Greece: Day 3....finally!

So day 3. It was a travel day. But it was an EXCITING travel day! We decided to head out to Santorini. The day before we could only find tickets for the slow boat ferry. Kind of like a cruise ship. I'm so glad we chose that route. It was fun and relaxing...more on that later.

So this is funny. Mine and Angela's bags made the worst noise on the sidewalks by our hotel. This is around 6 in the morning, too. I felt bad. Dawn thought it was hilarious, so she decided to document it with a picture.

This is us waiting for the subway. The benches were interesting, and we obviously were over waiting there at 6am. So we get on the subway and the line going to Piraeus (port city), was closed. So we got out in this random part of Athens, and found a taxi. He was a nice Greek grandpa that crossed himself every time we drove by a church. We also drove through a REALLY bad part of Athens. Prostitutes, refugees, rundown buildings. Yeah, it was interesting and sad. Really sad.

We barely made it to our ferry. We ran, and only had a few minutes to spare. We booked it on up to the deck (or steerage, as I like to call it), to claim some good seats.

 

This was our seating on the ferry. Tables and chairs. But before you think about how uncomfortable, imagine the cool Mediterranean air and the constant view of the blue, blue ocean. Yeah, it really wasn't that bad.

 

 Here is a view of the water and the port. I was kind of obsessed with the water. You may have got that by now.

 

Sunrise and the beat-up Greek flag. This was one of those moments. The ones where you want to pinch yourself because there is no way that this moment is real.

 

 This was our view for a few hours. It was awesome. I think if I ever go back, no WHEN I go back to Greece, I'll take the slow boat over again.

 

This rock formation fascinated me. Just random rocks, hanging out in the middle of the ocean. Plus I liked how everything was blue, and BAM! Brown.

The first port was Paros. It looked cool, but nothing like the pictures I'd seen of Santorini. But it was the perfect build up. The excitement was getting more and more intense.

Another, closer view of Paros...

 

 Disembarkation at Paros. The ferry played the funniest little cartoon music when the ramp was being lowered. It was a lot of fun. I wish I had a recording of it.

 

The next stop was Naxos. Now, I really wouldn't mind going back there. It looked like a lot of fun, plus my old roommate Katie went there and loved it. Oh well, next time.

Close up of Naxos!

Wider view...

I think this is the ruins of a temple of Apollo. I would have loved to go investigate. You don't even know how awesome the archaeology was in this country. I could have spent a year there and been totally fine with it.

Leaving Naxos! See you next trip...oh hello, Angela! I'm sorry I took a picture of you without your knowing.

Now comes the big shabang! Santorini! This was our first view of the island. You can see how the caldera curves around. Look at all that red volcanic rock! Oh heck yeah we were going to an island that's history inspired legend of the lost city of Atlantis!

This is Oia. Pronounced eee-ya. It's all sunny and gleaming now, but when we went it was so windy, we thought we were going to go over the cliff on our ATV's.

On our way to the port at Fira...

 

 While we were waiting to disembark, we were standing next to this awesome guy. He had his little buddy tucked in his jacket. It was awesome.

 

After we got off the ferry, we looked for a taxi. I asked this one taxi driver, he asked where we were staying and then got in his car and drove off. We were soooo pissed off. This is us being pissed off. I'm trying to find the number to our hotel, Galatia Villas. They didn't have a shuttle, so we asked someone about the bus, and they were like, it leaves from over there. When? In an hour. Yeah, so not happy.

Finally we got a taxi! Taxi #1. By the most awesome taxi driver of all time. We would say thank you and he was like, "You in Greece! Speak Greek! Efkharisto!" Yeah, he was really awesome. We passed a stupid restaurant called Senor Yorbas, or something like that. It was a Mexican place. #1 taxi driver was like "eh! Touristos!" Again with the awesome.

 

He dropped us off and we had to trek it down the hill with our bags. Turns out he was just being lazy because the taxi driver that picked us up to go back to the ferry, came down the hill.

 

 The front of our hotel. We were trying to figure out where to go. Down the stairs? Around the building? One thing you need to know about Greece, they really are all "eh! whatever!" No signs, no one knows anything. Yeah, fun times.

 

But we figured it out and found our room. It was right next to the office and down the stairs. We got our keys from another hairy-chested Greek man with a gold chain. It was a really cute hotel, even if it had cardboard beds and the smallest shower known to man.

We ditched our bags and then headed up to the main part of Fira. This was one of the buildings I took a picture of on our way up. It was insane how beautiful it was there.

 

 The little roads and pathways were so quaint and interesting. You just wanted to walk, walk, and walk some more exploring everything. Angela was in heaven.

 

Main street in Fira. Home of the ATM's so we could get cash! I bought a beach towel here, and Angela and Dawn got beach hats.

We finally made it to the edge. Yes, I was happy! How can you tell? By the fact that I'm actually smiling and showing my teeth. Oh yeah, this was awesome. So worth getting laid off, HA!

This was at our spot. I wanted to pet this cat like you wouldn't know. He was fat and cute.

 

 This was our spot. The wall between Cafe Classico and some other building, probably a jewelry shop. I love these pink flowers. And look at the sunset!

 

Us at our spot, eating gelato. I had coconut cream. It was awesome. Don't mind my hair. Frizz city. Plus it was short, bad combo.

Sunset in Fira. I can imagine myself there, right now. I get kind of nostalgic and weepy over it.  

 

And finally, dinner. We went to Nicholas' tavern. It was in all the guidebooks, and for good reason! We had moussaka, stuffed grape leaves, and fish. I can't remember what they were called, but they were amazing!!! Seriously, one of the best things I've ever eaten. It was a long, but GREAT day!