Santorini - The Best Decision Ever

Three day break from classes well-spent! Celebrated Oxi Day Weekend on the incredible island of Santorini (you know, like in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants?). The ferry left Athens Saturday morning at 7:30 am. We booked the tickets and our hostel at 11 pm on Friday. Left the dorms at 5:45 am. TIP: Economy seats on a ferry could mean anything from airplane seats to chairs and tables outside on the deck. Either way, get on to the boat at least 30 minutes before it leaves... or bring a jacket. But really, TIP: bring a jacket anyway. Because Santorini isn't just an island. Its an island made up of cliffs and cliffs mean the occasional windchill. But whatever. We still got tans. :)

Helloooo Fira, Santorini.

Bye bye, Athens!

ALSO! One last ferry TIP. Before you leave, check how many stops there are before arriving to your destination. The announcements are kind of hard to understand sometimes, and the barista might not exactly be friendly either, so you may pull a move like we did and get off on the wrong island and almost miss your ferry. Just a word from the wise. 

ANYWAY. When we did get off on Santorini and get to our hostel, we again experienced the amazing capacity of Greek hospitality. Thanks to a recommendation from a friend, we stayed at Villa Manos just outside of Fira (the main city of the island). The staff of this hostel not only picked us up from the ferry, but also fed us and told us everything we'd need to know about getting around Santorini. After we'd settled in, our new neighbor from Israel, Tithau (who had also just arrived from our ferry) knocked on our door and invited us to join him on a walk through town to see the sunset. 

Photographers perched in Oia.

Let me take a moment to explain the Santorini Sunset. On this island, everything revolves around the sunset and your entire day is planned around being able to catch its splendor over dinner on the cliffs. The most popular viewing point for this event is in the town of Oia (Eeyah) on the top of a fortress-looking thing and the farthest edge of the island. Tourists from all over the world flock to this location daily - its an overwhelming mess, and in my opinion, the view is just as nice from Fira (the main city of the island and where we stayed.

Fira Sunset

Oia Sunset 

We ended up spending the whole weekend with Tithau from Israel and another new friend, Angela, from Seattle. It was incredible! A big life lesson that "danger" does not always apply to "stranger." Together, we ate a lot of delicious food, sampled a lot of delicious wine, climbed a volcano, swam in hot springs, and explored the beaches. My favorite beach in the whole world is now Red Beach - you have to do a little hike to get there. The water was so clear, you could see right down to your toe nails! One of the best weekends of my life. :)

Red Beach