Santorini, Greece - part 1

Well the boat picked Matt and I up at the pier in Mykonos and we loaded up which was a bit of a hassle.  This was a much smaller ferry than the last one we took because it was high speed.  There wasn't much room on the inside for everyone's luggage so we had to start leaving it on the deck.  Made me a bit worried but then I also knew how heavy my suitcase was, so I was pretty sure there was no chance that my luggage would fly off into the water.  The seating charts were pretty hard to understand so I just randomly set in an empty seat, next to a window of course, and dosed off.  That is until I got a tap on the leg with a man and a woman wanting their seats.  I then found my real seat next to Aussie Matt and finished out the ride chatting with him.  It only took about an hour and half to get over to Santorini and when we were almost there we randomly starting chatting up a couple of gay guys.  Turns out they have a vacation home in Santorini and they gave us a few rec's on where to eat and go out.  They even offered to take us to our hotel with their car but since our little Annie's Studios place we were staying at offered free pick up from the port we told them we already had that covered and thanked them.  Once at the port we had a little trouble finding our van because apparently every lodging place offers free pickup at the port.  After a quick call to Annie's, we found our van man and were on our way.  There were quite a few people checking in when we got to the studio's so Matt and I just kinda walked around and checked out some of the activities to do on the island that were posted to the wall in the lobby.  Immediately we eyed an all day excursion that was only 25 Euros.  It included pick up and drop off right at our little abode.  A cruise on an old schooner over to the Volcano Island.  A mini tour of that island with a guide.  Then it took you over to some hot springs that you could swim in, then onto another nearby island called Thirissa, and finally ended up at Oia which is on the island of Santorini, on the complete opposite side however, where you can watch a world famous sunset.  DONE, we're in!

The rooms were absolutely great!  For 25 Euros a night I got a place all by myself with air conditioning, a tv, queen size bed, bathroom, and mini kitchenette with sink, dishes, hot plates, and fridge.  Only downer of course was that I couldn't get wifi in the room, but I was able to get it in the lobby.  The place also had a nice pool area that included a bar with decent prices.  Tons of English speakers were staying at the place so that was always a plus.  Later that evening Matt and I decided to go grab some dinner at the place that the gay dudes told us about.  We walked up the road to "Lava" and actually saw them there!  They were friendly again and ended up telling the owners that they sent us and to take care of us.  We got a spread of food including a Greek salad, stuffed tomatoes, white rice and sausages.

After dinner we decided we needed a few things to eat and drink back at each of our rooms.  He wanted to get some stuff to cook on the hot plates since he was on more of a budget than myself.  And I wanted just some water, juice, and snacks (for when I get the late night munchies of course).  As we were walking down this really long dark road on the island, we both looked up and saw the coolest shooting star I've ever seen!  It was the longest one I've ever witnessed, it just kept going and going and I thought it was gonna end up landing in the ocean, but it finally fizzled out.  It's probably one of those moments that will always stick with you!  A few groceries were finally purchased and then it was time to head back to the studios.  Made it an early night since we had to be up at the front office at 10:00 am to catch the van for our all day excursion on the boat.

The next morning we saw several people we recognized from the night before that would be joining us on this little all day adventure.  Three girls from New York who were all very sweet, Maria, Asha, and Timble.  Then when we were on our way, we stopped and picked up a few more people down the road staying at another place.  Well I'll be damned, who do we pickup?  None other than my favorite person in the world, the really rude girl from CHICAGO!  Could this really be happening?  Was I to stay on a boat and be surrounded by her all damn day, ahhh!?  Somehow I just turned my head when she entered the van and she didn't see me, I was hoping to avoid her the rest of the day.  Once on the boat, we were off into the great unknown for about 10 minutes until we reached the volcano island.

Above is a crater from the island.  We had a little tour guide that explained things in English to us.  It was hotter than nine kinds of hell that day and I was sweating my ass off walking around this volcanic creation.  On some parts of the island you could actually smell sulphur drifting out of the inner core of this thing.  And while technically this isn't an "active" volcano, I do believe they still have the power to erupt.  Good lord, get me off this thing!

