Santorini, you win

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!

Fira and me

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.

Me, Alie and Amanda at the excavations

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.

Oia

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….”

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.

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.