cobblestones and places unknown: Greece

Okay ladies and gentlemen, you guessed it. I have a new favorite place! I honestly think Greece is going to be hard to top. Our Grecian vacation began with Sey and I spending a lovely 11 hours overnight in the Athens airport. It was definitely a struggle, and we have some funny pictures of each other sleeping awkwardly on chairs and on our suitcases to prove it! At least the airport had free wi-fi, trust me, SUCH A BLESSING. When 11 AM finally rolled around, Sey and I boarded our plane for our flight to the beautiful Santorini Island, Greece! A quick 45 minutes later, and we'd landed in paradise. You know all those pictures you see of Greece, with the white houses and beautiful blue Aegean Sea. Yup, we'd stepped into a postcard.
Our first stop was to find our hotel. The hotel had graciously arranged to pick us up at the airport, and we met our wonderful hosts for our stay- Vlad-something (his name was so Greek, I really could never understand it when he said it) and Mario. They were SO accommodating. We arrived at our hotel, and they immediately offered us free coffee and a large jug of free Santorini wine. Much to our delight, they informed us that anytime we wanted coffee or wine (for free!) during our stay, all we'd have to do is ask. They showed us to our room, and we got a lovely glimpse of the beautiful apartments and cute island where we'd be staying! After freshening up a little, Sey and I decided to go grab some lunch, and on Mario's recommendation, we walked a little ways to Mama's House for some traditional Greek food. I got this delicious spicy feta cheese dip and some cooked eggplant, while Sey opted for mussels with special Greek sauce. It was SO DELICIOUS.
After that, we decided to explore Fira (the part of the island where we were staying) a little. Sey and I were so overjoyed to be there that we just kept taking pictures of everything and everyone. We walked around for a couple of hours and just enjoyed the nice little city. Because we were so tired, we grabbed an early dinner at a picturesque cliffside restaurant and headed to bed early. The next morning we got up bright and early to begin our long trek down to "Old Port", which is where we would meet our boat for our planned cruise to the volcano and hot springs right off the island of Santorini. It was literally like trekking down a mountain, with switchbacks and all! We finally arrived at the harbor and hopped onto our boat.
The view from the boat was breathtaking. The Aegean Sea is literally SO BLUE. When we arrived at the volcano, Sey and I hopped off and began hiking up. The only problem was that it was literally so windy that we could barely stand up straight. We persevered, however, and the view was worth it. The volcano was sooo cool. It was inactive but had last erupted in the 50s. It was nice just to hike around and enjoy the panorama view of Santorini and the Aegean Sea. After the volcano, we hopped back on the boat and cruised to the hot springs. Because it was November, the springs weren't actually so hot, but we docked anyway. A lot of people from our boat started jumping in, but Sey and I didn't bring bathing suits. Finally I decided that I would kick myself if I didn't live a little and jump in, so hopped in, jeans and all! The water was cold, and the hot springs were lukewarm, but hey, it was November and I couldn't have hoped for a cooler experience. The boat ride back was freezing though, and all of my clothes were wet so I couldn't warm up. I was so happy to be back on land!
Instead of making the long trek back up the cliffs, Sey and I opted for a donkey ride instead. This was so fun. My donkey was literally crazy and started bolting up the cliffs, and there were a couple times I definitely thought I would fall, but I made it up safely! We went and took a quick power nap (in addition to having some more free coffee), then Sey and I headed to Oia (the other side of the island) to watch the beautiful sunset. We found an awesome cliffside restaurant and just took in the view for a while. It was truly breathtaking. We headed home happy and ready for the next day of our Grecian adventure!
The next morning, we woke up bright and early in an attempt to see the sunrise. I must admit I saw only a small glimpse through our bedroom terrace before collapsing back to sleep (it was a little early for me, and I was definitely in vacation mode). Two hours later we got up for real, and headed to the nearest rental shop, recommended to us by Mario, to rent an ATV for the day! Sey and I were a little nervous to drive it, so we got the lowest powered one there was. It was so cheap to rent for a whole 24 hours! We hopped on and after a little test driving (I was the one driving primarily), we headed to try and find the black sand beaches (on Kamari beach) on the opposite side of the island. After about a 30 minute drive, we realized we were passing a lot of wineries and had accidentally ventured into winery land! We decided to stop and take a quick tour. We toured the winery museum and learned a lot about the evolution of the wine making process. We also got to sample 4 Santorini wines- they were great (all but the red, too bitter for me!)
We then hopped back on our ATV (don't worry, we'd only taken a sip of each wine!) and got back on the road to Kamari beach. Once we found it, we parked the ATV and stopped at this cool little beachside restaurant, where we ordered Greek salads. They were SO good.

The next stop for us was the beach! The weather was so warm that day, so Sey and I plopped down with our towels and just enjoyed the warm sun and even warmer sand. We even put our toes in the water (this is November, remember?!). We could see other islands in the Aegean sea and the beautiful cliffs of Santorini all around us, so we hung out on the beach for about 2 hours. I even took a little nap! Around 2 PM we decided it was time to try and find our way to Akrotiri, the red sand beach. I think by this time our dear little ATV was tuckered out, and it protested a little as we made the very hilly drive back up the cliffs of Santorini. Only a few wrong turns and 45 minutes later, we made it to Akrotiri. The red sand beach was something I’ve never seen before. The Cliffside itself looks to be made of red clay. The color is so deep! It was definitely beautiful, and I found it interesting that it could be so different from the black sand beach, only a few kilometers away.

By this time, the sun was getting ready to set on Santorini again, and Sey and I wanted a view of the sunset from Fira. We picked a delicious restaurant called Ellis that was recommened to us by Mario (and by mentioning he sent us, we subsequently got a pitcher of wine and dessert on the house- I. LOVE. GREECE). Sey decided to try a traditional Grecian dish called mousaka for dinner, while I opted to stick with pasta. I did try a few bites of hers though, and it was simply divine. Did I mention I love Greek food?

For our last night, Sey and I wanted to pay one last visit to Oia, so we hopped the bus and headed over to the other side of the island. Unfortunately not much was open, but we stumbled upon a party going on in a local bookstore, and hung out there talking with some locals for a while. There was definitely some “local color” there, as my mother would say, in addition to some artist types and even a few authors! We left feeling a bit more cultured. The next morning was our last in Santorini. We returned the ATV, and after getting our last cup of delicious Hotel Antonia coffee, we had Mario drive us to the airport. On the way, we made a pitstop for one last Greek pita!

I will definitely miss Greece. I loved it not only because of how friendly the people were, but also because it is one of the first times on this whole trip that I have felt truly relaxed. Maybe it’s just the island atmosphere, but Greece definitely felt like more of a “vacation” to me than any of the other trips I’ve been on. This weekend I’m off to Amsterdam, and then next week my family arrives, so it should be an exciting few days!!!