SANTORINI is so many things... A Greek Island, The Most Amazing Place on Earth, and My New Found Love!!!

THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2009

We (Sarah Frost, Annie Mahoney, Jillian Newsam, and Me) left Thessaloniki at 4:30pm and took the 6-hour train to Athens. I slept for most of the way, but couldn’t for the last couple of hours. We all started gabbing back and forth and there was this little girl that just kept staring at us. We couldn’t tell if she spoke Greek, English, or if she even spoke at all. She was so cute though. Every once in a while she would come by our seats and just stare at us. One of us would say Γεια Σασ (“Ya sas” = Hello) and she would just smile at us for a while and then turn around and run back to her mom and stare at us again! She did the entire last two hours of our train ride! It was so funny – when we were getting off of the train in Athens, her mom came up to us and told us that she was just learning English and liked to listen to us!

We made our way out to the street to find the metro station, but of course… there were 50 billion cab drivers being very persistent to take us to where we were trying to go. All I heard was “You need a taxi, we take you! Where are you going, I will take you. I have a taxi, I take you.” We just walked by them for a while and kept looking for the metro station because it would be so much cheaper but of course, there was not a stop near the train station. So we went back and just hopped in a cab. The fare was 30 euro to get to the airport, which wasn’t bad because we split it between 4 people but it was still enough. We got to the airport around 12:30 but couldn’t check in or anything until 3:30, so we bummed around the airport and found some food! There was a Sabarro Pizza place – we were all craving pizza for some reason and we know that Sabarro is good in the States so we were excited to have good pizza. However, let me tell you it was not the best thing in the world since peanut butter and jelly. It was so disgusting – it was old, just gross, and expensive – it was 5 euro for a slice (that is about $7 USD). Sarah was the smart one, she ordered last, because once she saw what the pizza looked like, she decided not to get it… She went across the hallway to Dominos and had their amazing pizza – that she said tasted exactly like home and it was only 3 euro.

After we all had our fill on pizza, we made our way up to McDonalds – I wanted ice cream and others wanted apple pies. But of course the ice cream machine was broken so I couldn’t get any ice cream (well cheap ice cream). So we chilled in the McDonalds seating area until they kicked us out because they had to close to get set up for breakfast. Ok, they had to change the menu items… and then they opened back up. But it was time for us to go check in anyway so we did that and found our gates. And again, I found a comfy spot on the rock hard benches and fell asleep. It is amazing how fast I can fall asleep in public places now… I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing. HAHAHA!

Painting my toe nails - wasting time sitting at McDonalds

After about what seemed like 20 minutes, it was time to board our plane. So we got on and were in Santorini in 40 minutes! Our flight was early in the morning so we got to watch the sunset from the plane over the volcano! It was epic!

Once we found the hostel, it was about 7am, the owner let us in and we all just fell asleep… well after my bed – I mean my cot – crashed to the floor on one end because the leg wasn’t fully attached. It actually wasn’t that uncomfy though so that was good!

A little frustrated with my cot

FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2009

We woke up at 1pm and I went down to pay our remaining balance on the room. I went down to pay the owner and she looked so confused. I showed her the confirmation email we got and showed her the receipt that was emailed to us. She looked at it and was still confused, so I showed her where it said the total and she was like ok… She took our money and I was like – ok this is a little sketch. I asked her for a receipt and said she would be right back with one. So… when she got back she handed me a sheet of paper with a stamp with the name of the hostel on it. The receipt was hilarious… It said “We take the money. It was €86.40.” It was ridiculous and we all laughed about it for quite a while.

Our receipt from the Hostel!

View from the roof of our hostel! The sea is on the right - right across from the hostel!

We headed across the street to look at the water… Oh wait, we laid on the fantastic beach chairs with comfy cushions, listened to the water, and soaked up the sun. After about an hour of soaking up the beautiful Santorini rays, our hostel drink guy came to ask us if we wanted anything to drink. He introduced himself as “Beach Boy,” but when it came out of his mouth, his accent made it sound like “Bitch Boy.” And then he gave us all nicknames as well… “Beach Girl 1 (Annie)… Beach Girl 2 (Jill)… Beach Girl 3(Me)… Beach Girl 4 (Sarah)… which of course sounded like “Bitch Girl 1, 2, 3, 4!” It was so funny! Oh and the stray dog he named “Beach Dog!” So we all thought he said Bitch Boy, Bitch Girls, and the Bitch Dog. It was a pretty good laugh!

Our fantastic view, comfy sun chairs, and fun palm tree umbrellas!

Again... Just BEAUTIFUL!!!

Just relaxing in the sun! I could get used to this!!!

The four girls hanging out in the water - Me, Sarah, Jill, Annie

We decided to order some food after a while and then we met the chef/barman, Vasailles, and the manager, Vagelis. They were both really nice. Jill had to use the internet to register for classes so we had to go to the other office because the computers were not currently at the hostel (we were the first customers at the hostel… it was pretty new)! Vagelis drove us to the office and we used the internet and found a grocery store and bought some unidentifiable lunch meat and bread for sandwiches. Vagelis drove us back to the hostel and showed us some good beach bars on the way back.

