More From Heaven (otherwise known as Santorini)

     I woke up around 8:30 from the most amazing night’s sleep, and headed down to check out the advertised free coffee available at the reception area.  I went to put down my journal and grabbed a seat until the owner was finished with a conversation he was having. When he finished, he came over and asked if there was anything I would like. I said coffee would be great and he goes- “You want coffee?? Why you no say so! I go make.” He was back in just a few minutes with the most amazing cup of coffee, somehow prepared just how I like it!  Megan was awake early too, so the two of us hung out and used the coveted free wi-fi until about 9:30 when everyone else was up.
     We got all ready and headed out to this breakfast place that was recommended to us.  We were all pretty excited when we opened the menu to find list after list of sweet and savory crepes, amazing waffles, fruit and yogurt platters and all kinds of other stuff. We were not disappointed when it finally came and we all loved our food so much we agreed to come back the next morning too.
     Our waitress told us where we could get the bus to a few of the islands better beaches, so we headed over to the station to wait.  A little communication trouble made us worried we were getting on the wrong one, but we figured it out and in about 30 minutes were at what we thought was Red Beach. But, when we got off the bus and found ourselves greeted by this tiny little strip of rocks we were a little skeptical. All of a sudden we hear this raspy old man yelling out “Red Beach! White Beach! Red Beach! White Beach!” and waving us over to his boat. We concluded this meant we had to take this little ferry to the actual beach area, so we hopped on and paid for a ride.
     The man didn’t speak any English, and we were kinda confused on where we were even going so we ended up passing by Red Beach without getting off. We figured we could always stay on and ride until White Beach, because if it wasn’t any better we could stop at Red Beach on the way back anyway. We round this corner of huge, white rocks and the coast opened up to the most amazing beach I’ve ever seen. It was still rocky, but the pebbles were a little smoother and there was a little sand at the end too. There were these giant white rocks sticking out a little ways from shore and there were beach chairs with umbrellas dotted along too.
     We kept waiting for the boat to pull up on shore, but it never did. Just when we thought maybe the beach was a bad idea, this old man comes wading into the water and starts waving his arms. As people started to stand up and walk to the back of the boat we realized we were going to have to jump overboard and swim/wade to shore. Good thing we were wearing clothes and carrying purses, wallets and cameras, right?  Shedding clothes and shoes as we walked (don’t worry we had bathing suits on) we made our way to the ladder and started the descent. The old man helped lift us down while a guy on the boat held our stuff until we were in the water.  It was only about waist deep so we piled our bags and towels on our heads and tried as best as we could to hurry to shore.  It was definitely and experience!!
     We stayed at the beach for a few hours, most of which time I spent out on one of the huge rocks. There was this groove that fit my back perfectly, and I could lie in the sun with the water lapping at my feet and legs. SO PERFECT. I was afraid I was going to get burned because I didn’t have any sunscreen on but apparently my skin is a lot different from the Longue Vue swim team days because I’m definitely the same color as when I was in Italy. Lame. Eventually some of the other girls swam out and sat with me too, and we spent an hour or so just hanging out and singing the most random songs.
     There was a lot we wanted to see and do so we decided to head back to shore and get ready so we could take the next shuttle boat back to the bus stop. As we were waiting the old man who helped us off the boat came over to us carrying what looked like a giant cucumber and a little knife.  He didn’t really speak any English, but through some gesturing he told us it was an “auguri” (?) and it didn’t really need rain to grow. He peeled the whole thing right in front of us and sliced it into 6 pieces for us all to try. It tasted like a normal cucumber but juicer and a little sweeter, and it was so delicious!!
     As the 7 of us were sitting there we saw the boat rounding the rocks, so we quickly finished up our snack and headed for the water. It seemed like the entire beach decided to go back then too so the water was full of people and we had to wait forever to get on. Katie was struggling since she’s a good bit shorter, and she was worried about her expensive DSLR camera getting wet. Meg aka Big saved the day by taking both bags and holding them above her head and away from the waves.  When it was finally my turn I handed my stuff up to the guy on the boat and climbed onto the ladder. Our old man friend gave me a little push and I was safely in onboard.  He also gave us each a little pat on the butt as we were on the way up- except Katie, which we joked was because she’s short and he didn’t think it was appropriate to do to a little girl.
     We got back to the first beach and went to check the bus schedule to see when we could get back to Fira. It turned out that we had just missed one and had to wait about an hour until the next, so we headed down the shore a ways to find something to eat. The first place we came to was called Melina’s, and Melina herself waved us in with a big smile. She looked about 80 and was adorable so of course we couldn’t say no. We decided to just order a bunch of appetizers and split them, and everything we picked was amazing. Most of the stuff was her specialty or a native Santorini dish so it was unlike anything else. We finally boarded the bus and headed back to our place, counting the beach outing a huge success.
