Superb Santorini

Every guidebook, poster, and travel agent will bombard you with slogans about "Spectacular" or "Stunning" Santorini. I wanted to avoid both of those adjectives, but I can definitely tell you they're right!

I woke up absurdly early in the morning thanks to my inconsiderate roommates getting up and ready to go at 5.00 AM, and after they had departed I found myself unable to get back to sleep. The ferry was at 9.45, and there was a bus at 7.15, which would have given me ample time to get there, but once I was awake I started to worry and decided to see if I could make the bus at 6.15. I wound up getting up at 5.45, and since I was already packed up I hopped straight in the shower, whereupon the power immediately went out. It was still dark out, and there weren't any windows in the bathroom, so I took a wonderful shower in the pitch black. At least it kept me from dawdling! 

I made it to the bus with minutes to spare, and who should I find but my inconsiderate roommates, who for some reason left before 5.30 to catch the 6.15 bus... Which was less than a 15 minute walk from the hostel. Regardless, we all hopped on the bus once it arrived, and made it to the port by about  8.15. I really don't understand why they got up so early, but I was happy to see that they were not staying in my hostel when we got to Santorini! 

The ferry ride was less than two hours, though it was of course running late, so I got in in the early afternoon. By then, I was feeling super excited about Santorini and the things I wanted to do there, and starting to experience the "going home soon have to cram as much as I can in" anxiety that often riddles me at the end of trips, so I checked into my hostel and then quickly turned around to hop on a bus and head into Thira, Santorini's biggest town and the major tourist spot. 

Easy to see why. 

Tonnes of cruise ships dock there, so it can be absurdly busy. 

I spent a few hours in Thira, popping in to the museum and then finding a nice patio overlooking the water to chill out on for a few hours. When the sun was starting to angle downwards, I hopped on a second bus to get to Ia, world-famous for its charming, windy streets and incredible sunsets

This is literally on the cover of my guidebook. 

All the streets are heavily terraced, so you're always climbing up and down in random rows, and it's quite easy to get lost. 

The walled stairs will take you down to the water. 

Gorgeous, isn't it?

I did watch the sunset in Ia, but decided to witness it myself rather than through my camera viewfinder. Let me assure you, it's really beautiful. 

In the morning, still jazzed with my "must see it all" attitude I got up reasonably early (though nothing like the 5.45 of the day before) to hike up to Ancient Thira, about a half-hour's hike up a hillside only a couple of kilometres from my hostel. It was a reasonably easy walk, but a couple of times the wind picked up so severely I nearly couldn't move. I was glad it was a headwind on my way up; a tailwind on the descent would have been truly dangerous! 

The town from a few metres up. Strangely, nearly every hostel and hotel there had a pool. 

You can hire donkeys to take you up. This donkey was headed down, completely at his own pace, with no one around to get him moving. I guess the guides know they'll wander down eventually?

A little further up now. Not bad, is it?

There's a monastery on the other side of the hill. It's a little hard to see here though. 

Ancient Thira itself is, not surprisingly, a ruin, but it dates back to something like 1700 BCE, and some of the excavations are quite interesting. This was a temple that became a church that became another kind of church?

This was another temple, I think, though how they determined that I'll never know.

The Ancient Greeks... Same as the modern people, I guess.

I have completely forgotten what this was. Bound to happen eventually.

The site was overrun with these adorable geckos. He was slow in more ways than one, not only did I manage to take his picture, but somebody managed to take his tail!

The view from the highest point. The beach looks weird because it's actually covered in beach chairs - completely necessary as the sand gets too hot to sit on, even through a towel.

On the way down, I took a little detour to this church, which is like a 15 minute climb uphill. I can't imagine walking that far every Sunday...

That's the church from below. Quite the climb, eh?

I had signed up for a boat trip around the island in the afternoon, so I headed home to shower and get ready for that once my hike was through. They picked me up at 2.00, and soon enough I was on board a little tourist boat in the blazing Santorini sun. First, we headed to the caldera in the middle of the island, which is part of an active volcano and grows nearly ten inches a year. 

The main island viewed from the caldera.

The white-walled town makes it look snow-capped, doesn't it? But it's something like 35 degrees out.

You can see the sulphur coming out of the ground here. There was also smoke in places, and if you dug a few inches into the ground it quickly became too hot to touch.

After the volcano, we went to some natural hot springs on the next island. 

They're the discoloured water on the right. Also " hot" is something of a misnomer, they were more like tepid springs. 

We got in and went for a swim there, so I didn't take all too many photos. After, though, we headed to the next island, Therasia, and took a dinner break, where I had my now-traditional plate of tzatziki and a can of sprite. 

There's not much to the island, just a beach and some restaurants nearly in the water.

I was curious about what was at the top of the hill, though not curious enough to go up there and find out.

After dinner, everyone clambered back onto the boat for the sunset portion of the tour. This consisted of going around in circles so that we could see the sunset from a dozen different angles. It felt a little silly, but I have to admit it was pretty nice to see. 

Ia from the water. 

Look, the sun is setting!

Setting on a different island!

Setting on no island! I have like a dozen of shots of the sunset. 

It was dark by the time we got back to the port, and we headed straight back to Perissa and to the hostel. I was too tired to do much else, so it was off to bed with me, to get ready for Athens in the morning!