The place we stayed in Santorini was unbelievably wonderful. Upon entering a gate to get inside the walled apartment area, we were surrounded by the typical white stone walls and blue doors and windows of the two-story buildings. The ivory buildings rose up meeting the unscathed blue sky while stone staircases wound their way down from the second floor. A pool was in the open courtyard as well as lounge chairs. The sun was setting and so a beautiful, golden light was cast atop the walls and upon the windows.
The next day, we rented ATVs, and toured the island. We went to the Red Sand beach, then to a lighthouse and lookout point, then walked around one of the towns which is known for its blue and white houses and buildings. This town was so beautiful not only because of the dramatic contrast between the colour of the buildings and the colour of sky. It was amazing also because it was situated right on the edge of the sea on a steep mountain side that fell softly into the glistening water. It was so peaceful and just so gorgeous.
Our second day began with more ATVing for the remaining two hours which we had left on our rental. We drove up several switchbacks up to the top of a mountain. We could only stay a couple minutes due to time, but it was still so beautiful. There were two towns below us, the vast sea stretching around us, and mountains rising majestically beside us. The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent on the Black Sand beach, which had very soft, but very hot sand. We laid on the sun chairs for awhile and swam in the cool, refreshing water of the Aegean Sea. That evening, we all (that is Sonja, Surya, who came with us from Ios, and two people we met from the dorm room where we were staying) went for a hike up the same mountain which we had driven up earlier. We took a different route to the one we'd taken earlier, though, so we saw this amazing rock face which was kind of a rusty orange colour. It was remarkable! It's height, colour, and texture/patterns astounded me. We finished hiking to the top of the maintain and happened to get there just as the sun was slipping behind billowy, beautiful clouds. So for our last night on Santorini, we unintentionally caught a sunset from a mountaintop. How perfect :)
The next day we woke up really early in hopes of seeing the sunrise, but by the time we reached the beach, it had already risen. It was still really beautiful though. We took a ferry off the island that afternoon to Athens and on the eight hour ride there, we met a lovely Irish couple. We chatted with them for awhile, then ended up playing Bananagrams with them for most of the way. We stayed in a hostel that night, then took a train then a bus to get to Patra. From there, we took a fifteen and a half hour ferry to Bari, Italy. In the ferry terminal we met this really nice guy, named Niki, from Toronto. We hung out with him for most of the way there which was nice. We arrived safely in Bari the next morning, then made our way to Rome.
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