After a grumpy*, rainy takeoff in Milan, two hours later we
arrived in Athens, Greece with the bluest skies you could imagine. To get to
our hostel for the night, it was said that taking the metro would be the
easiest, as it went straight from the airport to our stop. However, finding the
right train to take at the airport proved to be a little more complicated. With
lack of signage (let alone signs not in the greek alphabet), we decided to ask
several times to make sure we were in the right place to catch the metro. In
the process, we met two Polish students going the same way and chatted with
them as we took the forty-five minute journey to center Athens. As we came up
at the Monastiraki stop, we instantly saw people. The square was filled the
brim with vendors selling their trade, from leather sandals to tzaziki spices,
and as we turned around to get a view behind us, all we could see was the
acropolis perched on a hill. We found our way to Ermou street, one of the most
popular streets in Athens and where our hostel was located. After walking a
little bit, we finally reached the address given for our lodging… except that
it was an antiques store. At that moment, we tried not to panic but I have to
admit, it was a little bizarre. As I glanced to my left, I noticed out of the
corner of my eye “Pella”, which was the name of our hostel. Sure enough, about
50 meters to our left, we found our hostel.
Once settled in, we went down to the port to pick up our
tickets for the ferry to Santorini and had a wonderful dinner with a view of
the Acropolis. We decided to get some traditional Greek food: pork gyros with
fries and baklava for dessert. This would be the first of many gyros we would
have during the week, though this one was more expensive and deconstructed.
Either way, delicious! After the meal, the server came by and set two shots of
ouzo on our table with a clever smile as he turned his shoulder before we could
say anything. Even though neither of us are fans of the Greek liquid courage,
we both said “Opa!” and enjoyed our free gift.
After a night of barely any sleep, we boarded our ferry to
Santorini at 7am. It was an eight hour ferry, and although I had been getting
used to long journeys to get us from point A to point B, I was incredibly
anxious to get to the beautiful crescent shaped island. However, the ferry was
so comfortable, eight hours passed with no problems. The views of the blue
Aegean sea going by, the little islands specked with crisp white houses… it was
hard to not be enthralled with the surroundings. Also, the wifi and freddocino**
might have helped.
And so at 3:00pm, we arrived in the port of Santorini. As we
had asked for a transfer to our hostel (which was more like a hotel), we were
happy to find a man standing with a sign reading “Dina’s Place” quite easily.
However, it soon became increasingly clear that he was doing a number of drop-offs
to different hotels, and we would all not fit in his van. Suddenly, he turned
to us and said, “You will go with my cousin! He will you off at the hotel he is
going to – wait there and I will come get you!” Blindly, we got in the van with
his cousin, went up the incredibly windy path from the port, and entered into
Fira, one of the main towns on Santorini and where we were staying. Dropping us
off on the side of the road next to a convenience store fruit stand, we couldn’t
help but wonder what we would do if he didn’t come back for us. Just then, his
van pulled up and we were whisked away to our hostel.
Arriving at the hostel, it was clear that this was not a
hostel. It was a hotel. George, the receptionist and owner, was extremely nice
and told us everything we needed to know about Santorini, including how to
avoid tourist traps. I cannot stress how kind of a person he was – when we
tried to pay and did not have exact change, he said, “It’s no problem, pay
later! In fact, if you don’t want to pay during your stay, that’s fine! Just
mail it to us after!” There is something to be said about the easy –going attitude
of the Greeks. Our room was wonderful and we stepped outside to a quaint and
beautiful pool area. I could not recommend this place enough!
That evening, we took our time exploring Fira, wandering
aimlessly down its narrow streets, looking through shops and enjoying the
sunset (though because of clouds it was not so nice). We found a place to get
gyros (which we frequented many times during our five day stay) and single bite
baklavas of all flavors! I had to get a classic but I also got chocolate with
walnut, very delicious!
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| Fira and me |
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| Left: original. Right: chocolate walnut. |
Our first full day in Santorini, we woke up to cloudy
skies. Seeing the weather, we decided to take a bus to Akrotiri, where there are
excavations of ancient civilization. This city had been rebuilt several times due
to earthquakes and was destroyed from the eruption of the volcano of Santorini.
On the bus, we made a friend: Amanda, a Canadian who is teaching biology in
Bulgaria. The three of us spent the next few days together – it was amazing
meeting someone who also had the experience living and teaching abroad and also
to talk about traveling! After exploring the excavations, we walked to the
nearby Red Beach, which was quite a sight to see. The contrast between the red
rock and the blue water was dramatic and beautiful. We stuck our feet in the
water and enjoyed the calming sound of the waves.
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| Me, Alie and Amanda at the excavations |
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| That is one red beach |
Wanting a change of scenery, we took the next bus to the
most picturesque town in Santorini: Oia. It took us a few tries to pronounce
this town correctly (“ee-ah”) but the fact that it is regarded as the best
place to stay in Santorini couldn’t be more true. With the perfect view of the
sunset from its placement on the tip of the crescent, the perfect white stoned
buildings, the contrasting blue domes of the churches, Oia is where I would stay
when I come back to in Santorini. We spent some time wandering the alleys and
found a beautiful overlook onto the town where we sat for a while. While the
crowds started forming where we were sitting, we realized that we had the best
place to watch the sunset, without even trying! This and an impromptu local
play about Agamemnon made our evening nothing short of spectacular.
