Santorini Day!

Today we did everything I’ve ever wanted to do in Greece. It was seriously like living a dream, a dream shared with four girls who mean show much to me, it could not have been any better.
Yesterday the ferry ride was actually quite enjoyable. Of course it involved wine and talking, two of our favorite pastimes in Greece. I cannot believe that we can still find things to talk about after being together almost every minute for the past week. We just click so well, I really love them. The ride took about four hours but it just flew by because of the great conversation we were having and the laughs we shared. We get off the ferry and immediately find a van that says “Stavros Villas” on the side, our hostel! We run up to it and Stavros himself greets us and helps us with our bags. He is the typical Greek man: big, loud, and overly affectionate. We ask for music so we’re blasting it with the windows down driving along the Santorin coastline. After we get settled in our rooms, probably the nicest so far, he offers to drive us to a restaurant! We get food and hang out at the restaurant until close, and then walk back.
This morning we got an early start, had coffee (I had water) and checked our email and talked. Stavros drove us into town and we walked around a bit before finding a place for breakfast called “Mama’s Place”. We walk up and this old Italian woman comes down from the restaurant yelling “Say hello to Mama girls!”. She insisted we call her Mama and she was absolutely hilarious, we got a picture with her. I had blueberry pancakes and they were so delicious, it was nice to have a good cooked breakfast.
Then we began the decent down 588 steps to the boat that would take us on our 18 euro tour of the island. Not only were these steps far apart and cobble stones but the narrow path was COVERED in donkeys. There were probably 100 of them, all tied together, all trying to run over us and pooping everywhere. It was the most blissful yet insulting experiences of my trip so far. The coastline was unbelievably beautiful, the white buildings with blue roofs you see on postcards next to that water that always takes my breath away. Unfortunately it was coupled with the stench of donkey droppings. We were all laughing the whole way down, trying to dodge the droppings and moving donkeys.
We get on the boat and begin our ride to the Nea Kameni volcano. We had an hour and a half there and we walked all along the side of it, looked at the craters, and then walked to the highest point. It was beautiful but very rocky, black ash rocks, and hot. The sites were amazing though, you could see the whole island, large rocks with the stark white village nestled safely at the very top. After the volcano tour we got back on the boat and rode to the hot springs. We got to jump off the boat, one by one, and swim to the springs. It felt so good plunging into that icy water on such a hot day. We were all laughing hysterically and playing in the water like young kids, completely carefree. The springs were cool but a little muddy so we mostly stayed close to the boat. We got back to the boat to head back to the islands and to our donkey ride!
The donkey ride was so great! Typical tourist activity but we had to. We all traded cameras and took great action shots of everyone. My donkey, I named him Pongo, was a tad aggressive. He thought he could just keep trudging up the hill blissfully unaware of the other donkeys. Needless to say I got well aquainted with other tourists from all over the road as Pongo slammed me uncomfortably close to them. He also tried to cut the others off by slamming me into the stone wall, scratching up my leg. But, he was a good donkey and I felt bad that that was his job all day.
After the eventful ride we headed to a cheap gyros place for a much needed lunch. Sam, Justine, and I decided to head back to our hostel. In our state of exhaustion we were convinced we knew the way back on foot to our hostel…we did not. We ended up walking 20 minutes on this deserted road next to these huge cliffs and undeveloped land. Luckily we spotted a clothing store with this nice woman who called our hostel and Stavros came to pick us up! Then we took a little nap and got ready. We’re not drinking wine on the balcony getting ready to see the sunset at Oia, it’s supposed to be beautiful.