Volcanos and Sunsets

Jane had instructions to go toward the little white church to meet our ride to the hotel. The port of Santorini was TINY. There were a few cafes but it was in the side of a cliff so really there wasn't much there. We found the guy with the van standing away from all the people offering accommodations. We piled in and started up the cliff, switch backing back and forth more times than I could count. It was really neat. We took pictures of the volcano and islands next to the port and the man pulled over for us. He didn't talk much but seemed nice. We got to the hotel after about a 15 minute drive. Santorini looked really cool. I asked the driver about the towns we were passing and he told me some of the names. We got to the hotel and it looked really nice. The driver guy told us to sit tight and we wondered if we were in the right place. he got a woman who we came to know as Maria to show us to our room. It was really nice. One big bed for us and a little bed for bobby. Air conditioning and a mini kitchen and everything. We were so happy. There was a pool too, and we got settled in and went to check it out. Jane and Bobby went to the pool before I did, and when I joined them we decided to eat. I got carbonara and Jane and Bobby got bolognase. It was SOO good. We took another dip and then had some drinks and played cards at the bar. There were lots of older couples from England that were a lot of fun and Maria and her husband tended bar. We had a fun time and I went to bed while Jane and Bobby got stuck talking to some boring guy about his job in the lighting business. Suckers.

The next day we got up and took a quick dip while Bobby got up and we all went down to the office on the corner to talk to Ritza, our host. She runs the hotels and a rental car business and Internet place all from her desk down the road. She had told us she wouldn't be in from 10:30 to 12 or something so we had to get there first. We talked to her about our original reservation at the hotel at the beach and she said she didn't have the next night and it didn't make sense for us to move back and fourth. She gave us the room we were in for only 40 euro a night even though it was a better place. We were psyched. We rented a car for her for 35 euros for the day. It was a standard, and Bobby said he could drive stick. We took our little car back to the hotel to get stuff for the day and check out the island. You defiantly need transportation on Santorini to get anywhere. Bobby hadn't driven stick in while, but he did a pretty good job. We were so excited to have the car and be able to lock our stuff in it and be under our own steam. After getting our stuff, we went to the beach that was near by to check it out and also so Bobby could try to find a friend that was staying there. We parked it on the beach in some chairs while he went off searching for her hotel. The sand was black (volcanic island equals lots of colors of sand) and as a result gets so hot you cant walk on it. There are little walking boards going down to many different sets of chairs. We picked the crappiest looking ones hoping they wouldn't be too expensive. The girl came by and asked us if we wanted a drink so we got a big bottle of water and when she came back she charged us 7 euro for the 2 chairs and umbrella (with a table). We were pretty happy about that. We just hung out and read until Bobby came back. He pulled up a chair (only another 2 euro) and went for a swim. He went all the way out to this inflatable banana thing that was anchored and tried to do handstands on it while Jane took pictures. It was classic. After he came back and dried off some, we decided to move on from Perrissa to Perivolos and check out that beach for lunch. That was where the original hotel we booked was, and Ritza said we had 10 percent off there so we wanted to check it out. It turned out it was mostly drinks, so we found another place nearby. Jane and I had salads with too much dressing and Bobby had some steak or something. It was ok. We left and decided to drive around the island and explore. Jane and I needed to book our ferry back to Athens, and stopped at a travel place. The woman was nice but told us that in order to use our Eurail passes we need to go to the main office in the main town of Thira. We made our way up there and parallel parked on a hill (shooot). We found the ferry slip and booked our tickets while Bobby went to a book store. We met him there and I scanned the lonely planet chapter on Santorini (I am SO lost with out Rick Steves) and didn't learn much. We poked around in shops looking for souvenirs and something for Marco. We were hoping that having a male on our team would help (buying for men is IMPOSSIBLE) but it was still hard.

We decided to leave and head up to Ia. Ia is at the northern part of the island and its where you are supposed to go to see the most beautiful sunsets. Bobby was unsure about how to get the car out of the spot with out hitting the car in front of him. The plan was devised (I was NOT a part of this plan) that Jane and I would push/brace the car while he got it into gear. Jane said to keep my legs to the side of the car, for god's sake. So this is what we did. It was over pretty quickly and I just dragged my foot on the pavement some, but when we got in the car, I was totally spooked and Bobby was DYING laughing. He said my face was so funny he couldn't even make sentences. Apparently I had a look of shear terror flash on my face before the gear caught. It was scary, and everything hurt after from the tension of it all. I do not recommend this solution to your parallel parking issues, however, someone will be highly amused by it, should you try.

