Santorini, part 2

Our 4-wheelers

On the last full day of our Santorini trip we decided to rent 4-wheelers. It was a great choice! We took them all over the island, starting with the red beach. The red beach is another volcanic beach, and the sand is - surprising, I know - red. The rocks surrounding the beach are quite impressive! Bryce and I went swimming, and I guess the tide changed right as we were in the water, because we started drifting further out than we thought. It was pretty scary for a moment, because I feel like I'm a strong swimmer, but even swimming as hard as I could, it took forever to get back to the shore. Other than that little incident, though, the water and sand and scenery couldn't be beat!

We took our 4-wheelers to the lighthouse next, where the winds started picking up terriffically. Kiersten and I stayed behind while Bryce walked so far out onto a ledge that I almost had a heart-attack. But he made it back alive, which was good. We followed our lighthouse trip by a nice, tasty gyro, then headed into Fira. In Fira the winds reaaally started to blow, picking up dust, sand, plastic bags and pieces of cardboard. Our skin stung from being pelted with fine little pieces of dust! And the visibility was so bad at one point that Bryce tried to put his swim goggles on, hoping to see better. But they ended up falling off his face instead.

The dust storm almost deterred us, but we ended up driving all the way up to Oia, at the top of the island, just to say that we saw everything. Driving back was stunning with the sun setting behind us. I drove most of the day (we only rented two 4-wheelers between the 3 of us) and that unfortunately means I couldn't take any pictures. You'll have to trust me that it was stunning.

Our final morning we got up and ate a delicious breakfast of baked-goods and greek yogurt with honey, then wandered for a little before hopping the 9 hour ferry back to Athens.

Red beach

Kiersten on Red Beach

Kiersten and me, relaxing on Red Beach

Helping Bryce put on his helmet

My travel companions!

Kiersten sat on some nettles, which was pretty funny at the time. The picture looks kind of like she's just exploring the side of the cliff, though.

4-wheeling

Kiersten driving our 4-wheeler

The ledge that I was convinced Bryce was going to fall off of. That's Bryce, way out there.

Nice parking job, eh? The 4-wheelers couldn't go in reverse, so to get them out of this position we had to physically carry them around.
Our shadows: I'm driving, Bryce is playing photographer

Oia the second time around. Still just as gorgeous as the first time!

Breakfast

Our favorite 24-hour bakery

"Key Rinks"

My feet in the window of the ferry.

The water below us

Ropes on the ferry

Santorini, part one

Our hostel, Stelio's Place

Santorini. It has got to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. And I have been some beautiful places. The light is just stunning, which I tried to capture in my pictures.

We got to the island around midnight, and already we could tell it was beautiful. Stelio, the owner of our hostel, came and picked us up at the ferry himself. He pointed out a few things as we drove back to the hostel, which was on the far side of the island, let us into our room, and went to bed. Our room was simple but not spartan, and the bed was very comfortable. The shower was really the only bad part, because it was literally two feet by two feet, with a handheld nozzle. This meant that none of us could shower without getting the entire bathroom soaked. But the family that owns the hostel was amazing and so helpful, which is not common in the hostel scene.

Our first day in Santorini was speant exploring the close areas of the island. Santorini is shaped like a donut with a bite out of it, and we were on the ouside of the round part. The towns are all on the inside of the donut, which is the picturesque part of the island. Our side has the black sand beaches, though, which we spent quality time walking - only along the wooden paths, though, because the sand is HOT. There was very little tidal swing at our beach, Perissa, and the moment that the land turns into water, the ground becomes stone instead of sand. Which is cool, but very slippery. We had an awful time trying to walk back to shore on the slimy rock!

That night, we took the bus (which is notoriously late) to the island's capital, Fira. Fira is in the exact center of the inside of the donut, if you can picture that. It's the largest town on the island, but not nearly as picturesque as Oia. Still, it's Santorini; nothing is UNpicturesque, just less jaw-dropping than other parts of the island. We followed the shoreline for a while, which is really the edge of a cliff right along the water. All of the restaurant owners shout to you: "OUR FISH IS THE FRESHEST! I HAVE THE PERFECT TABLE FOR YOU!!" It's exhausting after a while, but all part of the experience I guess. I brought my Lonely Planet, which told us that this restaurant Nikolas was the best. And of course, it was. It was full of locals and tourists, and the service was the most efficient we experienced in Greece, and the food the most delicous. We had fried cheese, stuffed peppers, pork kabob, local wine (Santorini is known for wine, apparently), and baklava. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! The flavors are incredible, and there is nothing like fresh olive oil.

Perissa, the black sand beach that was literally steps from our hostel

Waiting for the bus to Fira

Fira sunset

Fira

Fira

Fira by night

Our second day we signed up to go on a volcano tour, followed by a trip to Oia to watch the sun set. Santorini is, actually, a volcano, with the center being the island in the middle of the 'donut'. It has cycles where it erupts, rebuilds the land around the center, and collapses. Our tour took us to the island in the center, then to the hot springs - which meant we jumped out of the boat into the hot water - and then to a small island called Therissa (I think) where we ate lunch. Kiersten and I also got a donkey ride to the top of the island, because we figured it was one of those things that you need to do. Bryce ran ahead the entire time to try and take pictures. For future referene, riding a donkey DOWN is actually better, because the stairs are so slick with donkey poop that the going is incredibly slow. Finally, after our donkey ride, we were ferried back to the mainland for an Oia sunset.

On the volcano

Bryce, me, Kiersten

Feeling the steam from the volcano. It smelled like eggs.

Kiersten and me (the two people in the center) swimming into the hot springs. People got crazy and coated themselves with the volcanic mud - which looked disgusting, but is apparently very good for your skin.

My lunch. A little chewy, and more than a little scary looking.

My donkey

You can see Bryce running ahead of us on the left.

View from the top of Thiressa. So worth it.

On our way up to Oia (pronounced ee-ah)

More donkeys!

The view from a cafe. Spectacular.

When people picture Santorini, they usually picture Oia. It's where Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 wias filmed, in case you were wondering.

People sitting and watching the sunset. I think everyone sitting on that thing was Australian

People gather everywhere to watch the sun go down each night.