Spring Break Days 3&4: Santorini, Greece: Jumping in the Mediterranean & Donkeys

Sunday marked Day 3 of our trip, and we departed at the crack of dawn (literally) to catch the metro to our ferry. We caught the metro at 5:30 am and the ferry at 7:25. The ferry ride went suprisingly well considering that it was eight hours long. The ferry was more like a cruise ship than a ferry, and it had a few cafes, a fast-food restaurant, a bar, a bunch of lounges, and some seats called "air seats" that looked like seats on an airplane. We started out on the deck, but soon realized it was going to be a cold and wet journey up there, so we moved down to the air seats so that we could get some sleep.

We arrived in Santorini around 3:30 pm, where George, our hostel owner, picked us up to drive us to the hostel. Our hostel was located in Fira, one of the small towns on Santorini. When we arrived at the hostel, George helped us become acquainted with the island by explaining to us where all of the good sights were and how to get there, along with suggesting different activities for us to do while we were there. Our rooms were gorgeous; they looked more like hotel rooms than hostel rooms. The girls had a room to ourselves, and the boys were next door, so we weren't crowded at all. It was lovely.

Sunday was a little bit rainy and overcast in Santorini, so we decided to do a little bit of exploring while it was still light out, but nothing crazy. We walked around Fira for a long time and enjoyed its seaside view. We then went out to dinner for some delicious Greek cuisine at a restaurant that George suggested to us. After dinner, we went out to an "Irish" bar for happy hour, hung around and danced for awhile, and then headed to bed.

Monday morning we woke up around 10 so that we could catch the ferry (which was actually more of a pirateship-esque type of boat) to the volcano in Santorini. The volcano is no longer attached to the island, but you can still see it from the island. We took the ferry there at 11 and walked around the hilly island until we foudn the volcano, which was smoking and releasing sulfur. I also found a TON of pumice stones that had been created by the volcano, and all of the sand on this island was black from the volcanic ash. We also hiked to the highest point of the island, where we had a beautiful view of one of the coasts of the Santorini mainland. After this, we headed back to the ferry. What we didn't realize, was that there was another stop on the trip. We seemed to be taking the long way back to Santorini, when the boat stopped, dropped an anchor, put a ladder in the water, and the driver told us that there was a hot springs about 50 meters away if we wanted to swim to it. So, on a whim, Christine, Alex, and I stripped down to our underwear, jumped in the Mediterranean, and swam to the hot springs. The water surrounding the boat was absolutely FREEZING, and it took a minute to catch our breath after jumping in, but we successfully made it to the "hot" springs (which were actually more of a luke-warm springs) where we treaded water to enjoy the moment before heading back to the ship. Once reaching the ship, we put all of our clothes back on, and proceeded to freeze from the wind once the ship started to sail back to the island.

Once we arrived back at the island, we realized we had to walk up the extremely windy and steep walkway that we had walked down to get to the port. However, there were two alternatives to walking: a high-speed gondola (not like the kinds in Venice, more like the kinds at ski mountains) orrrr.... DONKEYS!! Christine, Alex, and I decided to brave the donkeys, while Claire took the gondola up. Let me just say, the donkeys were an absolute riot. There was a crazy Greek man in charge who just kept shouting at everyone (including the donkeys). At first, he loaded Alex and Christine (along with a hefty majority of our group) on to donkeys, and then started running away with them up the mountain. I chased them up for awhile (taking pictures along the way) until we reached a second group of donkeys. The crazy Greek man must have hated me, because I was the last person he put on a donkey, and I ended up sharing with Christine. He also didn't let me climb up, instead he just grabbed me and hoisted me up behind her. I wish that I could fully describe the insanity of the situation, but it's nearly impossible without having been there. All I can say is, it was quite an experience.

We headed back to the hostel to shower and warm-up, and then we got Dave and went out to lunch. The rest of the crew walked around the island for a little bit, but I was absoutely exhausted, so I decided to take a nap back at the hostel until dinnertime. For dinner we went to another delicious Greek restaurant, this one better than the first night. I tried mousakka, a traditional Greek dish that combines potatoes, eggplant, beef, tomatoes, and cheese into an almost lasagna-like dish. It was pretty good, but was so flavorful that I had a difficult time finishing it. That was something I found in the majority of Greek dishes: they all contained feta cheese and were extremely rich in flavors. I also had some white wine that was made in Santorini, along with a free dessert provided by the restaurant owner (he also gave us another casque of wine!) After dinner, we went back to the same bar for happy hour, but hung out for much less time before heading back to the hostel.