Wine and Detours in Santorini

After being rudely awaken by our hostel mate in Athens (no, no it was her room too!) we couldn’t get back to sleep, so we got ready and headed out and got the metro to the port in Athens. Finding our boat was a little difficult as we pictured a cruise ship! I’ve been told by lots of other travelers that the boats in Greece are amazing, and that they have the most fun on the ferries between the islands, but no. So we get on the ferry, and are directed towards a little coffee area on the boat. He pointed the other way and said, “First class,” and we’re like, oh, right clearly we didn’t book that. Pretty sure they see our backpacks and judge us on them! The ladies get their “Greek coffee” (which is really nasty apparently, I’m sick of their whining already lol) and I go to look around. I found us some comfy seats, but we were turned away again because our tickets weren’t first class. We headed upstairs and found a seat by the railing and close to the bar. We had 8 looong hours on this ferry that we thought would be a cruise ship. The joke was we were in steerage because of our packs. Such a great time! We were def drinking beer by 10:30. It’s a good thing Kristal brought crafts with her (insider!), even though it wasn’t on the list! (Another insider, I love these ladies.) As she packed the day before, she just packed her Canadian flag patches instead of sewing them on, so we busted out our sewing kits (um, let me rephrase that. Mom and I busted out our sewing kits, as Kristal didn’t follow the list again!) and sewed on her patches. I also painted nails, did word searches, etc. Crazy long boat ride though. Got some beautiful photos of the landscape we passed though, so that was good.

We get to the port, and Nicholas, the guy from our hostel, said he would meet us at the port, no worries. Thing is, I didn’t write down the name of the hostel, and all these guys were standing around with signs of their hostels. I knew it started with an ‘A’, and the first one we saw was called “Anna” so we went for it. The guy with the sign didn’t have our names, it was just, “Do you have reservation? Ok, you come.” We were like ok, I guess..? Mom starts freaking, and now I’m all stressed because she’s stressed and it’s a mess in paradise. Kristal’s being herded like a cow and doesn’t care what she’s doing, just going with the flow, and mom’s not happy. Finally we asked if they knew Nicholas, because he’s the one who said he would pick us up, and they didn’t even know a Nicholas, so we got out of the van and looked again. From the back, we see a piece of paper with ‘McInnes’ on it, and mom gets all happy. And Nicholas is the most charming guy ever! We got to ride in the cutest hippy van (mom’s life dream) across the island to Perissa. It was beautiful! Once we get to the hostel, Nicholas informs us that they had a mix up and that we had to stay at the hotel next door, so for the first night we stayed in a really nice place. We went out for dinner and had amazing greek appetizers, like dolmades, homous, fava beans, greek salad, pita, and more. Even Kristal had an all veggie meal with us, and we had free wine for staying at Aroma (close to Anna, right?) hostel.

This morning we had to move over, and the ladies were not impressed with the move. It was a freaking five star hostel in my eyes, but the ladies had other opinions and wanted to move back! I was like NO way that’s so offensive to Nicholas, who’s such a nice guy! So I talked them out of it, I think. It’s $16 CAD a night, so you can NOT complain! We headed out into town to get some groceries and things, and on the way back mom saw a shortcut she thought would lead back to the hostel. Well, after grazing through the freaking desert, dodging a ton of horse poo, dead rat skeletons, and trespassing through 3 people’s yards, we made it back to the hostel. She claims we shaved off 15 minutes of walking, but it was complete crap, and Kristal and I were not impressed. She’s actually still bragging about it now! Whatever. Anyways, after that SLIGHT detour, we headed back into town and caught the bus to a winery, talking to a very cute, nice boy from Edmonton. The winery had AMAZING views, like beautiful. Mom almost cried. We bought wine samples and cheese, olive and crusty bread platters (mom and I got bread and extra olives) and drank them on the rooftop terrace. The wine was excellent, the red being the best I think, and that’s coming from a white wine girl. It tasted like cherries it was so good. Had some laughs trying to eat the bread, as crusty is quite an understatement, but it was good. Finished off with a cheers of ice wine, mmm!

After that it started to pour, and we caught the bus into Fira, the main city. We did a little shopping in the cute little streets, and then headed back to Perissa. Tonight we’re going for thai food to try and offset all of the greek food and olives we’ve been eating. Missing everyone at home, but having an awesome time overall in Santorini!