Saturday
In my family, we celebrate birthdays with breakfast in bed. Unfortunately, my roommates wouldn’t comply, but we did have a delicious breakfast at our hotel that consisted of cornflakes, muesli honey, hard boiled eggs, coffee, peach juice and the best yogurt I’ve had in Greece. I think it was sheep yogurt and it was awesome with cornflakes, muesli and a drizzle of honey. (I had 3 bowls).
At 9:15 we walked to the cable car which we took down to the water and met our boat, Pegasus, that took us to either Neo or Palaia Kamerni, I'm not sure which, in the middle of the Caldera. The boat was maize and blue, so Mary (who also goes to U of M) and I had to take a photo. Good thing we made the same face...
GO BLUE!
Boat
We spent an hour and a half adventuring on the island, enjoying rock formations and gawking at the incredible views. There was one spot on the island that was slightly dug out and you could put your hand in to feel the heat, in addition to seeing the steam and smelling the sulfur.
View
Statues
After exploring, we got back on the boat and took a relaxingly beautiful sail around the entire islet and saw the sulfur springs. We could have gotten out and swam for an extra 15 euro but we are stingy college students and no one was interested in swimming in water that looks like pee and turns you yellow. Definitely a highlight of the weekend.
Net and blue water
Rocks and water
Next up: the donkey ride…well, technically it was a mule.
I did not like the donkey ride. It was definitely an experience and I’m glad I did it, but I did not enjoy climbing hundreds of winding steps on an eager mule. The whole production was chaotic and stressful. After getting off the Caldera boat tour, we were shuffled into an alley by an old man in a fisherman’s hat repeatedly saying “donkey donkey,” filed past other men in fisherman’s hats, one whom collected our five euro, then told to wait as another man brought down donkeys for us. Well, at first we didn’t know we were supposed to wait, so we started following him up the path; when he realized we were still behind he yelled in Greek and gestured at us to go back to the base of the path. The mules (there was only one real donkey) came down in a row and we just hopped on and were off: no introduction, guidance or instruction.
The donkeys just wandered up the winding path at their own pace, in more of a cluster than a line—butting, nipping and squeezing where they could, slowing down or stopping as they felt necessary. Was I allowed to kick or steer the animal if they started doing something I didn’t like? I had no clue; I was so stressed; plus it hurt like hell. For a while it looked like we were completely alone on the path, but eventually an old man came up from the rear with a stick and no English.
The donkeys apparently knew what they were doing, but I still didn’t trust them. They liked to stay close to the outside wall on the when rounding corners which my legs did not enjoy. My mule decided to get nice and cozy with the backside of the mule in front of me right as it started taking a shit…not sure how but I luckily managed to evade the poop.
There were donkeys all along the path in addition to people walking down the path to get to the water: bad idea on their part. Did I mention that we had no control over these beasts? Two mules in front of me managed to knock a woman flat on her back, and there was literally nothing we could do about it: we couldn’t hop off our donkey to help her, we didn’t speak the same language, and at the end of the day it was her own damn fault for trying to squeeze between two mules on a winding staircase. It was awful and terrifying; I hated that there was nothing we could do, but come on…lets be practical here. I hope she is all right. I don’t think the “guide” did anything to help, either.
I was so relieved when we finally got to the top.
Dismounting was an equally fun adventure. The donkeys just stopped on their own and no one was sure if we were actually finished. Were we supposed to just hop off and walk away or would the “guide” come by and help us? He finally rounded the last corner and saw us all just sitting in a row on our parked donkeys and started trying to communicate to us that we were to dismount. He kept saying “I get off…I get off” to which we all struggled to understand whether he meant he would get off and help us, or we were all to get off. As he continued past us still saying “I get off,” and realized we weren’t taking any action, he added some hand motions and “finito,” and some people hesitantly attempted to get down and out of the saddle. Luckily people gave me a hand down, otherwise I wouldn’t have had any idea how to get off my mule. I’m pretty confident my legs were shaking and are still bruised and scratched from rubbing along walls.
When I finally got my bearings and breath back I was sweaty and frustrated. I can’t remember the last time I was that stressed: there was no order to the ascent and I simply felt uneasy the whole time; I didn’t trust my donkey or anyone else’s. I just wish there had been a little more organization.
Hauling ass :)
Me and my mule
So, what did I learn from this? I’m an uptight American; Greeks are much more carefree and can “go with the flow” more easily. The truth is, these donkeys have trekked up that path many, many times and in hindsight, I’m pretty confident they knew what they were doing. But it’s my nature to need instruction and reassurance that the above realizations are true before mounting a bucking bronco. Given that the donkey ride was run by locals, as opposed to a tourist agency, I did not receive that extra boost of confidence.
In the afternoon, some people went to the red beach. I was planning on going but started to feel sleepy and grumpy and decided it would be in my best interest to just lay low and rest at the hotel so I could be ready to continue my birthday celebrations later. So I had a nice swim and nap at the pool and even got to call home and talk to my parents, Zeke, and a surprise chat with Uncle Matt, Aunt Beth, Blake and Chase J who were in Charlottesville for the weekend.
In the evening, we took a bus to a local winery where we toured their museum and did a wine tasting. Santorini is known for having some of the finest wines in Greece because grape vines do well in volcanic soil. The vines are kept low to the ground to protect them from the wind, and the branches are wrapped around the stalk to create "bird's nests." The museum itself was absolutely terrifying: it was underground in winding tunnels lined with rooms housing creepy manakins making weird movements and noises. We were all happy to get out of there. I was surprisingly disappointed in the wines we tried: one white, one red and two sweet dessert wines. Meh; didn’t like them.
Grapes
Creepy manakins
White wine
After the winery, seven of us took the public bus to the town of Oia (pronounced EE-uh) for birthday dinner and a different view of the sunset. Oia is beautiful. Some of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was filmed there. I liked the town much more than Thira. It was significantly calmer, more relaxed and picturesque in a different way. Blue domes dotted the view and we even saw a couple from Italy taking their wedding photos. Both the bride and groom were wearing white; I loved it. We walked down to the very tip of the town and saw all the people waiting for the sun to set. They looked like tiny ants lining the tops of buildings. We decided on a rooftop restaurant for birthday dinner that was a bit off the main road and thus less crowded. It seemed more authentic than the restaurant we chose on Friday and also higher class and less touristy…with the same prices! Excellent.
Birthday girl at sunset!
Turning 20 in Windsor, Canada followed by a homemade dinner with my best friend and an orange-themed birthday party consisting of Pictionary and Catch Phrase, I never thought that a year later I would be turning 21 in Santorini, watching beautiful sunsets over the Caldera with a glass of wine and delicious Greek meal. A few of us split mushrooms marinated in lemon juice, olive oil and cilantro (yum) and grilled vegetables for an appetizer, and I got beef stew with eggplant puree for my meal (nom). I almost had my first birthday surprise, but my friend Becca let the dessert that was on its way slip. They brought out a piece of mystery cake with a candle and the whole restaurant sang happy birthday and applauded. It was so special, wonderful and full of smiles.
We then bussed it back to Fira where some people stopped for gelato and we got the night started at Rock Bar again. I managed to get a few more free drinks throughout the night and we eventually went to a bar that was more Greek than touristy and got to hear some Greek club music which was a fun experience.
Photo of the Day
Harry Potter rock on the islet!!
Lighting bolt
The Count
Modes of transportation used in Greece: 6
-Foot, bike, ferry, bus, cable car, donkey
Glasses of wine drinken: 137
Euros spent on drinks: 0 :)
Birthday shots taken: Umm... :-x
Photos taken: 4481
No comments:
Post a Comment