Santorini

Thursday: I got up early and went out onto a ledge at the tip of the cove and got to watch a full sunrise. It was really colorful. I wonder why the sun doesn’t shine when it first comes up out of the ocean... it’s just a red circle with colorful clouds. It was a good little while just sitting there. I walked back to the hotel and packed quickly for the day trip to Santorini. We then ate breakfast (which for me consisted of two bowls of yogurt and chocolate sauce... Mmmm so good!) and then those of us who were going hit the road. It was my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, my two cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Cooks sister Megan, their two daughters Olivia, Delanie, Laura Jackson, Kerrie Smith and I that went. We drove to the port and got a good parking spot and went in to buy our tickets. After that we walked to the boat. It was like a ferry cruise liner hydrofoil. It wasn’t very big and it was really fast. It had two pontoons on either side. It was really loud as we boarded. We found our seats rather quickly and then waited to take off. The boat then backed out and pulled forward. I was surprised at how fast it moved. I didn’t get a window seat, but I was able to see out the back of the boat at the water the engines was spraying. It was really cool and would probably have been amazing to water ski behind... actually probably not :P My aunt Debby, Grandma, Grandpa and I all played a game of scrabble and then I tried to get a nap. With in two hours we were there. It was a really fun trip and my first boat ride across the ocean... or the Mediterranean. We got off the boat and then took a bus up this really steep and windy road to the main town and largest port where all the huge ships land. I was amazed at the bus drivers. They make so many sharp turns and impossible scrapes I’m surprised they don’t have accidents all the time. People in cars need to learn how to drive like bus drivers in Crete! Oooo actually that may not be a good idea! We got to the top of the island which is actually a giant volcano crater and the only one of its kind. The whole main island is actually the base out of a really old volcano. And the middle island is the top that sunk in after it exploded. It was really interesting to think of it that way. The ocean has filled in most of it. We walked through the town a little bit and went to get tickets to ride the lift? Down to the port where we could then ride donkeys/mules up a trail. It was a cool ride down and a great view of the town and cliffs. We then waited for a while as people looked around and then we made our way to the donkey place. We all bought tickets and then walked up to where the donkeys were parked. Some of us got put with another person. Emily and Ana road together, Todd and Delanie did and Megan and Laura did. The rest of us were single person. It was a long ride up, but super fun! We didn’t have to have anyone lead us either. We just got on and the donkey did the rest. I started out in 5^th place and ended up in first because my donkey was a speed demon. He must know my style

B-)

Once we got to the top again we went to a restaurant on the cliff and ate. I had a Gyro for the third day in a row and had it served to me in yet another way. The first time is was a pita wrap, the second time it didn’t come with pita and was just onions meat, French fries and sauce. The third time I got the pita on the bottom with the meat and sauce on top with French fries. All three were really good, but the first one was my favorite.

After lunch we walked through the town and went in all the different stores. After that we went back to our meeting place which overlooked the bay/port. Todd, his wife Molly and I walked down the stairs to a church and I took some good pictures. We also so a very young couple (teenagers) sitting in the corner of a dome on the church sitting in a very inappropriate position. I then ran up the stairs and then looked around in the stores some more. I went to the main road thinking I would make a loop and come around where we came up, but I couldn’t find it so I walked back to the other spot where everyone was. Turns out that I was like 20 feet away from the road I needed to take to finish the loop. I just needed to go a little further. I have a pretty good sense of direction so I knew I was in the right spot. I just needed to do a little more looking. We walked back to the bus station and rode it back down the windy hill. We passed like 6 buses all of which with like a foot in-between. It was incredible. We got down to the bottom of the hill to the port and had about 45 minutes to wait. We all sat in the shade of an old bus station and waited. I ran up this old road to take some pictures of a barn and stuff and came back. I bought some water and then talked with everyone. There were some puppies that we saw in an alley across the street so I went over and asked the guy who owned them if I could take pictures. I got a couple cute ones. The girls then went over and looked at them. They were some sort of golden retriever mix. After 15 more minutes of waiting our boat came. We got our tickets out and boarded and then rode it back to Crete. It was a very fun trip! After our boat docked we got all our stuff and headed back to the vans. We only had two vehicles because not everyone came so it was a quick departure. We were pushing it as far as time went so we were barely going to make it back to the hotel in time for dinner, but thanks to my uncle Dennie’s professional driving skills we made it back with 30 minutes to spare. We had a good dinner and then hung out for the rest of the night. We were all pretty tired so we showered and got rid of any donkey smell that had come back with us and then went to bed. I slept pretty well!

My adventure continues with.... Another day on the beach B-)