That Boat Life

My second full day on Santorini was just about perfect. I didn’t have to wake up too early to catch the shuttle to the dock. I grabbed some breakfast at Demilar, and waited for the Spiridakos transport to arrive around 10:00.

For about 100 Euro you can book a five-ish hour catamaran tour of some pretty spectacular spots around the island. There’s a crew of four who run the ship and there are about a dozen tourists. A pretty good number, in my opinion.

Stefania was our primary go-to throughout most of the trip. She and I talked quite a bit and are now Insta-buddies. I invited her to Colorado when she was ready to visit the states.

We traveled to the Black Sand and Red Sand beaches. We stopped at a hot spring, which is cooler than my bath water, but contains some excellent minerals. I learned there are two volcanoes present on Santorini- one is inactive and one is active. Their names are Nea Kameni and Palea Kameni.

On our way back to the port we dropped anchor and ate some darn tasty food.  Vegetable spaghetti, grilled chicken, Greek salad, tzasiki, and bread. We could drink as much wine, water, and soda as we pleased.

The Captain created an excellent playlist for the ride. He played Brice Springsteen more than once. One of my favorite memories from the playlist is when Volare, by Dean Martin, came on. Four Italians belted out the song and it made me smile. 

We lounged on the deck and jumped in the water to play a bit. The whole trip was perfect.

The shuttle dropped me back off at the Demilar and I hoofed it back to the apartment. This is where the day gets dicey.

I had a 6:30 reservation at the Athenian House in Imerovigli. When I initially made the reservation I was planning on being in Fira, which is not that far away. Now I was in the other side of the island and I had no idea how long it would take me to get to the restaurant, and which mode of transportation would be best. 

I downloaded a taxi app and searched, but none were available. I reached out to Rousa, just in case she was nearby, but I didn’t get an answer. I was so worried about being late so I walked to the bus stop. The line to Fira was packed and the first bus that came was full. Rousa ended up texting me back to tell me she could be at the station in 15 minutes. It took her about a half hour.

I called the restaurant to tell them I was going to be late. Rousa arrived and explained the roads were crazy busy because people were making their way to the west side of the island to watch the sunrise. Ahhhh, that explains all the craziness.

Rousa took a back road to Imerovigli to bypass the traffic. “THUMP!” Another car hit her side mirror. She stopped in damn near the middle of the road and walked to get the mirror and talk to the driver. This created quite the pileup. Another driver wakes up to the car and asked me what was going on. I told him I didn’t know where my driver went. He promptly hopped in the car and moved it to the side of the road. Thank you, Jesus, for trustworthy Greeks.

Rousa made it back to the car and turned around to exchange information with the other driver. Now we were really late. She apologized, but I knew she needed to get the info. And to be honest, it was my fault I was late.

We finally arrived at the drop off point for the restaurant. I wore my cute, silver heals. They were cute until I had to navigate cobblestone streets and steep stairs to the restaurant. And of course, I was sweating. I made it, though, and the experience was worth it.

Not only was my five course meal so delicious, but I could never dream of such a view! I got to experience a Santorini sunset. Oh, and it’s pronounced, Sandorini. 

Off to Mykonos!

Aud