After the Volcano excursion we hopped back on the boat and headed for the hot springs.  While we were cruising over, they decided to get on the loud speaker and explain that if you wanted to experience the hot springs, it required you jumping out of the boat and swimming about 100 meters to get to them!  Glad I know how to swim!  I was also secretly excited that I was going to finally get some relief from the heat and be able to jump into the cold ass waters of the Aegean Sea!  Once we got over to the "hot" springs, I would hardly refer to them as that.  They were warm at best, and to be honest, I've experienced warmer waters from simply peeing on myself.  Gross, I know, but I'm trying to really get the idea across to you that these hot springs were a bit disappointing.  I visited some hot springs in Costa Rica a couple of years ago and they really set the bar high.  Those were amazing and the temperatures were like that of a hot tub.  To top it off there was a bunch of orange goop floating in the water that decided to attach itself to all of us.  It ended up staining the white portion of my bathing suit a nice burnt orange color.  Lovely.  Rinsed off as best as I could and jumped back on the boat.  Next up was the island of Thirissa that severed really no other purpose but to eat up some time and have a nice lunch.  There were several places to choose from to get some grub and after looking over the menus at several places, I think we ended up with the most expensive option.  I got a nice souvlaki plate and a water and I think it was around 11 Euros.  Poor Matt got a souvlaki plate AND some moussaka as well as a beer and I think it was close to around 20 Euros.  I laughed at him while I enjoyed my lunch.

Souvlaki's cooking on the grill.

After getting a belly full of delicious food, Matt and I walked around a little bit, took a few photos and then decided to try to find a lounge spot on the boat that was covered and in the shade.  He found a spot, but I wasn't as lucky.  I think I may have took a brief nap, but nothing of worth.

Some of the deck hands on the boat were fishing when we got back, sans fishing pole so that was fun to watch.  I think one guy caught a small fish.  Not sure if he kept it or threw it back.  Onwards to Oia!  I took tons of pictures as we were approaching the little town on the far end of Santorini.  Buildings with blue tops just barely hanging on to the cliffs.

What next awaited me, I don't think I could ever be prepared for.  Do you see how high up all those buildings are from where the ocean is?  Do you think the boat grew wings and propellers and dropped us off in the town of Oia?  NO!  Of course they let us off at the dock and it was up to us to climb our asses to get to the top and into the town of Oia.  Oh mah gah!  That was probably the hardest hike I've ever had to do, not to mention in the blistering heat with no water!  I'll admit I'm out of shape but this was just hell!  So of course I stopped for little breaks along the way to take a few snapshots.  Once I got to the top, my whole group was waiting for me, oops.  I stopped for a longer break and felt like I had just conquered the World.

Ryan (a guy we met on the boat from Perth), Myself, and Matt at the top of the giant ass mountain we had just climbed.  

We had a little time to kill until it was official "sunset" time so our little group walked around and did a bit of shopping.  Our group consisted of the three New York girls, me, Matt, and Ryan.  One of the girls wanted to buy a dress that she saw in a shop and that ate up about 45 minutes of our time.  We all had also worked up an appetite since lunch time so we tried to find a little cafe that we could grab a quick bit to eat.  We decided on a little creperie that also sold sandwiches.  I got a chicken and corn salad sandwich and it was pretty gross.  I guess I should have opted for a crepe since I think that is what everyone else got and they thought theirs was good.  Finally it was time for the sun to start going down.  I was a bit skeptical in how great it was going to turn out because it was pretty overcast.  Besides the clouds being a total nuisance, I did grab some gorgeous pictures.

After we waited around, for what we're pretty sure was the sunset, he had to high tail it to the bus area where we were supposed to catch our van to get back to our side of the island.  And of course I grabbed another pic or two.

There was much confusion when we got over to the meeting point, but after about 30 minutes of trying to decide which vehicle to get into, we all piled into 2 and headed for home.  It was a great day packed full of fun, adventure, and exercise!