April 17, 2010
These last few weeks of class are real Debbie Downers... they are keeping us busy with presentations, papers and exams. Of course, after returning from spring break, everyone realized that we have very little time left with everyone here. For me, classes officially end in ten days. When did this happen?! I swear just yesterday, I was gearing up for a month full of traveling adventures, and the end of April seemed very far away. Although I'm feeling nostalgic for the comforts of home (mom's chicken soup, dad's steak tacos...) I'm not ready to leave yet. Lucky for me, I get 3 extra weeks after classes end to experience Europe. Not sure what I will be filling those weeks with, but I'll let you know when I do :)
Now, a little recap of my spring break trip! I spent an amazing ten days in Athens, Santorini, Florence and Rome, and had some unforgettable experiences.
The journey began bright and early on a Friday, where my travel buddies and I headed to the airport lugging large, heavy suitcases and a lot of bottled up excitement. Our first stop: Athens. We were to arrive in the early afternoon, and were looking forward to a day walking around and seeing the sights. After dropping our stuff off at Hostel Zeus, we headed "toward the mountain," which to local Grecians is a sufficient and useful way to give directions to tourists hoping to reach the Parthenon. We stopped at a small gyro stand close to our hostel for some much needed sustenance, and I tried my first gyro (because Amsterdam does NOT count)!
We headed towards the Parthenon, stopping to take in the sight of several ruins on the way, which was really cool. Ever since seeing the Foro Romano when I went to Italy with my family about 8 years ago, I have always been amazed/intrigued by the realization that these places are thousands of years old; you just don't get that kind of ancient history in the US, and I feel really lucky that I've had the opportunity to see both ancient Greece and Rome. Anyway, after a good hike up, we made it to the top of the hill, only to find that the Parthenon had been closed for about 3 hours.. but, we did find a great lookout spot with views of the whole city, and were able to catch the sunset up there, too.
We then had a delicious dinner, and headed back to the hostel. There was a rooftop bar at Hostel Zeus, so we checked it out and had a couple drinks. Our flight to Santorini was the next morning, so we just chilled the rest of the night.
Disclaimer: The next four days of spring break were the most relaxing, amazing days I have ever experienced. I became obsessed with the island of Santorini, and words can't actually accurately express how much I love that place. But I'll do my best.
Our flight left Athens at 8:05am, and we took off on the smallest jet plane any of us had ever been on. Catherine, who doesn't enjoy flying anyway, was a little bit freaked out.
But it was all worth it to see this...
We were picked up at the airport by the owner of our hotel, Lefteris. He is a jovial man who has lived his entire life on the island of Santorini, which explains why he is such a happy person. We were greeted each morning with a "Good morning girls, if you need anything you tell me! You want a coffee or a tea?" and he was so helpful and friendly. Our room wasn't ready when we first got there, so we had all morning to explore the streets of Fira. We discovered this great restaurant called the Pelican Bar, which we ended up having breakfast at every morning the rest of the trip. We had delicious omelettes with mushrooms and feta cheese, a great way to start the day. If you turned right leaving our hotel, you found fields full of daisies, and a view of the sea. If you turned left and walked about 10 minutes through some cute cobblestone streets, you ran right into the caldera, or cliffside. Running into the caldera that first morning was the most amazing experience--to me, it represents the quintessential Greek island.
After settling into our room, which was a million times better than any hostel I've stayed in, and cheaper than most, we decided to head to the beach! Santorini has 3 beaches- the black beach, the red beach, and the white beach. The black beach is made of volcanic rock, and is the only one that you don't need a boat to get to. So we took a bus to Kamari beach, a short way from our hotel, where we enjoyed a nice dinner and a great view.
The next day, we woke up leisurely, ate our omelettes, and headed to a bike shop to rent some ATVs for the day. Best.day.of.my.life. There is nothing better than being able to explore an island entirely by ATV. Seriously. Do it sometime. The three of us were like giddy children, and could not stop smiling. We rented two bikes for the three of us, so we took turns riding them solo or sharing. I got the bike to myself at first, and I was seriously having the time of my life.
We first headed toward the town of Oia, about a 30 minute ride from Fira. We pulled over for a while on the way to take some photos, of course...
In search of the town center, we actually turned too soon and found ourselves walking down the cliffside, where we ended up at a currently under construction hotel that was completely deserted. It turned out to be the perfect location to get some sun and appreciate the beautiful, white-washed serenity of Oia.
We then headed back toward Fira, but continued on in hopes of reaching the red beach before sundown. Well, we caught the sunset on our way, but when we got to what we hoped was the red beach (after a little hiking...), we found out you actually need a boat to reach it. Oops. What we saw was still completely beautiful though.
So, to recap: Our fun-filled ATV adventure took us from one end of the island-Oia, to almost the completely opposite end. We drove back to Fira exhausted, but completely content after our day of exploring, and decided that the only way to go for the next two days was by 4-wheeler.
