Week Break – Santorini (Part 2 of 3)

My lesson in Santorini was this: Don’t plan an island adventure; it’s just going to change. I wasted SOOO much money planning and buying my ferry tickets in advance without any benefit. Unlike plane tickets, ferry tickets don’t increase in price if you buy them even the day the ferry leaves. I purchased my tickets for my week break a good month in advance without really knowing exactly what I wanted to do when I got to the islands. I had originally thought I would visit Naxos in between going to Santorini and Mykonos just because it happened to be an island on the way and I’d heard of it before. When I went to the travel agency and asked for a ticket to Naxos from Santorini he told me there were none for that day. Instead of going home and trying to decide exactly what and where I wanted to go, I bought a ticket to Paros instead. Hostels work in a similar manner, it doesn’t matter when you book the room, it just might matter what time of year it is when you want to stay. Overall, through changing ferries and trying to cancel ferries and cancel hostel rooms, I ended up flushing about 80 euro down the drain. If I would have just shown up to the port the day I wanted a ferry ticket, or booked a room the night before, I wouldn’t have wasted a dime. This lesson goes against everything I have learned as a child from a mother who loves to plan and from myself as a money saver. It killed me I came home with two expensive ferry tickets that I didn’t even get to cancel to get money back from. They are just sitting in my purse waiting for a man to rip them in half who will never come.

The reason those ferry tickets didn’t get used is this: Santorini captured me and wouldn’t let me leave. Spending 5 days in Santorini was the most amazing time I have had in Greece to date. There are still things I haven’t done on that island and I’ve spent a total of 7 days there now. When I walk down the main street of Perissa Beach I wave to people I know from the hostel or The Beach Bar and smile as the sun shines down on the small town. Perissa Beach is on the south eastern edge of the island, removed from the tourism of Fira (the capital) and Oia (home of Kostas from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants). Since I’m a patron of the same bar each time I go out I know the guys that work the bar and those that hang out there. The night I thought would be my last I went to the bar and took pictures with most of the guys that I’m close friends with there. Tricia decided to stay out with me when Rachel and Mandy went home that night. That was the fateful night when we met Leo and George. Leo is the reason I stayed in Santorini and never made it to Paros at all, but that’s a story for another night.

The Sunset in Fira, Santorini. Click for the rest of my pictures from Santorini!

Fira and Oia are two towns worth writing entire books about. I don’t even say this as a tourist doing touristy things because of movies or because of books. Sitting at a café watching the sunset one night in Oia and the next night in Fira really made me feel like the queen of the island. To see the sunset from two distinct parts of the island back to back makes the island seem small and familiar. I feel like I belong in Santorini after going up and down it time and time again, not just this trip, but the first trip as well. I can find my way through the tiny stone pedestrian streets, I can give directions from one town to the next, and I can even recommend a good café or restaurant in 3 towns! I feel like I haven’t really touched on the touristy aspects of Santorini. I never went to tour the volcano, I haven’t been to the museum, the ancient city was closed, I haven’t seen the red or the white beach, and I haven’t ridden a donkey up 500 steps! You might wonder what I even did for 7 days being in Santorini! Truly, I just relaxed. For two days I spent as much time on the beach as I could, lying on a sun bed in front of The Beach Bar of course. They don’t just know me because of the night life; I am a day time patron of the place as well for my 4 euro cocktails on the beach. This is most of the reason for me being so tan. The day Rachel first saw me after only two days in Santorini she exclaimed, “Katherine! You’re so tan!” This has never been uttered with me as the subject before in all of my life! I finally succeeded in covering up the engineering white that has plagued my life for so long! It’s too bad it’s so bad for my skin; I finally got the courage to wear shorts and dresses. Sitting on the beach and sipping a Piña Colada while reading a book was exactly what I wanted to do for my week off of school. I wasn’t racing around trying to see everything there was to see and I wasn’t feeling guilty about ferry tickets going to waste, I was just being in my surroundings and soaking it up. I did a lot of soaking this trip and I loved every minute of it.

My random encounter in Mykonos and a third lesson learned coming tomorrow! Stay tuned!