Santorini

Hello beauts. The trip is over. Natalie and I finished an amazing twelve-day trip with practically zero mistakes. Other than that train incident in Cinque Terre. I wish I would've written more while we were traveling, but wi-fi was spotty and I wanted to enjoy every moment instead of staring at my iPad.

Arriving in Santorini after almost 20 bours of traveling was amazing. We booked our hotel, Dina's Place, through Hostelworld and were thrilled with it. The staff was so helpful and the location couldn't have been better for the price of about 30Euros each per night! The ferry docked in the port of Athinios and we stayed in Fira Town, the biggest town in Santorini where cruise ships docks. It was just as beautiful as one could imagine; an entire city built on a cliff. My jaw dropped every time we saw the view.

The public transportation on Santorini consists of charter buses for 1.60 a trip. Our hotel was about a minute walk from the bus station, so we took advantage of that on our trips to Perivolos and Oia.

Perivolos: Here's the thing about black sand beaches: The sand gets really hot. Like, wear your Chaco's while you're tanning because they'll get too hot hot. It was a pretty cool place though. We got off the bus with black beaches filled with lounge chairs and umbrellas to our left. The right side of the street featured restaurant after bar after restaurant with overly-zealous hosts requesting our attendance. We settled on a place called Rivas. It offered a pool behind the bar along with great beach chairs. It was a great afternoon! On the way back to Fira, the bus stopped in Perissa. It looked like a really awesome beachside town as well, but we wanted to get back to catch the sunset in Oia.

Oia: it's known for one of the most famous sunsets in the world. While Fira is the more touristy of the two large towns, Oia wins on sophistication with the fancy hotels and restaurants because who wants to be in crowded streets with cruisers? Anyway, Oia was amazing. It looks just like the pictures, except its hard for the brain to comprehend that it really is that beautiful. Natalie and I bought some amazing souvenirs including a handwoven rug for myself and crystal necklaces from a clairvoyant woman. It was awesome. Over an hour before the sun was suppose to set, we went to a restaurant to get a good view called Sunsets. The food was mediocre but the scenery made up for it. About 20 minutes before the sun hit the water, dozens of people gathered in the small streets to watch. You would've thought it was a concert or something. At least 30 people came up to the restaurant and asked for a table to no avail. Glad we got there early. With necklaces and rugs in tow, we headed back to Rita's Place to continue reading Scar Tissue. The next day, we were off to Paros!