Anyway, after all our running around Rome, Croatia, and Paris, the island was a wonderful change of pace. It was dustier and a bit less picturesque than we expected, but it had a definite island feel! We had a Greek lunch then spent the afternoon on a beautiful black sand beach! (The whole Santorini Island grouping was formed by volcano and the sand is from the volcanic rock.) After swimming in the Mediterranean and roasting in the sun all day we had a chill dinner overlooking the beach, roamed around shopping, and went to bed early. (Oh, we forgot to mention that our trip had started at 3am when we got up to head to the airport, so sleep was necessary!)
The next morning (Monday) we joined an awesome tour group to see all of the Santorini Islands. (And thanks to the economic downfall of Greece we paid only €20 for a full day tour!) First stop after a short boat ride was a hike to the top of the still active Santorini Volcano. Thanks to everything being black rock and vegetation-less, it was a hooooot hike! But don't worry, the second stop was a dive into the Mediterranean to swim in the hot springs (which were not actually hot, but quite refreshing). The third stop was to Thiresa, a small farming and fishing island where we had more crystal water to swim in and more cloudless sun to enjoy. After dinner on the boat we landed in Oia (pronounced Eee-aah), the city that you usually see when you see pictures of Santorini. It is well-known for its amazing sunsets and its blue roofed churches. To get from the boat landing to the city, there were 220 steps; Amy was really excited to ride a donkey up, and Jenni was really excited to avoid the smelly donkeys and walk up! (Jenni noted that Amy smelled like ass... HA HA!) At the top, we were not disappointed by the city, shopping, milkshakes, or sunset. After a short bus ride back we called it a night!
On Tuesday, we checked out of our room and went to the beach again. We decided that Santorini was the place for an adventure! We took to new heights and went parasailing!! The view (and the wonderful breeze) were fantastic!! It was amazingly quiet up there! After drying out we had lunch and lounged around by the pool until it was time to head to the airport. Overall, Santorini was wonderful; the people were welcoming and generous (we got several free desserts and a free ride to the airport), the atmosphere was so relaxed, and the island was gorgeous. No internet access also helped us really get away from things for a few days. Plus, we had a 24-hour bakery down the street which we might have visited about 5 delicious times!
After Santorini we went to Athens... which, sad to say, was actually much less interesting than expected. Tuesday night we got to our hostel, checked in, and went to bed. On Wednesday we had a tour of the Acropolis scheduled. We saw some old stuff (like the Parthenon) then went to a museum to see more old stuff... Truth be told, it might have been cooler if we weren't surrounded by even better history in Rome every day. In Rome, we get to be a part of, and walk within, history all the time; in Athens, we got to see history. In Rome, history is every where you look, but in Athens some history has been moved to a museum rather than leaving at its original site. We were underwhelmed.
We spent the afternoon shopping in the Plaka, the center of the city and an area with tons of shops and restaurants. It is called the "neighborhood of the Gods" because it is in the shadow of the Acropolis (the area which houses both the Parthenon as well as many other ancient temples).
Thursday we got up and literally had nothing more to see. After channeling our inner-Greeks (thank you, Uncle Lee! - see below), we watched the birds in the park until it was time to go to the airport.
After a few days to rest up and get our lives in order, we head out to Venice on Monday!!
Also, the Euro Cup 2012 finals will be Sunday night, Spain versus ITALY! The semi-finals were last night and it was a huge party! It should be a zoo here on Sunday!! Go Italy! (And if you aren't into sports, it's like the soccer version of the Super Bowl, but with all of Europe!)
Pictures:
1) swimming at the Santorini hot springs
2) our awesome tour boat!!
3) Amy riding a smelly ass (hehe)
4) us at a volcano
5) beautiful sunset over Santorini
6) parasailing!
7) "channeling our inner Greek" with a toga party
8) more parasailing
9) at the Parthenon in the Acropolis
10) beautiful views over Oia, Santorini
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