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June 7th
From Agios Nikolaos, we boarded a ferry to Santorini's port, Ormos Athinios. The boat's constant side-to-side sway gave me a drunk feeling. Many times I tripped over the metal lips that joined the doorways of the ship halfway to falling on my face. I hadn't been on a boat this large before and my anxiety was very high. The longer we were on board, the more my fears were regurgitated. It took me at least half of the ride to calm myself, thought the ill feeling was ever present.
The time was around 10pm upon our arrival. Still feeling nauseous from the ride and the excessive meal before boarding, I stumbled out of the cargo gate quickly attacked by hostel workers and cab drivers. All attempting to seduce us towards there hostel with attractive brochures and tempting deals. We somehow made our way through the gauntlet to the tourist "i" desk. There was a man behind the desk who I later sensed must have been another hotel worker who managed to wiggle his way behind the counter. He told us of a hotel he would take us to with a private bathroom and kitchen very close to the
ferry ride to santorini
map of route from agios nikolaos to santorini black sand beach with nightlife close by. He led us to a white 9 passenger van where he loaded us and our luggage through the back. A little suspicious, I asked if others were coming. He pointed to another backpacker who was going the opposite way. He only needed a ride and would not join us.
Our ride took us up a very steep incline and over a mountain following a trail of tail lights headed in the same direction. It put us at ease to know we were not the only ones going this way. As we swayed back and forth around corners and haripin turns, I looked for a seat belt to find none. I voiced this realization and the driver returned to say " I am rally driver. " Oh boy....
We reached our destination, thankfully, with no harm done. He had brought us to the Princess Santorini Villa at Perissa Beach. It was night time and we were unable to really see our surroundings, but what we could see was beautiful. I told Lynda that I had a feeling we would be amazed the next day when we were able to see what was around
ferry ride to santorini
feeling sick and ready to unboard us.
June 8th
We woke up fairly early to take pictures. As I said before, morning is the best time to capture undisturbed images. We walked down to the end of the beach and around the town to see a blue-topped, white church. It didn't take long to see everything in Perissa, so we looked for a bus stop and waited for a ride to "town".
About 30 minutes went by. Not having a bus schedule and none of the businesses being open made the morning a bit of a question as we didn't know how long we would sit there or where we were actually going to go. A bus eventually came down a windy road turning the corner towards us. "There's one!" I said to Lynda. When it pulled up we flagged it down, hoping it would stop for us. A man came out asking where we were going. We didnt know... Lynda just said, "To the town." wherever that was. We paid a little over 1euro and as the bus drove through Perissa I thought he would just drop us off where were came from. In hopes we would leave the city, we looked around for
ferry ride to santorini
lynda getting water at the bar on board. this ferry had a disco and two bars to enjoy. some sign of direction. Just so happened that a friend we made while leaving the ferry boarded the bus. We called to Aruthr (at this point not knowing his name) and waved him over asking him where we were going and where he was headed. He told us about the two cities to visit (the "postcard cities" as I call them) and that we were headed in the right direction.
The bus took us over the country and through vineyards and farms to a city called Fira, the capitol of Santorini. We spent a good portion of the morning there with Arthur as our guide to the city. He told us about a stair case where you can take a donkey ride and my face lit up. That was my goal from that point on.
After hiking up stairs, being led by Arthur who is in much better shape than we, we decided to go back into the city and doing some window shopping. Arthur's plan was to walk to Oia, which we could see from Fira and was about 20km away. I told him he was crazy and that we would see him later.
After a short round through
the center, we followed the signs to the donkey station where we found a man with two donkeys waiting at the stairs. At first, I only wanted to pet them and take their pictures. He said that the ride was 4euros and Lynda made the decision for us to take it. He asked her to step up to one mule where she began to scream in fear. He asked her to get off and ride another that was shorter to the ground and had me take the one she left. The ride down the steps was VERY bumpy causing me to laugh the almost whole way down. Occasionally, the man would stop and say "picture?" and motion for our cameras so he could take some of us. He would ask people we passed on the stairs if they wanted a ride saying "Very nice. Mule very nice." He sounded exactly like Borat!
At the bottom of the stairs, he helped us off them quietly asked me for 2euors. "For what?" I asked, thinking it was for the ride up. He kept putting his hands to his mouth, so I assumed he meant for food. I told him to ask Lynda
since I only had large bills and was hesitant about giving him a 10. Lynda gave him the change she had. He handed her back the 2cent peice and took the rest. We opted to take the gondola back up the hill.
Next stop, Oia.
We boarded the bus to Oia where I chatted with a couple ladies from Texas. They nicknamed me "Miss San Jose". They were very unsure of where they were going and how the buses worked here so I helped them through it explaining what I could and showing them a map of the island so they knew where they were going.
As we pulled into Oia, we could see some of what is shown on postcards, but we had no idea what we were about to see.
Oia is a maze of walking cobblestone streets, drectly in the sun all day. The city is known for its beautiful sunsets and heavy flows of tourists, but most of all, the famous blue-topped, white church against a background of sapphire ocean. The streets are steep and quick to go down to find the views we had been waiting for.
The contrast of the fuschia bouganvilleas against the
bright white buildings with brilliantly colored trim offered us these wonderful photo opportunities of sights we would never see other than here.
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Kelli
non-member comment
WOW!
These pictures are amazing, Corri!!! I am so happy that you are there to see such beautiful places. I can just imagine you laughing on the donkey ride! :) What a wonderful adventure.....xoxo.