We drove up to Ia and couldn't figure out where it was. We were in it but not in it. We drove down to what turned out to be a port and Jane hopped out to see if it was something we should see, since it seemed there were a lot of cars parked there. She said no, there's not much there, so we turned around (Bobby was hating the stick shift at this point and exhibiting the beginnings of his, shall we say, lack of patience with fellow drivers and pedestrians) and went back up the hill and parked. Turns out Ia is a pedestrian old town, which explains the confusing signage. We wandered through and came to a shop that sold lots of cute things, including sterling silver charms and stuff. The girl there was really nice and told us we should go down to the port (where they filmed the Sisterhood of the traveling pants), and walk along past it to see a cool church in a rock or something. She also told us the best place to watch the sunset was by the windmill and lots of other things. She was super nice and we loved her. We went around a bit more and found the windmill and a cool pool bar that we thought we'd come back to. We trekked down about 300 stairs to the port, cursing that we were there in the car and opted against it. We figured we had just enough time to go down and come back up and catch the sunset at the pool bar place. The trek down was brutal because we knew how bad the trek up would be. Also, I had to pee. We got down to the port and it was tiny. We walked through the tables of a restaurant and around the corner of the cliff. We kept going till we couldn't go anymore. We never found the church, but there was this huge rock that Bobby decided he wanted his picture on. I was a big proponent of a swimming break (I REALLY had to pee). I stayed back while Jane and Bobby climbed this huge thing. It took a while but I got some pictures of them (and some other random dude who appeared out of no where and ruined my pictures). Jane didn't do a handstand. They started coming down and it took FOREVER. I was getting really mad because the sunset was coming and I thought we were going to miss it and I was stuck there by myself for what seemed like ages. I couldn't see them coming down so I didn't know if they were just hanging out or what Turns out it was treacherous and Jane was scared shitless (hence bailing on the handstand). Apparently the volcanic stone crumbles when you try to climb it and she was too afraid to go down with her front to the rock, so it took a long time. When I finally got them in sight I told them to hurry up, but it didn't work. Once they finally got back I couldn't be mad because I have never seen Jane that scared in all my life. Ever. Not even remotely close in 17 years. She is reasonable, rational, and totally fearless. But she was FREAKED. We hiked back to the port and I got us a big water because I wanted Jane to have something. We climbed and climbed and she told me how the hand holds would crumble and she didn't know how to get down. Bobby flew up ahead of us and waited at the top. I was dragging. It was a ridiculous climb, but we made it and got the last table at the bar. Jane and I saw some chocolate thing go by and ordered that, even though we were hungry for dinner. Bobby just had a beer. The sunset was pretty, but not earth shattering. It was really hazy out so the sun disappeared into the haze before the horizon. Once it was done we headed back to the car. The town was totally clogged with people and it took forever to get out. We went back to the shop so Bobby could get something for someone in his family and when we said goodbye to our girl again, the crowed had thinned.

Bobby was in a rush to get back to meet up with his friend, Brittany, because it was her birthday. He was so mad at the traffic and pedestrians. It took an hour to get back, and we didn't stop at a grocery store like we had talked about because Bobby was cranky and in a hurry. We did get a little gas though, which was good. We put in 5 euros, and it was some insanely small amount but it kept us going. We got home and Bobby dropped us off and said to shower and he'd go find the girls and figure out going out or whatever. I hadn't signed on for that and was feeling kinda stressed, so I wasn't sure I'd make it. It was Sunday night and the hotel bar was having Greek night. It was a huge buffet of traditional food and everyone was around big family style tables. Maria's husband was doing traditional dancing with their daughter, and everyone as clapping and cheering. We had missed the food and the kitchen was closed and we were starving. I was displeased. Greek night looked awesome. There was even a man in traditional dress playing some harmonica or something. We went to the room and re convened without Bobby. I told Jane I wasn't up to much and we tried to figure out food. We had rice from Bosnia that we got when I was sick (Mommy said only eat rice, we bought some huge box of rice and carried it around without being able to cook it) and broccoli soup packets. We decided to put the two together. Bobby came back and said the plan was to meet in an hour and he got ready. We told him we weren't sure if we'd make it. He went back after getting freshened up and brought the girls over to our hotel for drinks. After eating and blogging some, we joined them. They were Brittany and Brittany from Canada, living in Holland and vacationing in Greece. Bobby had met one in Rome and the other one was her friend. They were very nice and we just hung out while they had some drinks. I told the bartender it was her birthday and we all sang, As usual, free shots of Ouzo, local licorice flavored alcohol (its really not bad) showed up for us. Eventually Jane and I left the group to go back and shower and go to sleep. Bobby came back later and we turned on the TV and watched Goonies. I don't think I'd ever seen it. They fell asleep but of course I stayed awake longer, unfortunately.

