So lets talk about the rest of Spring Break 2011... Santorini, Greece.. the place I have completely fallen in love with. Santorini is gorgeous, breath taking, awe-inspring... I could talk about it for days. It is a place that I must go back to... seriously I am obsessed.
Day 1: I'm on a BOAT!
The adventure began at 5 am on Sunday morning.. which is the time we woke up in order to be ready for the cabs picking us up at 6 for the port. We managed to all make it there and board the boat with no problems. We soon settled in for our lovely 8 hour bus ride, quickly making up for the lack of sleep we got the night before. When your on a boat for 8 hours you make use of the little you have aka you sleep in the aisles with your music blaring into your headphones! The gig was up by 11 and we were ready to be in Santorini already! But that being said, the ride was beautiful. There is not much better than sailing through the Greek Islands! We ended up on the deck for the last 3 hours getting sooo excited for our week on the island.
We were picked up at the port by STAVROS in our very own PRIVATE mini bus. Morgs and I had talked up Stavros for days, and he ended up being the greying old Greek man we all pictured driving a ratty old white van... so perfect! Once we were settled into our apartments, we freshened up and headed into town. We stayed in Fira, the capital city, which was extremely cute, but nothing extravagent. We had dinner at Mamas, who i'll get to later, and headed back to the apartment to play another round of Apples to Apples and watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which is my all-time fave flick! It was perfect to be in Greece as we watched Toula and Ian fall in love Greek style! Then it was bed time since this week was alll about the rest!
Day 2: Black Sand Beauties!
Monday morning was grocery shopping time! We had one big apartment and a smaller room with a kitchenette at the hotel and so we decided to get a bunch of breakfast food for the week and then snacks and dinner for that night. Although we originally wanted to make Mexican food, we were quickly reminded we were on a small Greek island and couldn't find chicken breast. So we settled on lots of veggies and eggs to make scrambles! We also stocked up on the essentials: greek yogurt, cereal, tortilla chips, and beer.
The afternoon was spent at the gorgeous black sand beach, laying out in the hot Greek sun. It was seriously perfect weather, not too hot, but not cold. We were just enjoying the natural beauty surrounding us and just realizing how lucky we are to live this life!
The night was spent making salsa, cooking dinner, and enjoying our down time. We settled in after dinner with one of our old faves, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, which happened to be filmed in Santorini. I have to say it was aloooot better when I was 14 and provided us with sooo many laughs and inside jokes this time around!
Day 3: I Guess I'll See the Island Via ATV!
The next day we rented ATV's and literally spent the day going from the very Southern most point of the island to the most northern! Santorini is absolutely insanely beautiful, and it was such an amazing way to see the entirety of the gorgeous island! We stopped at the red sand beach to meet up with Mer and Molly and had to do a little rock climbing to discover the absolutely amazing red cove beach! More laying out was on the schedule! After a little trouble with one of the ATVS and a greek salad lunch break we were on our way up to Oia to watch the most beautiful sunset in the world, and it sure lived up to its billing. It was a postcard... this isn't real life.
That night we went to the most popular restraunt in Fira, Naussa Tavern. They were awesome, giving us free wine and this bright pink, but absolutely delicious dip. The owner, Kosta, even offered us all summer jobs, free housing, and as many greek boys as we want.. the offer was TEMPTING!
Day 4: Hi-Ho Hi-Ho It's Off To Oia We Go!
So we had heard about this hike between Fira and Oia and decided we had to do it. Soo we asked around but couldn't get a concrete description as to where it started. So we just started to walk on the street and soon ran into this old woman who yelled at us asking where we were going and when we responded she was shocked. After a few choice expletives she introduced herself as MAMA, the famous lady, and called us all crazy for walking 3 hours but forced all 9 of us into her little car! She was crazy and fabulously funny. Her mouth was terrible! But she led us to the hike, making us promise we would have dinner in her restraunt, which of course we obliged. So that began the most amazing, coastal hugging hike ever. We climbed the Santorini cliffs in the beautiful sunshine.. nothing better than that! When we made it Oia we realized what off season truly was, since only 1 restraunt was open and it took forever to get our sandwichs. We almost missed our bus!
That night we went back to Mamas, where Mama herself entertained us with her crazy stories of Nia Vardalous, the writer/star of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and her choice language. The salads there are seriously amazing... I want one right now.
Day 5: We're all IRISH today!
The next day was my most favorite tribute to my heritage ever... St. Pattys day! We spent the entire day lounging, day drinking, vegging around the apartment since it was slightly raining. We did venture out once to get our free t-shirts from our beloved Mama.. which was definitly a highlight! The day was seriously the best... so nice to veg with the best yadys I know!
The night was spent in the Irish bar in Santorini, Murphys!, dancing and just being happy to be alive! It was seriously so fun to spend St. Pattys day dancing like noone is watching with my favorite yadys!
Day 6: Do We Really Have To Leave?
Sadddd... our last moments on the island were ofcourse spent at lunch with our Mama! One last Mama salad before we had to leave the island!
And so began the longest traveling day ever. We left our apartments at 2, got on the ferry at 330, spent 8 long hours getting sea sick, boarded an hour long bus from the port to the airport, "slept" on the floor of the Athens airport (which was super nice: free internet and all the stores stayed open all night), had a 4 am wake up call, a 630 am flight to Zurich, a 4 hour layover in Zurich, an hour flight to Florence, and a cab ride back to Nazionale. It was Sad to be back, but it was the beginning of the end of the greatest adventure I've ever had. It began my last month in Florence, a city I have grown and learned in. I can't believe its beginning to wind up! I have to start living up those Flo days.
Music Guide: "Stuck Like Glue" by Sugarland
