OFF to Paradise...

After an early morning wake up call and an 8 hour ferry ride, we landed on the island of Santorini.

The ferry ride was extremely long and sitting on the outside deck was definitely worth getting windblown and frizzy hair! The water was absolutely gorgeous and the bluest blue. The variety of people on the ferry was great as well. There were people from all over the world and most of them were traveling with us to Santorini while some were getting off at other island stops that we made along the way. We managed to sleep a bit on the table that we sat at outside, but then the noise from the people and the smell of cigarette smoke woke us up after an hour and a half.

It felt good to get some rest, but the trip felt longer now. Off we sailed to paradise and when we finally made it to shore and had survived the ride, we were talking to a family from Sweden about politics and vegetarianism and the oil spill that was going on. It was one of the most intelligent conversations I’ve had this whole vacation! They helped get us through the final two hours and we couldn’t have been more grateful.

When we got to port, we had to run down and get our luggage from the luggage room and because the escalators weren’t working, I was forced to carry a 50 + pound bag down the steps along with another 35+ pound bag. Very difficult and I must say that I didn’t care about the line of people that I was holding up trying to manage carrying two heavy bags down. It was ridiculous how NOONE offered to help. NOONE- are you serious? Are people really that selfish?

Anyway I managed with help from my traveling buddy and we rushed out of the boat and got a ride to our hotel form a mini charter bus. When we rode along the high mountain range, my ears of course popped but we got a beautiful view of the water and the volcano island that was across from Santorini. It felt so great to finally make land fall! We were so excited to be somewhere other than Athens and in the big city environment.

We got to the hotel and lugged our luggage to our first floor room over and through coble stone streets. The hotel owner was immensely helpful and she couldn’t have been sweeter. She got us glasses of water and she pulled out a map to help us figure out what we want to do this weekend. We already knew that we would take it easy and travel the man town square of Fira, which was steps away, first and foremost. So we got ready and headed into town to get food.

What was horrible about the ship is that it didn’t have any food for me to eat! Even the pizza had pieces of ham and bacon on top and there were only burgers and chicken sandwiches. I was disappointed, but the falafel I had in town made up for it. W ate beautiful pita sandwiches stuffed with falafel, cucumber, onion, tomato and the famous tzatziki sauce. I got a large falafel because I was just that hungry. I savoured every bite of the warm pita and there were fries placed inside so I dipped them in the tzatziki sauce as I bit into the falafel patties that were delicious. I very much enjoyed it!

Now that our stomachs were full, we headed toward the bus station and got the bus to OIA (pronounced ee-ya). We did some major shopping in this small town on the island of Santorini. The stores lined the small, narrow cobblestone alleyways and people flooded them nonstop. Everywhere you walked into town there was a beautiful view of the sun and that’s exactly what 99% of the people go to Oia to see- the sunset. We walked along the coastline until we found our own special spot to sit and watch the sun as it set, however the sky was very foggy and the sunset was not so pretty. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow night. We made our way back to the bus station and waited a good half hour for the bus to come to take us back to Fira.

One thing I will say about traveling is that it can be very frustrating in terms of dealing with people and the transportation lines. So far we haven’t had much trouble with it, but people make it so difficult to enjoy traveling and getting from place to place because they will push and shove and push some more without any remorse to get their spots on a bus, train, plane, etc. There’s no end to it and ultimately you end up doing it yourself. So when I feel a push and a shove coming on from the old, European ladies behind and on the sides of me while getting on the bus, I put up my arms and create a blockade with my body. I almost get into the full stance that I would if I was boxing out in basketball. It’s pretty funny and Kait loves to make fun of me for it, but honestly, it’s what gets seats on every bus ride. No standing for me! I work for my sitting privilege and those old ladies will not push their way through me!

Today’s word:

Learning to say OIA and making sure not to pronounce it oy-ya. Though everyone says it in his or her own special way.