The next day I got up early and went to use the internet really fast and bought yogurt for me and Jane. Afterward, Bobby took the car back to the rental place and met the girls there, they rented it for a second day for only 25 euro (split 5 ways ain't bad) so that we could go see the Red and White beaches. We weren't ready so they went to buy snorkels and we met them by the pool. We went to the Red Beach, and had to park and trek around a cliff. We decided to buy some snacks from the snack stand because there was nothing down there. The cliff was red volcanic rock and was very impressive. I kicked and re opened my toe about three times in ten minutes and got really mad at the climbing all over creation in flip flops. We plopped ourselves down on the crowded beach. It was SO hot we were all sweating. The rocks get really really hot and you have to be careful not to burn yourself. We hung out there for a while, people swimming at different times and just resting and or reading. We each tried the snorkel and you could see little fishes. One came right up to me and then was following me. I panicked and sprinted because I thought he wanted to nibble on my poor toe. Not too long after that we decided we should get a move on and find a more comfortable place. A man plopped his fruit down and yelled "fresh fruit" right at us. One of the Brittanys bought some watermelon and we all shared it (you apparently get half a melon) it was so good and all the seeds were in a line in the middle and you could just knock them off. After that we went back in the car to find the white beach. We tried to follow the map (the maps of Santorini are vague and ridiculous and all different) but did a loop. One of the girls got out and asked a bus driver and he said he white beach was "only boats" we figured this meant it was not meant to be. We headed back to the hotel to figure out a plan.  The girls wanted to go on a wine tour and we had all talked about that, and one really wanted to go to Ia. We had a confusing few moments where no one knew what the others wanted to do and the girls peaced out pretty quickly. They went to rent an ATV and go up to Ia, even though they had given us money for the car and Bobby was happy to go with them. I went down to the internet place again, hoping I could catch them and tell them Bobby would go with them, but they had to go to another rental place and I missed them. When I got back to the hotel, Jane and Bobby were swimming and it was time to eat. The girls came back with their helmets and we all ate at the hotel bar (club sandwiches for me and Jane). Then they left and we got to relax. I didn't feel like doing anything but reading and chilling out, which is what we did. Bobby took the car and went to check out a campground for after we left and walk on the beach. Jane took a serious nap in the shade. Later, we all had carbonara (we had been talking about it for days) and wine. We played some cards and then went back to the room to play more and drink some beers that Bobby had bought for cheap. We taught him how to play our version of slap (aka Egyptian Ratscrew) and we had a blast. We also tried playing war with 3 people. War is a surprisingly fun game. We ended up staying in (yay) and stayed up really late playing cards.

The next day was our last day. Our ferry left at 4 in the afternoon that day.Bobby got up early to use the car to bring his stuff to the campsite and then came back for us.We went to return the car and bought some yogurts and payed Ritza. She had been so good to us, it was only 60 euro a person for three nights in that nice Villa and the car for two days. We went back and had breakfast, augmented with yogurt. Jane and I really didn't feel like doing much and sat by the pool all morning, before packing up all our stuff and getting out of our room. Ritza said we could stay till 3 and that the guy would pick us up to take us to the port at 2:50. Bobby was off at the other hotel having lunch with the girls, but he came back in time for our lunch and to say good bye. We had carbonara again and a last dip while we waited for the driver. We played Marco Polo. That game is exhausting! We got dressed in the bathroom by the pool and loaded our bags in to the van when it came. We said good bye to Bobby and we were off to Athens!