So here comes part two of the impossible post.
So at 4 am on Monday April 13th Meghan, Allison, and I woke up to take the ferry to Santorini. Megan unfortunately only had the weekend off so she flew back to London later that day. Bummer! Anyways, the three of us dragged our stuff down to the port and quickly bought tickets for the 7:30 ferry to Santorini! We immediately boarded and were shocked by how nice the ferry was. It was my first time on a boat bigger than the Boatster at camp, how exciting!
6 hours later we arrived in Santorini. Oh and one funny thing that happened on the ferry was the Greek woman Allison had a conversation with, she spoke entirely in English and the woman spoke entirely in Greek but they managed to have a conversation. And we also ran into 5 Dickinson kids headed to one of the other islands the boat stopped at. It's a small world!
Anyways, after we arrived we hopped onto a bus that took us from the port to Fira, the main town in Santorini. From there, we took another bus to Kamari, which I thought was Kalamari. I told the girls, "hey we are staying in Calamari, but with a K." Whoops! The bus dropped us off at a bus stop and we somehow found our way to the Matina hotel and were warmly greeted by Vangelis and his wife, Matina. We checked in, dropped off our stuff, and then went out to the lobby area to ask where we could get some lunch. Vangelis told us that it was difficult to describe so he would take us there himself. He drove a little down the road, not sure how that was difficult to describe... and then dropped us off. We were famished!
After lunch we walked down to the beach which we were soo excited to see! We all took off our shoes and ran down to the water, only to run away again. The water was freezing! We were shocked! Anyways, we walked along the beach for a little while, went in a few shops, and went back to the hotel to freshen up.
When we returned to the hotel we found Vangelis there, ready to chat it up and suggest a fun adventure for the next day. We decided that we would go on a boating trip he suggested so that night we went to sleep, dreaming of sulfer and lava. The next morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and went down to the corner shop to buy Greek crocs. We needed close-toed shoes because we would be hiking up a volcano. All Allison and I brought were flip flops!
Vangelis then drove us back into Fira where we shopped and ate before going down to the Old Port to get on the boat. We then sailed to a small island a short distance away. The boat dropped us off and they just said, "Be back at 4pm or we will leave without you." We didn't get any guides, any information, so we climbed off and started exploring. The island was solely a volcano, there was nothing else there, so it was cool to hike up and enjoy the views. The next stop on our "cruise" was the hot springs. Unfortunately, the boat had to dock about 200 feet away from the actual hot springs so we had to jump out of the boat and swim to the hot springs, which ended up being tepid springs. Swimming 200 feet is no problem, except that that water was soooo cold, I felt my heart start to freeze up. It was actually quite a scary experience, but I made it! And now I can say I have been swimming in hot springs in the Aegean Sea! Plus Vangelis told us that the sulfer in the hot springs is really good for your skin. He actually told us that from time to time he gets the excema and after he goes in the hot springs, the excema is gone for one month!
After our excursion, Vangelis picked us up and drove us back from Fira. On the way back, Allison asked him for a dinner recommendation and he asked us how much we were looking to spend. We said between 10-15 euro would be ideal. He said, 15 euro ok? Good, we go to dinner. Well, looks like we were going to dinner with Vangelis. We told him we would meet him at 8pm.
At 8:15 when we walked into the lobby we found Vangelis waiting with three French people. I guess Vangelis invited them too! We ended up driving up this mountain into the middle of nowhere, where there are no tourists so we could have a "real" Greek dinner. Let me tell you, this dinner was not only one of the most incredible experiences of my life, but it was also one of the most delicious meals of my life. Allison and I spent the entire night speaking to this French woman and her two children, and then translating for Meghan. Then there was Vangelis who was speaking to us in English with some Greek thrown in. And the waiters came over and spoke to us in a different language each time because they were a bit confused by the whole situation. It was so funny and so cool. We ended up spending three hours there, eating, and talking and laughing. And want to hear a huge compliment? The French people told us that they originally thought we too were French because our accent was so good! WHOA!
The next day we packed up and loaded our suitcases into Vangelis' van. After doing a lot of research, I decided it would be best if we stayed two nights on one part of the island, and two on the other because they are so different. So we left our beach town for Oia which is the town on the Caldera that is in all the pictures of Santorini. Type into Google Images Santorini and you will get a million pictures of the caldera in Oia. Before going all the way up to Oia, Vangelis dropped us off at a wine museum where we toured the museum and had a wine tasting. The entire museum was underground which was really cool because we got the real sense of being in a cave where wine was stored. Apparently Santorini has quite the vineyards and produces a lot of wine.
We eventually made it to Oia which was sort of an adventure in it of itself. In Oia, we were greeted by Panos, the owner of Oia's Sunset, another warm, jovial Greek man. We sat by the pool for a while and enjoyed the sun before walking around town. That night we watched the sunset, Oia is famous for its sunsets and rightfully so, it was breathtaking. Allison, Meghan, and I found a place for dinner and then went back to the hotel to hang out with Panos for a bit.
At midnight, it was Meghan's birthday so we got sprite and fruit juice to mix and toast with, continuing our tradition from last year. We stayed up to celebrate and I was so happy to be with Meghan on her birthday. We spent the next day shopping in Oia, they have such great shopping! We also rode donkeys, a true Greek experience. That night we watched the sunset again and then ate dinner at a restaurant down on the water where they have delicious, fresh seafood. What an experience!
Friday morning we relaxed by the pool before taking an afternoon ferry back to Athens. We spent the night in Athens before our flight back to France Saturday morning. Although I was gone for 16 days, my time away absolutely flew by. It was a fantastic spring break.
Two more things: 1. If you ever go to Santorini, I have fantastic hotel recommendations for you so talk to me before you go. 2. I feel so incredibly blessed to have Meghan and Allison as friends. They are wonderful girls and we got along so well, I couldn't have asked for better travel companions. I absolutely love them.
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