Santorini, Properly...

Roof of Church

Hi Everyone!

When I sat down to write this blog, I fully intended to apologize for not writing more often. However, after some though I have a)just accepted the fact that I am not going to be able to update this blog as much as I would like (I hope you can accept that, too) and b)I’m quite happy with the fact that I am out experiencing my trip instead of spending hours behind a computer telling you about it. That's not to say I don't love sharing my adventures with everyone, but I have found myself stressing over not writing as much lately and that's not good! Hopefully you and I can find a happy medium.

As I am sure you could tell, I did not come close to doing Santorini justice in my last blog. So while I am currently sitting in my friend Ginny's beautiful apartment in beautiful Rome, I am going to write a post about beautiful Santorini. Don't worry, then I will tell you about beautiful Rome.

I am one of those people who would prefer to see a films I know nothing and have heard nothing about. I often find myself pleasantly surprised with these films. When a movie has been built up too much, or even worse, I find out that Angelina Jolie dies in the end, my movie-going experience tends to be generally disappointing. This was my fear in going to Santorini. I had heard and read so much about how stunning Santorini is and about it's impressive Caldera. To make matters worse, my brother, Aaron, and his wife, Kelly, had been to Santorini just two summers ago on their honeymoon and not only raved about it, but had shown me all of their pictures. Needless to say, I was preparing myself for possible disappointment. Impossible. Santorini really is one of the most breathtaking places I have ever seen, and this is largely due to the Caldera.

Dave Looking Over the Caldera

Now, what's the story with this Caldera? The modern island of Santorini is the result of an earth shattering volcanic eruption. In @%*$ BC (or was it AD?). The volcano that resided in the center of the island, formerly known as "the round one" as it looked like a big disc, erupted causing one of the biggest explosions in the history of the earth. Hot lava and ash spewed 35 kilometers into the sky and tsunamis traveled as far as Israel and Asia Minor. The eruption also caused the center of the island to drop out and the waters of the Aegean to fill in. Thus, forming what is now known as the Caldera. A few smaller eruptions and some earthquakes along the way finished off the job, but the result is something along the lines of Big Sur on steroids, but in the middle of the Aegean Sea. It also offers up the most beautiful (and famous) sunsets, dare I say, in the world! It is worth every bit of hype.

View of the Caldera

When Dave and I arrived in Santorini we, once again, had not yet booked a place to stay. We decided to go with the trusty "Greek" way of doing things and just pick a place amongst the hoards of hotel owners the would surely greet us at the port. It worked out beautifully in Paros, so we figured this was the way to go in Santorini. What a mistake. To make a long story short, we were talked into staying at a place one what I call "the wrong side" of Santorini (aka the non-Caldera side) in Perrissa beach. For those of you heading to Santorini, DO NOT make this mistake. Not only does it take 45 minutes (not the short 15 minutes the hotel owners claims) to get to any view of the Caldera or to get into Fira (the main town), but Perissa is an unexciting and slightly dirty place. Also, don't be drawn in by the "black sand beach" as it's not very nice. What I will say is that you can find VERY cheap places to stay on that side of the island, but you can also find cheap places just outside the town of Fira where you will be in walking distance to an exciting town and full views of the Caldera.

After quickly discovering that we were, in fact, on the wrong side of the island, Dave and I spent our first evening in Santorini driving around on a moped trying to find a new place to stay. As our luck goes (we have exceedingly good luck with finding wonderful and affordable places to stay) we stumbled upon a very simple and pretty hotel called The Butterfly Villas which is RIGHT ON THE CALDERA!!! For only 80 euro a night (trust me that is CHEAP for a Caldera view) we got a beautiful little studio with a kitchenette and a balcony that looked right out over the Caldera. It was breathtaking. The only problem with Butterfly Villas is that only one person who works there actually speaks English, making it nearly impossible to get any information out of them. Even our poor attempts at Greek didn’t seem to help the lack in communication. I requested fresh towels for the bathroom and we were brought coffee. Dave asked where we could catch the bus into town and the man behind the desk came around and hugged him. We needed a new plan.

Enjoying the View from the Butterfly Terraces

Luckily, there is an even nicer hotel right next door called The Volcano View, which we could not afford, but were perfectly happy to use for everything else besides a room. We used their internet, had them call us cabs into town, booked excursions with their concierge, and enjoyed mimosas at their complimentary and very delicious breakfast. It worked out just perfectly. In fact, after a few days we were even getting waves and nods from the our “fellow guests” as they began to recognize us.

