From Moonshine to Sunshine: 6/11: Numbered Days...

After another nourishing breakfast, we took advantage of our last day with the ATV by driving easily to Ammoudi Bay for an early day of sunbathing. We had to return the hog by 4pm, so we just stretched the towels out on a huge boulder and watched other tourists snorkeling and jumping from the church porch into the waters below.

The drive back to our rental agency was a sad one; we both enjoyed our little Road Warrior immensely, so it was a shame to give him back. We stopped at a wine store on the walk back to town so as to assuage our sadness and toast our last night in Santorini in style. The woman at the wine store was both well versed in her trade and quite adept at English, so she gave us a virtual wine tour. She showed us photos of different grapes, local methods of protecting and storing the grapes, and the many vineyards on the island. She let us sample a little, and pointed out the bottles by the closest vineyard, Sigalas Winery, which we ran out of time to visit.

After purchasing two bottles for fair prices from our gracious vintner, we dropped off our cargo at home then descended the Ammoudi steps one more time for our last round of skin diving in Santorini. After collecting a few more shells to pack away, we returned to the first restaurant we patronized, Sunset Taverna, which proved to be our favorite of the trip.

We ordered olives and our newly discovered Feta Fournou as appetizers, then ate kalamari and yellow fin tuna for our main courses. We gorged ourselves; the tuna alone would have filled us without all the other plates, but we forced everything down on account of the tastiness and occasion: a beautiful sunset, the last seen from Santorini.

It was a show--orange, red, and pink hues cut across the horizon with a backdrop of blue skies. After mounting the infamous Ammoudi Steps for the final time, we drank our wine at home and enjoyed the quiet and the lights along the caldera.