After a whirlwind trip through Turkey (13 cities in 14 days) we headed over to Greece with the intention to relax… but first we had to endure a very long trip to reach our destination of Santorini. We left Turkey on a 1-hour ferry headed for Chios, Greece and the following morning at 4am sleepily boarded a 10-hour ferry bound for Athens.
Chios - our first taste of Greece
This was one time when I wish I had purchased the lightweight sleeping bag I was contemplating while in Nepal … everyone seemed to have the same idea - to sleep on the floor (and unfortunately right across the aisle from us, sleeping on the floor, was the loudest snorer I have ever encountered). Slightly exhausted, we arrived to Athens with 5 hours to spare until the ferry to Santorini so we decided to check out the “must see” in Athens, The Acropolis.
The Acropolis in Athens
Back on the ferry bound for Santorini we felt like we were on a luxury cruise liner. By far this was the nicest ferry I have ever been on. Finally at 1am we set foot on the island of Santorini… 22 hours since we had last slept!
Santorini wins the prize for the most dramatic and stunning place I have ever laid eyes upon. The island is a result of a volcano that erupted over 3,000 years ago, leaving a submerged crater in the middle of the sea surrounded by high cliffs of what would be the inside of the crater. The villages on Santorini have white buildings with blue domed churches perched high on the cliffs and instead of streets you find winding paths of steps which make it easy to get lost but fun to explore this unique way of living.
Stunning Santorini
Without a doubt Santorini is one of Greece’s most picturesque and most visited spots and the tourists proved that by arriving by the boat loads – in fact in was common to see 4 cruise ships in the harbor, and it wasn’t even high season yet! The passengers were dropped off at the old port and from there to town you had to climb a switchback trail of 600 steps. I was in heaven but those not looking for a workout paid to ride on the back of a mule.
Cruise ships in Santorini's harbor
After some much needed relaxation and exploring all there was to see on Santorini we headed over to the island of Mykonos which was touted as a “must see”. We had one night in Mykonos before taking a ferry to the island of Samos and that turned out to be more than enough time for us. We spent the day driving all around the island trying to figure out what all the hype was about. Our only conclusion was that most likely Mykonos was a great place but Santorini’s beauty had ruined us.
Mykonos
Getting back to Turkey from Greece the following day was a story in itself. The travel agent who had sold us the ferry ticket forgot to check with the ferry company beforehand and we were in for a surprise when we showed up to get our tickets only to be told that the 8am ferry was not running and we’d have to wait for the 5:30pm ferry. That gave us an entire day to explore the island of Samos. Around 3pm with nothing to do we decided that we needed to drink the wine and ouzo we had purchased in Greece since we were flying later that day and most likely would not be allowed to bring it on board. It was a fun way to pass a few hours – maybe a little too fun since we almost missed our ferry!
The ferry was over an hour late getting into Kusadasi, Turkey and we were a bit nervous since we had a flight to catch. With the taxi driver telling us to “close our eyes” while speeding down the roads and trying to calm our nerves by telling us that he had a 2-year old boy at home, he managed to get us to the airport 30 minutes before our plane took off. What a stressful end to a relaxing time in Greece!
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