Grecian Islands: Santorini, Part II

We now reach Friday of my week in Greece. I arrived in the country late Sunday, in Santorini early Monday afternoon, left the island mid-Saturday, and left Greece for Paris early the next morning. So we're really getting down to the wire here! But I made it count, I think =)

First up: volcanos.

More specifically, one, long-dormant volcano a 30-minute ferry ride from Santorini's main city Fira. We found a service that would take us into Fira, take us to the volcano, and to some hot springs, all for 16 euro. Not too shabby! Of course, they then proceeded to trick us into spending 4 euro for this cable car down the cliff face, and there was another required payment of 2 euro to get onto the volcano. Um, what?? We grumblingly shelled out, those of us who had randomly thought to bring more than a bathing suit and the 16 euros covering those who hadn't.

The volcano was pretty fun. Everything was red (from all of the sulfur, if I'm getting this right), and the landscape and views from the top were stunning. It was a pretty steep climb, but that's just sorta what my spring break was all about! 

You can see the main port and ferry terminal (where we sailed into on Monday, not our port of call for the volcano trip)

I think this green color is the sulfur of the volcano mixed with whatever iron or calcium or whatever mineral causes the water to be such a strong shade of blue

The ladies

From the volcano, the boat continued over to the hot springs. Part way through the trip, an announcement comes over the speakers:

"We're about twenty minutes away from the hot springs. Now, there is no place on the island for the boat to dock- no boat can dock there. So, if you want to get to the hot spring, you are going to have to jump off the boat and swim to it."

We wait for the part where they say they are joking. Doesn't happen. It just starts repeating the message in other languages.

Um, what??? Everyone exchanges glances, and people slowly start to strip down to their bathing suits. Pretty soon, we are all huddled awkwardly on the deck in our bikinis, amidst the majority of the passengers who are opting to stay clothed and on the boat. We pull up about 20 meters away from the hotsprings, and the boat stops. Someone opens up part of the deck, but no one tells us what to do. More awkward huddling. Finally, one guy just dives in without waiting for further instructions. Our American instincts kick in- we loudly whoop and applaud him and immediately follow suit! It was like lemmings, just a steady stream of girls (and later, many other boat passengers) flinging themselves into the sea. Eventually someone from the boat showed up with a ladder, but I'm not sure at what point, because I was busy swimming to the hot spring.

The hot spring itself wasn't that much to talk about- mainly pockets of warm water, and you had to keep swimming, because the bottom was this really gross sulfur mud stuff that would swim up and attack your hair if you stepped on it. But still, we hung out in it for a bit and were proud of ourselves.

Swimming back to the boat

Hanging out afterwards on the deck, victorious

Two intrepid adventurers, and two who opted to stay high and dry

Once everyone was safely back on board, we went back to port.

The girls all decided that they were through with the unexpected expenses, and that they would just walk up the stairs. I was a little more inclined to just pay the 4 euro for the cable car again, but I have a big hike coming up in August, so I figured, why not? Everyone's going for it, and it's good training. Well, it was indeed quite the training session. Check out the staircase:

It continues below the picture!!

One girl is a ninja-mountain goat mutant hybrid and ran up in about five minutes. For the rest of us it took 15-30 minutes, side-stepping donkey detritus all the way. But the views were lovely.

Fira

We went home and went dancing again for our last night.

The final morning, I finally checked off a major life goal. I went scuba diving! In the Mediterranean!!

The very first day I arrived on Santorini, I discovered a dive center right next to our hotel. It offered dives for certified divers, certification courses, snorkeling trips, and, *insert triumphant trumpeting here*, introductory dive classes! I knew immediately that I had to do it, even if the cost would prevent me from eating for the rest of the week. Fortunately, it was perfectly reasonable, so I was able to continue to indulge my newfound spanakopita obsession. 

I originally had a whole group of girls psyched to go, but by the end of the week, they were all too tuckered out from partying hard each night at the fabulous little beach bar/club right next to our hotel (I went each night as well, but was far more functional the next mornings due to my extreme distaste for all things alcoholic). So I went solo.

We were underwater for almost an hour, and it was amazing!! I was struck by how similar it looked to being above ground- the seaweed seemed like grass blowing in the breeze. I have absolutely no natural aptitude for scuba diving, much like surfing- but it is just too much fun, so I see it being a lifelong activity of mine. The instructor literally was holding my hand most of the time, to keep me from floating about too much, or tipping over (the equipment is very heavy). But they took us to a little coral reef, and school upon school of brightly colored fish were swirling around us. I had a staring contest for almost a minute with a little rainbow-colored one. 

Once I was out of the water, I had to rush to peel off my wetsuit (I think it took me less than 3 minutes, a major success) and get changed so I could get back to Stelio's Place in time for him to drive us all to the ferry back to Athens. No time for a shower- I was back in Paris before I could take a shower to get out all of the sand and small pebbles (no joke) in my hair. 

It was nice to be awake for the ferry ride this time, so I could actually see things. I was on the deck for the first 3-4 hours, and then I went in and paid for a window seat just in time for sunset!

A quick overnight stay in Athens (we didn't even get in until almost 1a), then up bright and early to walk to the airport bus shuttle- because there was a strike and the Metro was closed- for our 9a flight! It went fast, and we flew over Venice, which was exciting. I had no idea that it was all isolated like that! Makes total sense, but there you go.

Venice, I do believe