The next day, we took a boat tour to go see a volcano, and then swim in some hot springs. The boat ride was nice, and it was a gorgeous day. The website for these tours had warned that you should wear comfortable walking shoes, but all of us ignored that warning and wore cute sandals and flip flops. Well, getting around this volcano required a good deal of hiking; needless to say, our feet were not thanking us for this, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. The hot spring was an interesting experience, and was not what any of us expected. By this I mean that generally, a hot spring sounds like a big, natural hot tub where one can relax and enjoy, that generally does not involve any form of stress. Well, our tour guides anchored the boats about 75 meters from the actual hot spring, which required us to to swim through the knife-like cold of the sea to reach it. This would have been fine, even worth it, to reach the expected "hot" of the hot spring; weeeell, hot was more like lukewarm, erring on the side of chilly. The place smelled of sulfur, and we weren't exactly basking in the heat, more like shivering and trying to find the spots where warmth was spurting out momentarily. So. We stayed a bit, then swam back to our boat, which also involved holding up the plastic bag containing Catherine's camera, which made the swimming more of a challenge. Despite the unexpectedness of our little boat excursion, I'm glad to have invested in this 3-hour tour, for the simple fact that every piece of an experience goes to create the tapestry of the memory.
One of my most unforgettable experiences of this entire spring break happened after the boat ride, however. The three of us were still wet from swimming, and wearing dresses and skirts, so we made the executive decision while on the boat to take the cable car up the Caldera upon our return. When we walked to catch it, however, it was closed. We waited around for a couple minutes, trying to figure out what to do next, when we realized that everyone else from the boat tours would be, well, in the same boat as us, and we had better hurry to secure a form of transportation up the cliffside, which is a treacherous and long walk. The next 20 minutes were a whirlwind--we walked over to the base of the Caldera; an old Greek man asked us if we wanted to take a donkey ride; we said yes; we paid him; we walked over to a group of donkeys; we were hoisted on in a hurried fashion; we began the trek up; Catherine's donkey took her a little too close to the edge for comfort; my saddle started to slide off (probably due to my leaning to take videos...); a herd of "free-range donkeys" stampeded down the hill, complete with small Greek man chasing after them; my saddle continued to hold me at a precarious 45-degree angle; I prepared myself to fall off the donkey; our guide came to rescue me, or so I thought... but really, it was just the end of the ride! This donkey ride, which was simply taken as a quick form of transportation, turned into an unforgettable experience, and fulfilled one of the bulletpoints of my Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants checklist :)
Later on that day, we headed to Perissa on our ATVs, which is another part of the island along the black beach. We soaked up the sun all afternoon, and then headed on our way back to Oia, to catch the famous sunset! We stopped at a small convenience store on the way, and bought way too many snacks and a bottle of wine for the occasion. We walked through the town of Oia, which is so charming and lined with great little shops; we made a mental note to come back and check it out during the day. Anyway, we found a great spot to watch the sunset from, and posted up. We had heard that during peak summer months, hundreds of people could be found on the Caldera to watch the sunsets on any given evening, which made for a crowded experience. Lucky for us, there weren't too many people there, and we could enjoy the beauty of it without much distraction. The view was straight out of a postcard; I had high expectations for this particular sunset, because I had heard that it was one of the most beautiful in the world. What I found out though was that the sun sets beautifully wherever you are, but it's the atmosphere and sun setting on the white-washed beauty of this small, Greek town that makes it special.
One of my most memorable experiences came after watching the sunset; it was my turn to drive the ATV solo, so I took off ahead of the other two with a need for speed. Despite the cheesiness of this statement, I felt more alive than I have ever felt driving along the now-familiar road back to Fira. The cold wind was whipping across my face and hands, I admired the way the moonlight struck the water (and made the surface look like queso; very eloquent, I know), the smell of the flowers was intoxicating; all of this, coupled with the deserted road and the loudness of the ATV motor, motivated me to start singing. First, at a normal volume, which quickly turned into me belting out any and every song I had in recent memory. It was the most liberating, exhilarating feeling I have ever experienced, and I felt true joy in that moment.
Our final day in Santorini was filled with beach time and a return to the town of Oia for shopping. While the other girls shopped, I took some time to write a couple postcards, and search for stamps (which was harder than it should have been). I admired the view of the Caldera one last time over an ice cream cone, and in that moment, vowed to return someday. Santorini is ridiculously romantic, so going with future hubby is a must.
Leaving Santorini was hard, but the next leg of our journey was sure to be a worthy contender: Italia! I was excited to return to two of the places I had gone with my family when I was 13; Rome was my favorite, and I hadn't gotten a real feel for Florence back then, so I was excited to go back.
Italy post coming soon!
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