When we last talked, we had left Venice and headed southeast on a 30-hour ferry ride which took us to the western Greece town of Patras. As we needed to get to Athens- across the country on the east coast- there was some confusion as how to actually get between the two cities. Greek public transportation is notoriously unpredictable, and getting practical information is nearly impossible. While we were promised a shuttle by the ferry company between the two cities, we were told there was no such shuttle- then that there was- then that there wasn't. Finally, Minoan Lines- the ferry company- did provide a bus shuttle, for a nominal price of 17€. We arrived in Patras around 8pm and arrived to Pireaus, the suburb of Athens that has the port, around 11:30 at night.
The plan was to grab a hotel, sleep a few hours and then wake up and hop right on the ferry to Santorini. Unfortunately for us, May 1st is some sort of communist holiday (not a joke) and almost every form of transportation was halted as a result of a huge transit workers strike. Our ferry would be departing- 15 hours later than expected, at 11pm on Sunday. We tried to see some of Athens with our newly acquired day, but the strike even shut down the famed acropolis, so we were outta luck. We still had a great day, ate souvlaki, and just lounged around in the hotel lobby for a few hours waiting for night, and our ferry, to come.
Finally the time arrived, and after a 3 km trek around the massive port we arrived at our ferry, a beautiful ship that put our last ferry to shame. The express service to Santorini took around 6 hours. I blogged about Munich and Venice for part of it and slept for a few hours before being awoken by the PA system announcing we were coming in to port.
Outside, it was still dark, but the outline of a huge cliff-lined island was visible through the shadows. It was like sailing into Jurrasic park, giant cliffs all around us, rising thousands of feet from the ocean. Lights from a distant town up on one of the hills shined down on us. After disembarking, we met our ride, a nice guy who was arranged by our hostel to pick us up. We were driven approximately 10 minutes to the town of Perissa Beach on the southeast part of the island. When we got out, it was indescribable. We were on a small street with shops and restaurants directly on the right and the ocean crashing right to our left- maybe 30 yards away. We walked up a tiny alleyway to our hostel, Anny's Studios. It was still dark out and we were disoriented and had no idea what anything actually looked like.
After we checked in and dropped our bags, we headed right out to the beach. The sun, still below the horizon, was beginning to light the sky and we could make out where we were. It was such a sight. The black sand beach went on and on to our right, but to our left, just a mile or so down the road rose a huge mountain out of nowhere that towered over the town. I snapped this picture in the low light:
After we slept til about noon, no longer tired from our overnight ferry, we walked out to the now bright beach. We had a great breakfast at one of the restaurants right at the ocean and then decided on an amazing activity for the day: rent ATVs. These little guys were only about 15€ for the day and gave us the independence to travel the entire island. We headed to the west side of the island, along the cliffs, down to the red sand beach, then headed all the way the other direction, through the largest town, Fira, for lunch and then to Santorini's postcard spot (and filming location of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) and cliffside town called Oia which was the most beautiful spot I have seen in Europe.
Going between these small towns on ATV was a dream true. I was channeling my inner Mario Kart as we whipped along waterfront roads and rolling hills. Yes... We all wore helmets.
As the sun started to set, we headed back towards Perissa Beach and went to the lighthouse to see the show. We were completely alone, climbing on the rocks and just enjoying the views. The fact that it was a bit cloudier than we would have liked didn't dampen our spirits at all. We ended up parking our ATVs on the side of a road and watching the lights.
We made a pit stop at a grocery store, made dinner back in our apartment/hostel and just relaxed for the night. It was also then that we got news of Osama's fateful demise... And trying to get the news while a few hundred miles off shore was an experience I doubt any of us will forget.
On our second day in Santorini, we decided to do what you are supposed to do on an island paradise: absolutely nothing. Well, almost. We did do a 2-hour hike up to ancient Thira (the original name of the island) to see some really old ruins and enjoy the views from the highest point on the island. Then, returning to Perissa Beach hot and sweaty, we grabbed some chairs on the beach and then later by the pool and just read and napped. it was awwweeeesome
That night we rang in Brownies birthday in style, first getting some authentic greek food at a nearby restaurant called Atlas. Run by a Canadian ex-pat (also named Dave) who came to Santorini 20 years ago and never left, the food was really good. I had Mousaka, a cheesy, eggplanty, ground beefy concoction cooked in a clay pot. So good. Dave the Canadian treated us to a shot of Raki, which is basically just Greek Moonshine; not as good as the Mousaka.
At night we went with some new hostel-friends to the two bars that were open on the beach and then watched the Caps blow game 3 to the Lightning on TV. It was a great, relaxing day.
Our final day on paradise was spent in much the same manner. The guys slept in after staying up til like 5 to watch the whole hockey game... So I took a nice long walk along the beach and enjoyed watching all of the shops and hotels further down digging out from a winter of closure- excited for tourist season, no doubt. Later, after the guys woke up, we went to a great Souvlaki pita place (for like the 8th souvlaki pita in 4 days) called Pepitos. Before we knew it, we were heading down to the port to meet our ferry back to mainland Greece. The ride back was incredible as we weaved through the islands, stopping in a few others to pick up more passengers. We got to Pireaus around midnight and took the train- which was now working normally- to Athens and to our hostel.
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We were told before we left that we only needed an afternoon or so in Athens, and I have to agree. Central Athens has the benefit of hosting The Acropolis with ruins from over 2,000 years ago- including the famed Parthenon. It is beautiful, but once you have seen it- there is not a plethora of other things to really do. We walked all throughout the ruins dodging the thundershowers and then headed back to our hostel to hang. We had amazing greek salads and pasta left over from Santorini for dinner and then enjoyed a night of sitting on the hostel's roof deck had absolutely amazing views of the Acropolis and the city in general.
This morning we departed Athens for the airport and were greeted with more travel complications: a strike- this time in Italy- closed the airport in Rome. Thank God for the EU, though, as the airline had to provide us with a 4.5€ voucher to be used at McDonald's. Finally though, we are airborne heading to our strike-ridden destination. Hopefully the trains will be running to get us from the airport to downtown!
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Greece is tough. It reminds me of Israel in that the people and the culture are inherently a bit rough around the edges, though they never mean any harm. Lines are non-existent, information is tough to obtain and often unreliable. However, like most things that are a bit difficult, Greece is definitely worth the hassle. I'm not exaggerating when I say Santorini is indescribably beautiful, and I am sure there are a thousand other islands that share its beauty. While Athens is a bit of an eyesore outside of the ruins, it is an ancient center of civilization and one of the most densely packed urban areas in the world. If only used as a gateway to the rest of the country, Athens is definitely worth a (short) trip. The islands, on the other hand: make sure you book a return ticket or you may never leave.
Enjoy the pictures. Talk to you from the *true* center of civilization: ROME!
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