V’S GREEK VENTURE: SANTORINI

DAY 1: SANTORINI

Ah Santorini. My expectations were set quite high. Although it was gorgeous in the town itself, the rest was basically deserted farmland with a donkey scattered here and there. BUT, I did adore every minute!

Following our calm 3 hour ferry ride we’d made it to the port where we were faced with a ginormous cliff rising up in front of us. We caught our transfer to our family owned hotel, which was a good 15 minute walk from the centre of Fira town. The location of our acommodation was definitely the worst of the whole trip and was not as glamorous as the others. (E.g. I tried to plug in my charger and the whole socket plus the cords came out of the wall). It did have a nice freezing cold pool to cool down in and tan by though.

By the time we’d settled in and headed down to the pool I was feeling a little sick again (I know, again) so we decided to order some food to be delivered to the hotel to curb my hunger. Chloe and I got a pizza and these gross cheese things that made me feel so ill.

Then it was finally off to Oia to watch the world famous sunset. We all dressed up and hopped on a bus for an hours long ride to catch the dipping sun. My stomach was feeling progressively worse, but I trudged my way up and down the stairs of Oia to find a good spot to settle. There were hundreds upon hundreds of people lining the cliff face, trying to get a glimpse of the setting sun. Luckily our tour leader Greg knew of a less known place to get a good view and a few happy snaps to send the family and friends. We dangled our feet over the edge of the cliff and strained our necks to watch the sun slowly set over the horizon. Just as the last slither of sun slipped below the water line, a huge cheer erupted from the crowd and the boats in the water below. We stayed for a few minutes longer before heading back up the many stairs to the bus. By this time I was pretty much vomiting in my own mouth, and the hour bus ride back to Fira didn’t help either. We were dropped at a taxi rank (which taxis didn’t go to apparently) and waited for about 45 minutes before deciding to hail down a taxi from the main road instead. We crammed five of us into the car and headed back. Ash came in to check I was all good and then I fell to sleep. I didn’t even hear my roommate come in that’s how dead I was. It was one of the longest nights of my trip for sure.

My most candid shot to date

A Verity between two Chloe’s

Cliff face of Oia

Kim!

DAY 2: SANTORINI 

I woke up the next morning feeling considerably refreshed and a lot less sick in the stomach. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we walked back into Fira to catch our cable car to the boats. Our pirate style ship/boat was just perfect. It took us out to one of the active volcano sites on Santorini which we then begrudgingly climbed. The weather was stifling, and although I put on extra sunscreen (I definitely learnt my lesson after a whole week of face peeling from my sun burn on Mykonos), my back still happened to get burnt. I was wearing an open back style shirt and my tan there now looks like a triangle!

View from the top of Fira

View from the cable cars

Wishing rock piles on top of the volcano

On top of the volcano!

After a few happy snaps on top of the volcano (I didn’t end up taking any because I was so dead… Just goes to show how unfit I really am) and a much more comfortable walk downhill to the boat, we then headed over to the location of the volcano springs. We parked next to a sailing boat, grabbed Kim’s GoPro, held hands, and jumped feet first into the gorgeous clear blue water. It was beyond refreshing after our gruelling hike! The girls and I all swum to the shore line to get amongst that sulphur sludge. The closer you get to the shore, the hotter the water gets, making it similar to a hot spring. Apparently the sulphur from the volcano is good for your skin, but all it did was turn us into a bunch of black skinned, rotten egg smelling girls. Absolute classic. The smell stuck around for up to three washes, and the dark skin stuck around for about two. Safe to say it was an experience I probably don’t need to try again.

Chloe, myself, Tayla and Larrissa

Getting amoungst the sulphur sludge

Our little boat then took us back to the cable car stop to either ride the donkeys up the hill, or catch the cable car. I decided I didn’t want to ride the donkey’s, it felt weird and cruel to. Of course it’s a personal choice, but I am definitely glad I decided not to. So instead we grabbed some sorbet and walked back to the hotel for another swim to try and get rid of the rotten egg smell. It definitely helped, but I still had to wash my hair twice to rid myself entirely of the stench!
Later that evening we headed back into Fira for our farewell dinner on the cliff face of Santorini. A gorgeous sunset greeted us, along with a yummy pasta dinner. We all then headed to a bar called Town Group Club for some cheap and delicious farewell cocktails and our last outing as a group. Unfortunately I left relatively early (despite the cute bartender), but ended up hearing that the remaining girls had a pretty wild night. One of them even got kicked out of a bar (for good reason of course), which was an absolute laugh.

Sunset from the restaraunt. Santorini’s way of saying farewell

Ash and I, my twin! Swear we were seperated at birth

Cass, Ash and I

DAY 3: SANTORINI TO ATHENS

Our final day consisted of a lot of shopping, (Chloe and I bought the most gorgeous matching Pom Pom shoes) icecream, and laughs. It was a beautiful and relaxing day, seeing as though we didn’t have to catch the ferry until later that afternoon. We even went to a fish salon and got our nails and toenails done to finish off the trip. 

After heading back and packing our bags for a final time on a Greek island, we headed to the ferry port to catch our last ever ferry. Although it was a very long nine hour journey, it gave us all time to have a good talk about our trip, share our funny and creepy stories, and have some general banter with each other.

It’s safe to say I’ll miss every single one of my new girlfriends (and boys) with all my heart and hope we meet again. It was a beyond perfect trip even with its sickness, drunk shennenigans, delayed ferries, scorching heat, burnt faces, and fattening foods, but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. The people I met and the experiences we got to share will stay with me forever, and has definitely changed me for the better. There’s no doubt I’ll be back one day to soak up that Greek sun and look out over that sparkling water for a second time. But for now, adiós my island parasise, I have a plane to catch 😜

Cheers (yamas),

V 🍻

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