The Best Day of this Vacation

Our one full day in Santorini has been the best day of this vacation so far, and is very unlikely to be beaten. After a decent nights sleep, we got some pastries from our favourite bakery, and tried to decide what to do for the day. We didn't know too much about the island, other than what the very nice internet cafe lady told us about, but we figured a good place to start would be the bus stop. It worked in Mykonos, why not here? As we were waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the bus to arrive, i got board, and decided to read some of the travel information i brought with me. Just by chance, i came across something called Pelecone Tours, which seemed to cover most of the highlights of the island. The reason i go into such detail about how we came across this tour is because it came so very, very close to not happening, which would have meant that the day would have been like any other of this adventure; long walks though confusing cities hoping to stumble upon something interesting. When we got there, the lady said they were about to leave in 5 minutes, and that we'd need a towel, sandals, and bathing suit. Of course, we had none of those things with us, but our hostel was close. Although the room was full of tourists waiting for the bus, she motioned us to 5 women in particular (with very broken English) and told us to stick with them, and not to let them out of our sights. Oh, if we only could have known...

We rushed back, packed out stuff in one bag, ran out, and the bus picked us up. It was a full bus, at least 40 people. It drove us down to the docks where i assumed we would all get on the huge ferry waiting for us, along with a few other bus loads of people. This is where things got strange. The driver seemed to play duck-duck-goose with us. He tapped some people on the shoulder and said, "you go." To others, he would say, "you stay." He did this over and over, but with very few going. As it turned out, out of a full bus, and a ferry that could have easily held between 500 and 1000 people (or twice that, who knows), along with 20 cars and trucks, only 9 people and one ice cream truck boarded the ferry, and we were off. We had no idea what to expect, and i (who likes to understand things), could not wrap my mind around this situation. It must have cost 10 times as much in fuel alone then they could have gotten from the tour company. Cameron and I sat near the women and started talking to them pretty early on, although he was doing about 90% of the talking for the first half. I guess i wasn't in the mood to be social.

Our first stop was a volcanic island. There were long paths cut though the volcano, with steep and slippery stairs carved out of the rock. The air was dusty and dry, the sun was blazing (it pretty much blazed the entire week we were in Greece, around 90 to 100 degrees), but the landscape was so otherworldly that even i hardly minded the hostel conditions. We took tons of pictures, and figured that the tour was just about worth it already, even if the other stops were lame. After we walked the entire path, we all (5 women and us) got back to the boat about 30 minutes early and talked some more.

Our second stop was the hot springs. I was a bit upset that we only got 30 minutes at that stop, because it was in may ways my favorite, but i still had a great time. I spent the entire time in the water, and i got to know the women a bit better. The water has very high levels of sulfer, which meant three things; it turned you red, it stunk like rotten eggs, and it made you float more than water. About five feet down, the water was very cold. But as we swam to the springs, the water started to make me feel like i was in a hot tub, with rotten eggs nearby. Only some of the women and i managed to swim all the way in, which is why i was able to talk to them so much. But, thinking back, i can't even remember which two i talked to most. I find that funny because, by the end of the night, i would never forget any of them.

Our third stop was to one of those villages built right into the top side of a mountain. As awesome as it is to see them from the water, they are even more fun to walk though. There was quite a lot of activity at the docks, and a few places to eat, but we decided to ascend the dreaded stairs. The offered donkeys to help people us, just like at the Grand Canyon, but of course we hiked it. Although there are only 150 actual stairs, some of the stairs are 15 feet long and go up 4 feet just on their own. If it was built like a real stair case, like in a building, it could have been 700 stairs. We walked up what was most likely a centuries old "stairs" made almost entirely by cutting rock out of the side of the mountain. It was very hot, and we got very, very sweaty, but it was loads of fun. At the top was a cool looking reastaurant, but we decided to continue along the path though the village. Let me tell you, it was absolutely surreal. All the buildings resembled each other, and looked the same as they did Mykonos--whitewash cement cube-like rooms, with blue doors and windows--the difference was that this felt like a ghost town. We were the first ones up the stairs, so there were no other tourists (there were many other tourist boats docked at the bottom, but they apparently contained a bunch of wimps) , and there were no locals. The only living creatures we saw were lizards and cats. We'd walk for 500 feet and see nothing, and then a cat. Walk another 1000 feet, and see a lizard, then a cat. We must have walked two miles up there, though what could have been private property, now that i think about it. Eventually we figure it out. Every single able-bodied individual in the entire village was at the docks attempting to profit from the tourists. Tourism must represent their entire economy. It all makes me so curious. We ended up eating at a restaurant right at the top of the stairs (that's as far as anyone seemed to get) and had some great food. But the food was the least of it. I knew right then and there that was i was experiencing was the greatest scenery i would ever enjoy while eating at a restaurant. We could see the ocean and mountains and other mountain villages. I took plenty of pictures, of course, but i can't imagine they will do it an ounce of justice. Of anyone who reads this, possibly only Zoe will fully understand.

Our next stop would be our final stop. It was similar to the landscape we had just left, with a busy dock at the bottom and hundreds of stairs to get to the top, only this was the deluxe version. This time, EVERYONE climbed to the top, or maybe they got there from the other side. But the village up there was actually more of an outdoor super-mall. There must have been at least 50 small shops and 20 restaurants and bars, many of them very high-end. So this is where the rich people go, i though to myself. Since this was our last stop, we were going to have to find the bus on our own that evening, and we had almost 4 hours to kill with small shops that didn't really interest us. It was fun walking around, and it was stunningly beautiful, but even that gets old after a couple of hours.

We had started the journey with the women, climbing the stairs with them and hanging out with them in the first few shops, but eventually lost them. We did our own thing for about 30 minutes, when i decided the best way to make things interesting would be to attempt to find them again. There could have been a few thousand tourists up there by then, so finding them would be difficult, but not impossible; a fun challenge. And that's what it turned out to be. After we found them that time, we wouldn't part ways again until a very late night, drunken and emotional (them, not us) parting of ways after 3AM in what is now one of my favourite clubs in the world (but we'll have to save that for later, as Cameron just returned and is waiting for me to finish so we can go eat). Although we felt like we were being dragged to silly jewellery stores one after another to listen to them fawn about mermaid pins or something, it was actually more fun then if it were just us. And if we hadn't found them, i would not have found what i consider to be one of the greatest pieces of jewellery i've ever purchased (considering circumstances, beauty, and more) for my beautiful wife. All 6 of them waited patiently for me as i considered my options, and they though it was beautiful too. Of course, that's also when i started talking about my wife, and when i do that, sometimes i can stop, especially when i'm missing her like crazy. (Remember, up until that time, Cameron had done must of the talking to them.) We watched the sunset together from a great little secluded place while we drank wine and ate grapes and snacks. We talked and ate and drank for hours. Eventually we found our bus, made it back to our respective hostels (there were only one block apart), and agreed to meet up later for a night on the town. And that's when things would get crazy...