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| Oia |
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| I have never seen a sunset that looked like a sun rise... |
Hurrying to catch the last bus to Fira, we left fairly
early, so we could stop for a tequila sunrise and a bathroom break. After the
very scary night bus back to Fira (guys, it was just cliff and ocean past the
non-existent guard rail), we went to Mama’s house for dinner, where I had a
greek salad, some tzaziki and a Mythos to drink. Although I do not like beer, I
had to try the number one Hellenic beer in production. My review? Not for me –
I’ll stick to wine anyday.
The following day, we woke to beautiful sunny skies – the weather
that I had imagined for Santorini. We decided to take a boat excursion to see
the still-active volcano of Santorini and the hot springs on another nearby
burnt island. And so, we took yet another cable car down to the Old Port of
Santorini, leaving Alie and I to scream and Amanda to laugh at us, and we
hopped on board a ship to the black mass that is across from the crescent of
Santorini. We hiked up to the peak of this volcano, which might have been the
cause of the mythical Atlantis. Smelling the strong sulfur and feeling the heat
of the volcano with my bare hands, I couldn’t help but sing to myself “This
girl is on fire….”
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| View of Santorini from the volcano |
After, we boarded the boat yet again and headed off to the
hot springs. We came prepared with our bathing suits under our clothes, but
expected to pull into land and get off the boat, relaxing into these warm
bodies of water. Once we pulled up, we were told that the boat can’t reach that
small piece of land – that if you wanted to wade in the hot springs, you had to
jump out of the boat and swim there. Nothing in the world had sounded more
terrifying to me and I considered not doing it. However, I took a deep breath
and leaped into the cold, blue water of the Aegean and swam until I reached the
orange warmth of the hot springs. I couldn’t help but have the hugest smile on
my face the entire time, to see such beauty around me and feel a part of it – it
was my favorite thing that I have done during my time abroad this year. As the
horn blew for us to come back to the ship, I couldn’t help but be sad that it
was such a short time, but it is one that I will remember forever.
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| The only picture I managed to get of the hot springs. You can see to the left of the white building some orange in the water, that's them! |
Once we reached Fira, we relaxed by the pool a bit and then took
the next bus to Perissa, which is home to a black sand beach. Santorini has two
black sand beaches: one in Perissa and one in Kamari. By the time we reached
Perissa, it was quite dead and the sun had already began setting. Still we
enjoyed a nice meal on comfy sunbeds and enjoyed the scenery. That night, we
enjoyed one last night wandering around Fira together, shopping and eating ice
cream. Then, we decided to go for a drink at Two Brothers Bar. Though it seemed
like such a small place, the atmosphere inside was twenty times bigger than the
locale. We couldn’t help but sing along with the throwback music, laugh at
people around us and cringe at people getting a Head Shot.*** After spending
two days together, we said our goodbyes to Amanda – it was so nice to have met
her during our stay and to have spent so
much time with her!
The next day, Alie and I headed out to the other black sand
beach, Kamari. I instantly preferred this beach, much more relaxed and much
more space to lay. We spent the afternoon lounging and soaking up the sun. I
could not get over the relaxing sound of the waves and the crisp blue against
the huge rock façade at the beach. After a quick stop in Fira, we went off to
Oia one last time to watch the sunset. This was easily the best sunset we saw,
and we met a wonderful couple from Arizona while we were there too. It was kind
of sad thinking that it was our last time in Oia during our stay, but I know
that I will be coming back – it is just too beautiful to not return again!
Once we got back to Fira, we decided to be bold and do
something that we had constantly talked about trying: going to a fish bar.
There are several of these on Santorini and I know they are also quite popular
in Asia. It’s a place where you stick your feet in water and little fish come
up and eat all the dead skin off your feet! It might sound kind of gross
(because it is) but I didn’t mind it at all! Alie on the other hand was pretty
freaked out. With our feet all soft and rejuvenated, we went for a nice seafood
dinner at Nikolas, a place recommended by our hotel. We had some shrimp
spaghetti, tzaziki and Santo vino (wine made right on the island). Stuffed to
the brim, we slept well on our last night in Santorini.
On our final day on the island, we decided to just relax. We
went back to Kamari and acted as beach bums, soaking up every last bit of sun
possible. We watched our last sunset in Fira, had our last pork gyros (which I
am now having withdrawals of) and tried loukoumades, a fried honey donut, with
chocolate and ice cream. We also met some nice friends from Canada while
waiting until midnight for our bus to our ferry – it never ceases to amaze me
the great people you meet while traveling. As we boarded and settled into our
cabin to sleep on our way to Athens, I couldn’t help but think that it was the
end of something great. Santorini, hands down, you win – I can only hope that I
will return very soon.
*Grumpy on my part because I had to pay an extra 35 euro to
check my bag…. stupid Easyjet!
**Freddocino is like a frappé… but BETTER! I had totally
forgotten about these things, and I was obsessed with trying to find one on the
island after consuming an amazing one on the ferry. Alas, I could not find any,
and I was left with just the memory of the first one.
***Head Shot: When you take a shot wearing a helmet and the
second you’re done, someone bangs your head with a baseball bat.
