Some days just aren't like the postcard…. 28 March

We woke to grey skies over the caldera and the gentle patter of rain on the patio out front of our cave-house. A quick check of the weather app did not give much hope for sunnier skies later in the day either….

In need of some indoor options, we visited the Museum of Prehistoric Thira, which had a number of ancient artefacts, many in excellent condition, from the various archeological excavations around Santorini. The sophistication and complexity of the people's living on Santorini over 4000 years ago, was remarkable. We viewed the range of decorated pottery and other artefacts, but what was most impressive was the fragments of wall murals and painted flooring. With such wealth, this must have been one of the significant commercial areas, along with Crete, in the ancient Mediterranean.

With some Greek coffee and lemon cake, we sat in a cliff top cafe and watched the rain spoil the views of the caldera, glad that we had chosen to do the walk to Oia on the previous sunny day, as this pretty village was now lost from view in the gloomy weather.

Despite the persistent rain, we were still keen to explore the island, so set out in our hire car for an afternoon drive. On the way we noticed that there are lots of vineyards on the island, but the grape vines aren't grown in upright rows (as we are more familiar with) rather in low circular bundles on the stony ground. We think this helps protect the grapes from the hot summer sun.

On our drive, we passed through Pyrgos and visited the black beach at Perissa, then stopped off at a 24 hour (!) bakery where we purchased some Greek biscuits (sold by the kilo, which seems to be the custom here for cakes and biscuits) and coffees. We then tried to find the archeological site at Akrotia, which challenged our navigation (and was closed when we finally found it), and had a brief stop at the nearby red beach. With better weather it would have been nice to do some walking at these locations, but the rain had really set in now and was quite heavy.

So no chance of a Santorini sunset for us; in fact the cloud had settled on the Fira cliff top and the rain was so heavy that streams of water were now pouring down the staired pathways of the Fira caldera. Nonetheless, we donned our wet-weather gear and set off in search of some dinner. We found nice looking taverna, Pernea, on the cliff top terrace and went in, hopeful for some good food but mostly glad to be out of the rain. As it turned out, it was a good choice. The service was friendly and fast and the food delicious - cheese  croquettes were amazing and tasty souvlaki. But a special shoutout to the poor waiter who carried the meals (covered) up to the terrace from the down stairs kitchen - what a legend! The views from the terrace dining area must be amazing but the cloud and rain didn't allow us to enjoy this tonight.