Santorini Part 2

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Well, we've been spending the past week and a half bumming around the Greek islands and I have to say I am loving every minute of it. Sasha and I caught a red eye flight from Rome to Santorini, with a six hour stopover in Athens in the wee hours of the morning.

What can I say about Santorini? It's everything you imagine when you see photos of it. It's magical, beautiful, captivating, and has that mysterious feeling about it. Sasha and I really hated leaving and had even extended our stay there by two nights, but that just wasn't enough for us, and we still talk about going back there instead of to Mykonos. That most likely won't happen. We made some great friends during our stay there and ended up having our own little "Santorini Family".

Besides meeting some amazing people, we were blessed to see our fair share of sunrises and sunsets which includes the famous Oia (ee-ah) sunset. I participated in some cliff jumping off of a 19ft ledge in Amundi Bay, made famous by the film 'Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants' (though this cliff was not the same one, it was much bigger!), met a hot cliff diver who ended up being at the same club as my friends and I several days later, swam in crystal clear blue water, and oohed and ahh'd at all of the beautiful island style white clothing for sale that give you that feeling of being in paradise.

Four of us also rented a car for a couple of days to explore the island and beaches which was quite nice. Since the roads were like they were back home in the Sates, and my three friends were Australian, I was nominated to drive! It was so nice getting to know my doormates, and the four of us girls became quite close during this time which made it so hard to leave Santorini in the end.

Sasha and I and our Santorini Family also got up to the usual shenanigans that usually happen when you're on vacation; dancing like crazy, drinking too much, hitting on hot bartenders at clubs, getting free drinks, enjoying Sunday afternoon Usher music video-style parties at beach clubs, you know, the usual 😊

We also apparently made quite an impression on our waiter and the owner of a resturaunt we ate dinner at on our first day in Santorini. It was all within the first half hour of sitting down. It was quite unwanted attention seeing how the owner was 50 something and hitting on Sasha, while I got cornered by the 30 something yr old waiter who proceeded to join us during his shift and continuously hold my hand and ask very unwanted personal questions...Made for an awkward goodbye 3 hours later when we finally escaped! We then unfortunately saw the wait about 4 nights later at the Beach Bar. He spotted me and proceeded to briskly make his way over to me and try to talk to me, but we had our friends with us, which included Simon, a buff Australian doctor who I hid in front of. Luckily the waiter gave up upon seeing Simon and the rest of our large Santorini Family. He definitely gave off a "creeper" vibe. Despite this encounter, we had a fabulous time the rest of the night!

Soni, the Albanian night bartender/watch guy/receptionist also seemed glad to have a large group of friendly people to hang out with during the day. He works midnight to about 9:30am, so you'd think he'd want to sleep the day away, but instead we would all go to play beach volleyball or go to a beach for a swim with him and his cousins and/or brother before his shift started. He was also great to talk with after a night out, providing free shots of Raki, bottled water, and ham and cheese sandwiches (which all cost something) at 5 and 6am!

After spending eight days on Santorini, you would think that we would want to leave and explore other islands or do a day trip of some sort. This is pretty true, but we always ended up just hanging out at Perissa Beach (where our hostel was) and planning our next excursion to a different beach for the next day. I do regret not buying any gifts to bring back from Santorini...it's probably a good thing though. I would have been more broke than I already am! We just never made it back up to Fira during the day to go gift shopping.

Alas our time in Santorini had to come to a tearful end, but there is definitely talks of a reunion. Whether it's back in Santorini or somewhere in Australia (Everyone was Australian, so many Aussies! They're taking over Greece!), we're alld etermined to see each other again in the future. 😊

Sasha and I are next headed to Ios which is supposed to be a great party island as well as have some pretty nice beaches. Let's hope it lives up to it's reputation!

Until next time...

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Comments

[Nancy Passe]

FUN!
It sounds like you both had a great time while on Santorini. I'm glad that it does look like the movie scenes. Glad to know afterwards about our cliff jump! Enjoy! love, Mom

[Tammy]

Did you notice all the cats?
Hi Chandra, Sounds like you had a great time in Santorini! When my husband and I were there a couple years ago on a Rick Steves Tour, we noticed a ton of stray cats everywhere in Greece and lots in Santorini. I'd go to the store and buy cat food (they only had Friskies) and pour piles of it on the sidewalks. Pretty soon, there'd be six or so, then a dozen cats swarming around the food. Folks on our tour called me the Cat Lady, and I was happy to live up to that name!

[passecj]

Hi Tammy! Yes we have seen a ton of cats all around the islands, but mostly in Santorini. I have a friend who has a whole album of dogs laying on roofs (I was hoping to see the dogs more than the cats to be honest...), quite crazy how many of them there are!