santorini

i love this island so much!  even though it is ridiculously touristy, it has so much charm it just leaves you in awe.  we stayed at a hostel near perissa beach which was great because there was a 24 hour bakery down the street.  it's a shame that the US doesn't have more of them because greek bakeries are awesome!  i could not get enough of the ham and cheese pies or the chocolate croissants that they had.  the owners were super nice and told us exactly what was in every delectable pastry.  it was always a combination of cheese, tomatoes, chicken or ham, and bacon.  i don't know why they didn't just put a sign in front of each pastry in the case because i'm sure they go through the same spiel about 50 times a day.  you also got this nice sesame stick every time you bought something from them so i definitely ate my fair share of them!

the next day, we went on a tour of the island mostly so we could check out the caldera.  santorini is actually the crater from a volcano that used to be active.  as a result, there are other islands across the way that you can go to, to see the volcanic rock.  i was glad i saw it (because i never got the last time i was here), but i was extremely underwhelmed.  definitely not whelmed, as alicia silverstone would say.  it may have had something to do with the fact that we were hearded up this tiny island with about 100 other tourists and given only an hour total in time to spend there, but i guess i just expected more.
the next spot we hit up afterwards were these sulphur hot springs (read: mildly warm hot springs).  we got to jump off the boat and swim over to them for a bit.  it was crazy how the water went from blue to red just like that.  the sulphur smell wasn't nearly as bad as i thought!

after that we headed to the island of thirassia which is considered old santorini without the tourism.  after climbing up what felt like the equivalent of everest, we made it to the top which was worth the amazing view we got!  there really isn't much at the top aside from a church, but we had a quick picnic lunch with some of the girls we met from the hostel which also came on the tour with us.  naturally we all had purchased treats from the 24 hour bakery for lunch ;)

the last stop of the tour was in oia so that we could watch the sunset.  we rode donkeys up the steep steps (remember, we had conquered everest earlier already) and walked around the windy roads before finding somewhere to stake out with a bottle of wine.  it was so nice!  the atmosphere was great and pert and i had great company so it was a great end to the day.

the next day we woke up in the morning and did a hike with rachel, our new australian friend.  we hiked from fira to oia which has a hike that takes you along the rim of the crater which was really nice.  it took about 2 hours and we had the company of a stray dog (who we named zeus) to lead the way. 

the rest of the day, we rented ATVs and cruised around the island!  our first stop was the red beach which is in a really cool setting right at the bottom of a cliff.  we actually ran into these americans we met in mykonos so we hung out with them for a bit before heading to santos wines.  santorini is also known for its dry white wine and has many wineries in the perissa area which have tastings if you ever go.  we definitely took advantage!  santos is one of the better known wineries because of its location.  it has an absolutely stunning view of the island.  so stunning, that two weddings took place in the hour we spent sipping our glasses of wine!  

red beach

santos winery

santos winery view

afterwards, we drove around until we found another winery to stop at, which happened to be the same one cat and i visited last time.  the gavalas winery is much smaller than santos, but just as great.  there is the sweetest woman who works there who is very knowledgable and actually spends time having conversations with her customers which was really nice.  i sampled 5 wines there!  have no fear, there was no AUI (ATV'ing under the influence) that took place.

kamari beach

despite only being there for 2 days, i felt like we had a very productive two days and was excited to head to crete!  we convinced rachel to head that way with us so the three of us took off the next day!!!