus, sauce with cuttlefish ink and pepper from Florina with miso, tabbouleh with freekeh, avocado and tomato salsa. The octopus was very good! This octopus was much better than yesterdays octopus but still slightly chewy. Is grilled octopus always chewy then?! Seems like maybe it’s hard to grill it without slightly over cooking it. Still very soft with a light chew. The salt from the Currie fish ink was a nice touch. I liked the avocado and freshness of the salsa.

The service here is very nice! The olives were complimentary. The waiter gave me a light blanket cause it got really cold and windy outside in the balcony area. We also asked to move to a table closer to the heat lamp about halfway through our meal.

Overall, it was a much better day today. We learned a lot about the history and geographical spots. Food was much better today! Last spot was so scenic and the ambiance was very nice.

Not sure how excited I am for Mykonos tomorrow.. everyone has been telling us it’s a party island and we didn’t know that when planning this trip. Not sure how excited I am about that..