Once we got back to the hostel, we went down to the beach and made some sandwiches. This meat was so disgusting… I think it was turkey but I am not sure… It was so slimy and every time we would try to take a piece out the mucus on it would fly in the wind and just drip everywhere. It was so disgusting… but there was this adorable dog, we named him Baxter, that just looked at us with his head cocked off to the side. We gave him some of the meat – he didn’t mind the sliminess and ate the rest of the package (only about 5 pieces). He hung around with us while we ate and then when we started to walk back to our room, he just followed us. We went up the stairs to our room and he followed us right up the stairs. It was so funny because the other three girls went into the room and held the door open for me! I stayed at the end of the hallway with Baxter and once they had the door open and were clear, I ran down the hallway and Baxter was right behind me. I ran into the room and shut the door and he just waited outside the door for us.

~"Baxter" So Cute~

He finally left after a couple of hours and was gone when we left to go to “Yazz” beach bar! We stayed there for a few hours and then went back home and went to bed!

The Girls at 'Yazz' Beach Bar

Me, Jill, Annie, and Sarah

SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2009

We rented a jeep and toured the island. It was so much fun! It was so weird driving again – especially because it was a stick. We first went to Red Beach and climbed up and down the rock hill. It was beautiful – well everything besides the naked man running back and forth from the water to the hill. Once we left there, we went to the highest point on the island and we could basically see the entire island. There was maybe about ¼ of the island that we couldn’t see because there was a church at the top that covered one side.

Sarah and I in our Jeep!

Our first stop with the Jeep!

Red Beach

Peak where the Lighthouse is located! Beautiful!!!

Jill and I rockin' out in the back seat to some oldies!

From here, we went to Fira and did some shopping, which was a blast. Everything was so cheap! We only had one little mishap from shopping… Jill and I were looking at glass bottles to buy to put sand in and as we were backing out of the corner where they were in the store (the corner that had so much stuff (breakable stuff) jammed into it) a few ‘ugly’ donkeys fell off the shelf. The store owner ran up to us and started saying stuff in Greek – I didn’t know what she was saying because she was talking so fast… But I could tell that she wasn’t happy at all… Ooops! Jill and I continued to look at the bottles and went to go pay for our things. She rang everything into the register and then added 2 euro onto the receipt. I asked her what that was for and she said because of the two broken donkeys. I really didn’t want to pay for those things but she was not going to let me get off the hook. So I just bit it and bought the two donkeys, one with no ear and the other one’s head was only attached to the body by the hair running from its neck to its back. The things are ugly but there is definitely a good story behind them!

Epic House in Fira, Santorini - White building and Blue accents!

After Fira, we left for Oia (Ia) to watch the sunset. Oia is the area that looks like it was from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Mama Mia movies. Before we got to Oia, we saw a sign for another beach so we detoured to check it out. When we parked the jeep, it was on a steep hill with a cement wall about 10 feet behind it. We parked it in backwards because we thought it would be easier to pull out. I was too nervous to drive because the hill was so steep and when I drove part of the way to the beach, I killed it a few times when we were stopped on hills. Sarah got into the driver’s seat and started it up. Jill and I were in the back and Annie was in the front seat. She put into first and started to pull away (She is good at driving a manual and hadn’t had a problem with it all day); it killed and we rolled about 4 feet back. She slammed on the breaks and after we skidded another 2 feet the jeep finally stopped rolling. We were all scared to death, except Sarah. The three of us got out and did our best at attempting to push on the back of the jeep while Sarah tried to pull out again. The jeep killed and the brakes didn’t do a thing this time. It slammed back into the wall and thank god the spare tire was on there because that is the part that hit the wall and I think the damage would have been a lot worse if that wouldn’t have been there. It would have happened to any of us if we were driving and probably would have been a lot worse if it wasn’t Sarah driving. Sarah pulled out and stopped once she got off the hill. The door was dented in and we did the best we could to push it back out. We took the back panel off and got it to push the dent out a little bit and did but couldn’t get the whole thing. We called the car rental place and told them about the damage. They asked if we were ok and if the jeep ran well enough to drive it back. We told them it was fine and they were just like “Ok, well let us know when you get back to the office; if you get back tonight.” I thought that was really weird because I feel like in the States they would have wanted that vehicle back asap.

I was just waiting to see what was coming next because that was the second thing that we broke that day – and things always tend to come in threes.

So after our little destructive trip to the beach we went straight to Oia. Everything was so pretty. We watched the sunset, which really wasn’t a sunset because it was rather cloudy. We stayed here for a while and then started to head back home. Our drive home took a little longer than expected. We were given a map of Santorini, which had approximately 6 roads on it. We figured that there were smaller side roads that would lead us back to our hostel in Perissa, than what were on the map but NOPE there weren’t. We ended up on the complete other side of the island and stopped to ask for directions. The people in the taverna we stopped at just laughed when we told them we had to get back to Perissa. Oh well exploring the island was rather fun!

