Santorini

Hey!!

So, as usual, I've had another amazing day. When we first arrived in Santorini we weren't too impressed because it seemed a lot more crowded than Paros and the minute we got off the boat we were approached by people trying to find us a place to stay. We accepted, but we felt a little duped because they got 15 euros from us! But the place we're staying in is really nice and it's all worked out fine.

This morning we slept in fairly late, and around lunch time headed out. We rented a car again, which I really think is the best way to see these islands because the traffic isn't nearly as crazy as anywhere else in europe (although it is still a lot different from home) and it lets us go places where it's not just a bunch of tourists.

So we headed out in a random direction because we didn't know where we were really. The first thing we found was a 'traditional settling'. We pulled off and got out. It was really really cool because unlike where we're staying which is completely tourist-ized, this was just an old town with all the old building and VERY narrow streets (we were walking because I was nervous about how narrow it was). All the houses are pretty much connected and it's so cool. We found a little restaurant and had an amazing lunch outside in this little tiny town. (I've definately fallen in love with tzaziki... it's awesome)

Next stop: the beach. Even though we're staying in a beach town we decided to try to find a less crowded beach, so we headed north and made our way through Fira (the biggest place here) and Oia (pronounced ee-a). The mountains here are spectacular! Around every corner there's another amazing view. The rocks are super cool too. A lot of the island was formed by a volcano a few thousand years ago so there are some really cool rocks that we never see in Nova Scotia.

The beach we found was amazing, and not crowded at all. The beach is made of black sand (from the volcanic ash) and there were actually waves, so we got to go body surfing! Fun!!! We stayed for a while, but not too long because the sand is really really hot and so being out of the water wasn't really THAT much fun.

We decided to try to get back to our hotel before supper by going on the opposite side of the island, but there aren't really any direct routes that way, so really we ended up wandering down small side roads and dead ends for about an hour and a half. It was super coolt though because we kept finding really cool spots. The best was what's called Ancient Thira, which I think is an archaelogical site, but I'm not sure because it wasn't open. The cool part was the road up to it. It was a super narrow road (sometimes just cobblestone) that zigzagged all the way up the super steep mountain. From the top we were able to see both sides of the island with spectacular views on either side. Again, so cool!

Anyways, now we're back at the hotel for a minute before we head out for supper. After supper we're heading back to Oia where there is supposed to be one of the most spectacular sunsets in the world. Tomorrow morning we have to give the car back, but then have until 10pm before our overnight ferry leaves the island. I'm sure we'll be able find some fun adventures without a car :-)

I absolutely love Greece, so I'm not REALLY looking forward to leaving the day after tomorrow, but I'm sure Germany and Holland are going to be cool too :-) I can't wait to get to Graham's relatives. That'll be the only place where we actually get to experience what it's like to live in one of these countries!! Until September I guess.

Hope everything in Canada is going well. Talk to you soon!
Kaila