So we blissfully woke up each morning to greet the Caldera, headed next store for some breakfast, headed back to our hotel to lay by the pool with a beer in hand, talking about how wonderful our lives were. Then we would make our way back to the room just in time to watch the sun set over the Caldera while sitting on our balcony with a bottle of local wine and some savory cheese from the food stall just up the road. Not too shabby.

Wine and Cheese Part on Our Balcony

We also spent some time exploring the towns of Fira and Oia. Fira is the place you want to be for energy and nightlife. However, be forewarned that the nasty beast called tourism has sunk its claws deep into Fira. The little streets are lined with shops that, for the most part, offer predictable and overpriced souvenirs and designer diggs. There are some good food options in Fira, but steer clear of most restaurants that line the Caldera. You will overpay for some pretty mediocre food. Not to mention you will also get charged a “sitting fee” for the view. This is not actually explained to you when you sit down, of course. Instead, when you inevitably ask what the mysterious extra charge is on your bill, your waiter simply points to the minuscule print at the very bottom of the menu. This is not to say that every restaurant in Fira is out to rip you off, however, I would advise to dine with caution. The general rule seemed to be that the food gets better tasting and more affordable as you move away from the Caldera views.

Dave and I with View of Fira Behind Us

Fira at Night

As for Oia, what it lacks in excitement, it more than makes up for in romanticism and beauty. Dave and I headed to Oia for our last night (also his birthday night) to watch a sunset. Yes, another fucking sunset. However, this really was the mother of them all as Oia is world famous for its sunsets. Thinking we were so very clever, we snuck onto a rooftop trying to avoid the hoards of people that had already been gathered for hours in anticipation for the sun to start setting. About 10 minutes later we were told by a local restaurant manager that we needed to move. We tried to protest, but when he told us it was his roof, well, we couldn’t really argue. By this point all the cafes were jam-packed and every bit of stonewall to sit on was filled. So Dave and I found ourselves watching the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my life while sitting in a garbage dump...literally. When the sun just began to turn that deep reddish orange, I had almost forgot about the fact that I was using an old mop as a cushion. It was definitely an experience. At the end of the sunset people actually cheered as if the earth had just put on a show just for us. I, too, jumped up and cheered. I wasn’t quite sure if I was cheering for the beauty of the sunset, cheering for the other people who were also cheering, or just cheering because I would have otherwise been sitting at my desk back in California plugging away on an ordinary Tuesday evening. I think it was everything. Then I picked a chicken bone off the back of my dress and headed into town to find some wine and birthday cake.

Sunset in Oia

Crowd Watching Sunset in Oia

Oia at Night

The next morning we caught an early flight to Athens where we had an 8 hour lay-over before heading to Rome. Dave and I decided we would hang at the airport instead of heading back into Athens for the day. This way Dave could get some work done and I could try to get some much needed sleep (we had watched the sun come up two nights earlier and had gotten three hours of sleep the night before). I am sad this day was my last impression of Greek people.

I am starting to become a better traveler as I have FINALLY learned how to sleep anywhere (as long as I am laying down, that is). This was something I always aspired to be able to do and envied those who had this amazing ability. So I was actually quite happy with the prospect of a day at the airport where I could just find myself a little bench or row of chairs and curl up with my sweatshirt for a few hours of much-needed zzz. Little did I know that every employee of the Athens airport was part of a conspiracy not to let me sleep that day. My first attempt at sleep was on a padded bench at a table Dave and I were sitting at in a little coffee shop. Perfect! It was soft and I could be close to Dave. I had put my head down (not even putting my feet up!) for five-minutes when the cleaning lady came over and starting yelling "trouble! trouble!" at me. I guess I understood that sleeping in the coffee shop was not really kosher (even at the airport), so I took my sweatshirt and went searching for an open bench. I walked to an empty part of the terminal and found a row of open airport chairs that were calling my name. I got myself settled in and fell right to sleep. However, I was abruptly awoken, this time by an official airport worker, yelling "Good morning" at me and then telling me that this terminal was too busy and I couldn’t take up an entire row of chairs. I lifted my head up to look around at all the people and there was NOBODY there! I shared my observation with her and told her I desperately needed to sleep and if she could just please let me alone for another hour. She then threatened to call security and I was just too tired to deal with that hassle. So, once again, I grabbed my sweatshirt and headed back to the coffee shop to find Dave. Instead of sleep I chose books and caffeine and for the next 3 hours I sat there secretly cursing the entire country until we finally boarded our flight to Rome.

Goodbye Greece!