Day 5 - Under the Santorini Sun

In the morning we got up around 7:00 and went to have breakfast, but nothing looked good so we decided to wait. We arrived at Athinios Port in Santorini around 8:15 AM. After disembarking from the ferry, we waited for the public bus while being solicited hotel rooms for 10 Euros (are you gullible?) and admiring the small port. We took the bus up to Fira on the top of the caldera for a few Euro. There at the bus station we met two other backpacking girls who were looking for Santorini Camping as well, one from New York and one from Colombia. We walked with them the half mile or less to the campground where we checked in. The campground has a pool, bar, market, restaurant, and other facilities for a less-than-bare-minimum camping experience. We found a shady spot to set up our tent in the dirt and were by then quite hungry, so we set out for the restaurant by the pool. We sat at the bar and ordered a French breakfast for each of us, which consisted of French toast, ham, cheese, bread with butter and jam, plus some orange juice which was like watered-down Sunny D, a disappointment after yesterday's fresh-squeezed.
After breakfast we rushed back into town to catch the 11:15 AM bus to Red Beach, which we had read was very nice. It dropped us off nowhere near a swimable beach, so we walked aways down the waterfront past some tavernas, then up a staircase. We walked awhile longer along a path and then it turned into more of a hike up the red rock cliffs which reminded me of Lake Havasu. We came to the peak and saw the beach below us, lined with umbrellas and crowded with people. After scaling down the peak we tentatively took a seat under an umbrella but of course we were approached within minutes by a woman demanding seven Euros for its use, so we carried on down the beach past the crowds to settle in the sand. The water was pretty, but once we disturbed the water pieces of seaweed floated up and coasted everything. It was deceptive to look through the water since everything looked like a rock with a mossy covering. It was really windy and hot, but the water was still very cold. We spent about an hour or two at the beach and then headed out. We passed a cafe on the way out and stopped for a pizza and a Coke, which were refreshing. We weren't exactly sure when the bus back to Fira left, so we made it back to the stop by 3:00 PM. We got ice creams and waited while a little mommy dog begged us for some and we let her clean up after us. We ended up waiting for the bus for an hour.
Once we were back at the campground we took a quick dip in the pool, which was very crowded, and then sort of accidentally crashed for a nap until about 9:00 PM! We were hungry so we walked up into town to find some food. After wandering the streets with the rest of the bustling nighttime crowd, we decided to get some spaghetti for takeaway. I had spaghetti with tomato sauce and Doug had tortellini with a cheese/alfredo sauce. Then we headed back to the campsite, hung out for a bit relaxing, and went to sleep.