     When we got back we quickly changed and headed back to the area over the caldera.  We’d really been wanting to ride donkeys like you always see in Santorini, and the night before I had found a “donkey station” just down the hill.  We found it much more easily in the daytime, and much to our relief turned the corner to see what can only be described as a herd of donkeys spilling down the steps. They were actually much bigger than we thought they’d be- size wise closer to horses than ponies and probably upwards of like 13 or 14 hands if that helps at all. Our guide picked out donkeys fir each of us, helped us up and led us all over the winding streets of the town. It was amazing and the views were so surreal. My donkey was, well, kind of an ass (lame pun intended) and kept nearly walking me into the wall, but otherwise it was a really cool experience. Definitely worth the small fee! We all agreed that if we hadn’t been picked up by our hostel we would’ve taken donkeys from the port to Fira- the path consists of 588 steps and is called “The Donkey Trail” because they’re the preferred means of transportation.
     After the ride we headed back to shower and change, then came back to find a restaurant for our sunset dinner. There was no shortage of fantastic views so we tried (for once) to be decisive and just picked one.  It was a great meal with great friends and a great view- what could be better? Shopping obviously. We did some more of that then decided it’d be nice to go and get a drink together to toast our great trip so we wandered towards a few little places we’d seen earlier. Nobody really knew where to go so I made the executive decision to go to this Scottish pub called The Highlander because: A. I go to CMU and I have a thing for tartan, B. My Nana is from Scotland and I’ve always wanted to go, and C. The guy standing outside promoting their happy hour was GORGEOUS.  Chalk one up for great marketing strategies!
     We sat in there for a little while and actually ran into some other SAS girls (these ones we actually liked!) They eventually went on to try out some other bars and clubs but we decided dessert was more our style. Katie had been looking for these little sugar covered dough balls the entire time we’d been in Greece, so after a little searching we were happily snacking on those and, of course, even more gelato. We headed home and took turns using Katie’s international iphone calling application to call our various parents and/or boyfriends, so I was able to get to talk to my mom! The time difference can be hard but at that time of night I was able to get her at work so that was a nice way to end the day.
     Wednesday Megan and I were up early again and down to enjoy some coffee and planning. When everyone else got up we went to another delicious breakfast (see paragraph two) and again to the bus station. We decided to go see the northern town of Oia, the quintessential Santorini town and the one with all the best and post picturesque views.  We spent the morning wandering around, shopping, taking pictures and trying to stay cool in the 100-degree heat. We got lucky and finished up just as the next bus to Fira was coming, so we hopped on and headed back to find somewhere for lunch.
     It seemed like every other shop going down the main road sold gyros, so it wasn’t hard to find one for us to eat. The food was awesome and we all quickly cleared our plates. I wanted to get baklava since I love it and, well, it is Greece, but the stuff they had in the place we went didn’t look up to Mrs. Tedrick standards. In the end, we just walked around town a little more to make sure we’d seen everything, got our “last” gelato (once again) and returned to the hostel.
     We had some time before our van was coming to take us to the airport, so we all relaxed and hung out in the air conditioning. The ride was uneventful and we got to the airport really early, so we sat in the food area and played cards until it was time to board our flight. Candice is extremely afraid of flying so the trip was hard for her, but in just over 45 minutes we were down, safe and sound, in Athens. There were a bunch of other SAS kids at the airport arriving from different places, so we grabbed some sandwiches for the road and all headed to the bus.  The hour and a half bus ride from the airport to the port wasn’t ideal, and neither were the half hour walk to our dock or the hour wait getting through security. In the end we were back onboard a little after 11, and ready for our last day in Greece!
     Today we met for breakfast then headed off to get in one last day in Athens.  We wanted to avoid the main square and parliament, and the taxis were on strike so we ended up taking a bus part way and the metro the rest. We went to these flea markets and just walked around for a while, then found this cool shop where the cutest old man (I think I call almost every guy over the age of 75 is “the cutest old man”) makes custom leather sandals. He fit them to our feet, cut the straps, picked the leather and everything else- all for 15 euros! Definitely worth it. After we got them we went to this amazing gelato shop and got one last snack. We got the metro back to the port and headed back to the ship to try, unsuccessfully, to use the port’s internet and upload pictures.  Oh well, I promise to show you them all at some point!
     So that’s all from Greece! Two more days of classes until we’ll be in Bulgaria, and then its on to Turkey. I don’t have much planned other than an orphanage visit on the last day, and Megan, Alex and I are working on planning some other crazy stuff.  I wont get into specifics or my mom will just worry and I might think about it too much and end up backing out, but lets just say if all goes according to plan I might have some awesome stories to blog about. And if it doesn’t? Um…
     Anyways, I’m sure we’ll have a great time, and we’re all excited to go to a country we don’t know much about. All I know is that I think we’re all praying Bulgaria DOESN’T sell gelato. I’ll let you know!