Beautiful Scenery


Windmill and Sunset - OIA

Me, Sarah, Jill, and Annie in Oia for the sunset!

Just enjoying the moment!

Oia at night

We got back to the hostel, ate some supper, and just went to sleep because it was a ridiculously long day.


SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2009

We had to meet Vagelis to take us to the car rental office to get the damages accessed. He gave us crap for ‘crashing’ the jeep, of course because he gave us crap from the first time we met him. We walked into the office and the lady called the auto body shop. She looked at it and then told them what was wrong with it. The estimated damage was 250€ which is equivalent to about $350; however, thank God we bought the full coverage insurance for 5€ because that reduced the costs to 150€ which is about $200. It still sucked but it was so much better than the entire $350. So we paid the amount after a little bit of money juggling and Vagelis drove us back to the hostel. That kind of put a damper on the day but we just went to lay on the beach!

We went to another beach bar that night which was a little more of a night club than a bar, so we got to do a little dancing! Vagelis hung out with us for a couple of hours and left about 2 hours before we did. Once we left, we went across the street and down by the water to take some pictures with the waves! After about 15 minutes, we started walking back to the hostel. Again we all crashed once we hit our pillows.

Sarah and I at "The Beach Bar" sporting our new tans!

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2009

We woke up early and got all of our things together because we had to leave later that afternoon. Annie was looking for her camera and couldn’t find it anywhere. The 3rd thing in our series of bad luck had come. She lost it the night before. We think she set it down on the beach and forgot to pick it up before we left to go home. So that kind of put a damper on the day as well.

We laid on the beach for the entire rest of the day and fried ourselves. We left the hostel at about 3:30pm to make our 5:30pm flight because we didn’t know how long it would take to get through security and get to the gate. HAHAHA well, Santorini airport had one runway and one security check-in and 6 gates that were all within 2 feet of the next one. It literally took 10 minutes, maybe less, from the time we entered the airport to the time we found the gate!

Annie and I waited for our plane to board and basically just twitteled our thumbs for an hour and a half. Jill’s flight left a few hours after ours and Sarah’s left the next morning. We all wanted to take the cheapest route to Santorini and apparently they sell just a few cheap seats on each flight.

Once we got to Athens, Annie and I waited for Jill and were taking the night train back to Thessaloniki. Our train left at 11:59pm and Jill’s flight landed at 9:30pm. We talked to information in the airport and they told us that it only would take 45 minutes on the train to get to the central train station from the airport. We went to get some food before heading to the train station. We went to McDonalds again and left after a half hour.

We got to the first train stop and went to switch trains. The one was just pulling away when we got there and had to wait for the next one to come. We looked at the schedule, which didn’t help us at all and then had to ask the workers to see which train we need to get on. I whipped out my Greek and after a few misunderstandings we finally got across that we needed to be the central station by 11:59. He showed us the next train that went to Larissa Station (our stop) wouldn’t be coming for another 20 minutes. Well, just to add to our luck that train didn’t get to Larissa Station until 12:03am – 4 minutes after our train to go home left (the fourth part to the chain of bad luck we had). The main worker told us to call ahead and ask if they could hold the train for us. Of course, they couldn’t do that – it is a form of public transportation and they cannot wait for three people because they are going to be a few minutes late. So we had to take a taxi from that station to the next, which took another 10 minutes to get my point across. The lady called a cab for us and he showed up in 12 minutes. We had a total of 17 minutes to make it to our station so it was a good thing that our cab driver was a crazy Greek cab driver! We almost rear ended 2 cars and a moped on the way, so once we stopped at Larissa Station I was so happy to get out of the car!

We made it to the train station on time and had a few minutes to spare! We found our seats but of course, they were occupied so we had to tell the Greeks sitting there that they were our seats. They got up and the three of us sat down. I started studying for my Greek test I had at 11am the next day and the other two girls fell asleep.

After a couple of hours, I started to get really cold and couldn’t figure out why. Then I heard it… there were automatic doors between each car and a person had fallen asleep on the floor and would twitch every couple of seconds causing the door to open. It was kind of funny! I tried to fall asleep but couldn’t.


TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2009

I was so glad to get back into Thessaloniki once our train pulled in. We took a cab home and I couldn’t decide if I wanted to sleep for an hour and a half and be more tired or just stay up and go to bed early that night. I stayed up and was exhausted by the time I got home after school that night at 8pm. By the time I got home from school, Sarah had gotten back from her train ride so I went to talk to her about her little adventures. We made some dinner and I passed out at about 11!

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I fell in LOVE with Santorini and cannot wait to go back someday! It was seriously my most favorite trip throughout the past 4 months!!!