The Island of love...

Santorini. The first 5 hours I was there I had already seen two weddings!

Wow, this is the most English I have heard so far! It’s a beautiful island, but damn, there’s a lot of tourists! I stayed at Cavelands Hostel which was absolutely beautiful! There was a pool and roof top hang out. I loved it! After checking in the first day, I went to lunch at a local restaurant. We went to the same place I had asked for directions earlier. After lunch, I asked the owner where I could find an ATM. Instead of simple directions, he hopped me on the back of his dirt bike and took me there! I have never been so scared! These people are CRAZY drivers. I yi yi, survived that one!

At about 5 pm, we started our 3 hour adventure from our hostel (25 minutes away from Fira) to Oia. Oia is the “postcard” area of Santorini. The hike took you along the coast through little towns. There were awesome views in every direction! The best sight occurred when we were on our last hill leading up to a church. When we approached the top, we had a view of Oia with the sea behind it. We trekked into the town and bought beers to enjoy the famous Santorini sunset.

The next day was a lazy day. I enjoyed myself by the pool, explored a little in Fira, watched the sunset and ate dinner in Oia. We were a group of eight from the hostel and did that make me grateful to be traveling on my own (or at least with only a few ppl earlier)! We were losing people left and right; it was complete chaos!

Well shit. This morning I missed my bus. I was there on time, but there was confusion between which bus and I ended up just getting a taxi. 10 Euros and a good conversation was a small price to pay in the scheme of things. The taxi driver asked if I was from Australia and I had to ask why he picked aussi land. He told me he normally doesn’t see Americans traveling alone. I felt very independent. Before I stated Greece, I thought it would be hard to find others to hang out with, but almost everyone at our hostel was traveling alone too.

No one drinks tap water here. The tap is very salty and you can tell it after doing laundry. Your clothes are crunchy! Not even the locals will drink it. Instead they use cistern and catch rainwater.

I have found that I really enjoy couchsurfing when you are with someone. That way if the host is busy, you have someone to do activities with. Though, traveling alone, I prefer hostels because it’s so easy to meet people who are doing the same thing. This hostel had a great environment, and I made connections with so many people.

Travel Tip #?

If you have the means to do so, a smart phone, iPad, iPod, act. always take a picture of the bus or ferry schedule. It is so handy to have that with you and to look at it later! Though in Greece, the buses don’t always run by the schedule so you just have to hope things work out.