Love me the Greek Island Life

our pirate ship!
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Saturday morning we woke up reasonably early to purchase tickets for the tour of the nearby volcanic island, Caldera as it is called, and the hot springs. We walked down the enormous set of stairs to arrive at the old port where we waited for our ship. Soon after our arrival we saw a pirate looking ship in the distance which turned out to be ours. We boarded and although the day was still somewhat chilly, we enjoyed the ride to Caldera. After docking we were given exactly one hour to hike and explore the island. As Elizabeth and I had not yet changed into our swimsuits and the day was quickly heating up we made a quick pit stop and changed. However, I forgot my shorts and ended up wearing a tour and a t-shirt, quite the ridiculous get-up. The island was interesting, though nothing significantly special. What was more interesting were the views of the neighboring islands, Santorini in particular.

Richard, Alex, and Jimmy welcome aboard the pirate ship!
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After hiking we again boarded the ship and moved to the hot springs. Once the ship slowly coasted into the small bay one of the crewmembers began attaching a small ladder to the side of the boat. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and I are thinking “he’s not making us jump in is he?” Well the next thing we know he says jump in the water and swim to the warm springs. We thought, “You’re kidding right?” Nope…he was dead serious. One by one we jumped into the water. I asked by friend Andrea if the water was cold and she replied with the obvious, “FREEZING.” Well the thing is freezing is a relative term and not wanting to waste the price of my ticket I jumped right in. It was like a glass of ice water if not worse. Quickly I swam towards the springs and to my relief, gradually the water began getting warmer. However, hot is also a relative term and come to find out, not only were the springs luke-warm at best, the small basin in which they were located was dense with rusty moss. It was pretty disgusting. Well, dreading the terrible swim back to the boat through the cold water and rather disappointed with the hot springs, we started swimming back nearly right away. The water was so cold we could hardly catch our breaths while swimming. Thankfully we made it back and cuddled up in our towels to avoid the ocean wind on the way back. The whole situation was absolutely hilarious. We were totally fooled into the perfect tourist trap. The most hilarious part, however, were the crewmembers. Now obviously it wasn’t summer, but being students stuck in gloomy Germany we were prepared to have some fun in the sun at any cost, even if it meant jumping into freezing water. By the looks on the crew members faces, we all knew that watching us stupid tourist swim back to the boat in the ice cold water was the favorite part of their day. Just think…they get to watch idiot tourists eager to begin the season early make absolute fools of themselves…everyday. Well we made it back to the port a little chilled, which resulted in some sun bathing before headed back up to the city. After thawing out we grabbed lunch and walked back to the hotel to change. At 4:15 we all caught the bus to Oia to watch the sun set. Oia is the most interesting city as it is built right into the side of the island. Most of the buildings are white. The pictures as you will see speak for themselves. We climbed around the city…literally…and then watched the sun sink into the ocean. We grabbed dinner at our newly located and quickly loved gyro joint, Lucky’s Souvlakis. That evening we all sat out our hotel balconies drinking local wine and watching the speedy clouds pass by.

We climbed around the city…literally…and then watched the sun sink into the ocean.