Travel Log Part 7: Santorini
We arrived at Santorini, but this time we did not have a hostel lined up. After talking with a couple of the people at the port, we decided to hop into a shuttle to go to this one hostel in Perissa, supposedly right by the beach. It was not at all what it was cracked up to be. In fact, half of the people who rode the shuttle with us decided to ditch and walked into town and toward the beach. The wife of the owner was not happy, swearing at us in Greek. Not knowing really what to do, we stopped at a Travel agency which gave us the hook-up. They were great. We scheduled a tour of the volcano and hot springs, as well as finding us a place to stay, and we bought our next ferry tickets. The owner of the hostel came and picked us up and everything. Things were going good, heading straight through town and toward the beach. We get real close and then all of a sudden we make a left turn and head away from the beach. It appeared as if we got screwed again. But, the place was really nice had a great view. Right away, we wanted to get some beach (black sand) time in, so we walked down and actually we were much closer than we realized.
After getting cleaned up, we grabbed some dinner and lo and behold, who do we find walking past our restaurant, but Danny, Matt and Chris, the 3 people we met on Ios who also made it to Santorini. From left to right: Me, Tiff, Chris (Seattle), sorry I can't remember her name, Matt (Australia), and Danny (Ohio). That night we grabbed some cheap, but surprisingly good wine, and headed out to this bonfire that one of the bars was having. Total couples-central so we didn't stick around for long. It was nice to get to sleep early. Unfortunately, it was this night that Tiffany started feeling sick.
The next day, we took the bus up to Akrotiri, the ruins of the Minoan civilization and the number one reason for Tiffany wanting to come to this island. It was interesting, but I was more along for the ride: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
After that, we took a walk to Red Beach. Quite beautiful. Took a swim, got a burn. It was great.
After that we headed up to catch the bus back to Perissa. After waiting for quite awhile, who happened by (again), but Danny and Matt on scooters. They generously gave us a ride back. It was at this point that we decided that we really needed to rent a car because the bus system doesn't quite run often enough and reliably enough. Well, I wanted scooters, but Tiffany wasn't up for it. We wanted to stop and do some wine tasting, but we were too late and too hungry, so we headed up to Ioa (pronounced "wee-a"), a town at the highest point of the island which lines the caldera, overlooking the volcano center. Good sunset, which was slightly hampered by the marine layer. Good thing we had the car, because as we sat having dessert, we could see a storm rolling in, lightning and all. It sprinkled on us during our drive back, but didn't start pouring until about 1 minute before we got back to our room. Tiffany had to run in to grab the clothes we had set out to dry. It was too late.
The next day, everything was dry and "back to normal" for our tour of the volcano and hot springs. Danny happened to be going on this same trip. We took a small boat out to the "island" and a cruise ship was in the area that Dan's father happened to be on. So we parked the boat on the "island", and took a hike. The trip offered a unique view of the island, the part that is not barren and has people, plants, and animals living on it. There were several sulfer-stained steam vents. It is also a hot, active place. You could dig a little whole anywhere you wanted, and you could feel the heat and maybe even see a little steam yourself. After the hike, we all hopped of the boat, into the water, and swam to the hot springs, which really weren't all that hot, but definitely warmer than the sea. Of course, what hot springs is complete without its own chapel and a group of goats.
And that's it. We stayed in the port after the tour to catch our slow ferry to Crete where we were to stay 1 night and catch an early flight to Rome. Matt happened to be on this same cruise with us. I slept most of the way. Apparently it rained while I was asleep. We checked into a nice hotel in town, had a quick bite to eat, and then Tiffany proceeded to get sick the rest of the way. We called home to have Rob, her boyfriend, look at flights from Rome back to San Diego. I was to spend the rest of the trip traveling alone...
After getting cleaned up, we grabbed some dinner and lo and behold, who do we find walking past our restaurant, but Danny, Matt and Chris, the 3 people we met on Ios who also made it to Santorini. From left to right: Me, Tiff, Chris (Seattle), sorry I can't remember her name, Matt (Australia), and Danny (Ohio). That night we grabbed some cheap, but surprisingly good wine, and headed out to this bonfire that one of the bars was having. Total couples-central so we didn't stick around for long. It was nice to get to sleep early. Unfortunately, it was this night that Tiffany started feeling sick.
The next day, we took the bus up to Akrotiri, the ruins of the Minoan civilization and the number one reason for Tiffany wanting to come to this island. It was interesting, but I was more along for the ride: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
After that, we took a walk to Red Beach. Quite beautiful. Took a swim, got a burn. It was great.
After that we headed up to catch the bus back to Perissa. After waiting for quite awhile, who happened by (again), but Danny and Matt on scooters. They generously gave us a ride back. It was at this point that we decided that we really needed to rent a car because the bus system doesn't quite run often enough and reliably enough. Well, I wanted scooters, but Tiffany wasn't up for it. We wanted to stop and do some wine tasting, but we were too late and too hungry, so we headed up to Ioa (pronounced "wee-a"), a town at the highest point of the island which lines the caldera, overlooking the volcano center. Good sunset, which was slightly hampered by the marine layer. Good thing we had the car, because as we sat having dessert, we could see a storm rolling in, lightning and all. It sprinkled on us during our drive back, but didn't start pouring until about 1 minute before we got back to our room. Tiffany had to run in to grab the clothes we had set out to dry. It was too late.
The next day, everything was dry and "back to normal" for our tour of the volcano and hot springs. Danny happened to be going on this same trip. We took a small boat out to the "island" and a cruise ship was in the area that Dan's father happened to be on. So we parked the boat on the "island", and took a hike. The trip offered a unique view of the island, the part that is not barren and has people, plants, and animals living on it. There were several sulfer-stained steam vents. It is also a hot, active place. You could dig a little whole anywhere you wanted, and you could feel the heat and maybe even see a little steam yourself. After the hike, we all hopped of the boat, into the water, and swam to the hot springs, which really weren't all that hot, but definitely warmer than the sea. Of course, what hot springs is complete without its own chapel and a group of goats.
And that's it. We stayed in the port after the tour to catch our slow ferry to Crete where we were to stay 1 night and catch an early flight to Rome. Matt happened to be on this same cruise with us. I slept most of the way. Apparently it rained while I was asleep. We checked into a nice hotel in town, had a quick bite to eat, and then Tiffany proceeded to get sick the rest of the way. We called home to have Rob, her boyfriend, look at flights from Rome back to San Diego. I was to spend the rest of the trip traveling alone...