I'd Call It Santorainy But I Truly Dislike Puns

So as much fun as it was jumping on a plane and heading for Santorini, it was perhaps not the best decision. We were met in Santorini by rain, hail, SNOW, and wind strong enough to knock you over. Seriously. It knocked me over. Multiple times.

On the second day in town, we decided to jog around the island and check things out. 8.3 miles and a brush with hypothermia later, we realized we preferred the indoors. On the third day in town, we made the wise decision to rent a car and see the island from an enclosed space. On the fourth day, we mostly gave up and decided to cut our losses. We're hoping on a ferry in a few hours to head to Athens and then fly to Rome. We both had plane tickets out of Crete but we wouldn't be able to get to Crete for days, we'd be stuck in a tiny hotel room with nothing to do for those days, and once we got to Crete, it'd still be raining. THIS STORM IS RIDICULOUS.

That being said, Santorini has still been fantastic. First of all, we're staying at this little hotel owned by George and Stella. George and Stella are our sunshine when there is none to be found outside. They have taken care of our every need. From tea in the morning to rides from the airport and to the ferry to arranging our car rental, they have made sure that our every need is attended to. We love George and Stella. Their hotel is SO CLEAN too. It's heavenly. Also, Santorini is adorable. We've had a really fun time exploring and have just learned to laugh when the sky decides to pelt us with ice cubes at random.

Day 2:

The black sand beach we ran to.

It was incredibly gorgeous.

And we got 10 minutes of partial sun!

We also made a new best friend.

Sand. Cool.

My face is smiling but my head is asking when this dog is going to stop following us.

HE RAN ALL 4 MILES BACK TO THE HOTEL WITH US.

So loyal.

You maybe can't tell from this picture but we were drenched by the time we got home. It alternated between raining and hailing the whole way. We were also running uphill. The wind was blowing downhill.

We were very, very hungry after this run.

We hadn't eaten since Athens, so we both ordered pasta and pizza.

It was over-ambitious. This picture was taken after eating all I could.

I've never been so disappointed.

But yeah. Still definitely didn't say no to dessert.

Day 3:

The Greek Orthodox Church to person ratio on this island has to be like 1:1.

They're real pretty.

A village that was built around a castle like a thousand years ago.

People still live there.

It looked this unreal in real life too.

Seriously, these views.

I'm giggling in this picture because the wind blew me over during the first attempt.

There are hot springs on one of those islands.

I would do anything for some hot spring access.

Just a girl and her Smart Car.

Also her socks and stocks.

My tennis shoes still aren't dry from that run.

This is a color picture.

Cool 12th century artifacts from one of the castles.

Crawling around a castle.

Freezing to death.

Trying not to be blown into the rocks.

Generally not succeeding.

Dece view from the castle.

More Santorini cuteness.

Winding village streets.

The Pros and Cons of Off Season Travel (aka how we ended up on a plane to Santorini)

Pros:

Everything is empty. You get entire hostels to yourself. You get the entire Parthenon to yourself. It's fantastic.

Everything is cheap.

Everyone is stoked to see you.

Cons:

Things may or may not be open

Things may or may not operate as scheduled.

The storm of the century may or may not sweep through.

While we've enjoyed our off season travel, it certainly has led to some hiccups. We arrived at the docks several hours early to catch a Ferry from Athens to the island Naxos. We were informed, once there, that wind had led to a cancellation for all ferries. The agent suggested we try the 7 am ferry. At that point, there was no storm. It was the calm before the storm that was to arrive the next day. We figured that if boats weren't going out tonight, they certainly wouldn't be going out tomorrow. We crossed the street, bought some drinks, connected to the cafe's wifi, found a flight leaving to a different island (Santorini) in two hours, and sprinted across Athens (aka sat on the metro for an hour), and hopped on a plane! We went from so heart broken over our canceled island plans to so happy! Thank goodness for smart phones, credit cards, and flexibility.

So beautiful. 

So empty. 

So stormy.

Athens

Athens, Athens, Athens. So great, so confusing.

Clayton and I went through Athens very quickly. We went to the National Archaeological Museum and the Acropolis Museum. We also checked out the National Gardens, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and the Acropolis.

Other noteworthy events include- the scariest hostel on earth and attending church in a wonderful teeny tiny branch.

So some quick thoughts on everything. Athens was definitely different than I was expecting. Parts of it looked closer to parts of cities I saw in Ghana than anything else. Where the alleyways in Copenhagen were charming beyond belief, the alleyways in Athens made you kind of nervous. Also you stepped on a lot of trash. Public transportation in the city was super easy to figure out, though, and super cheap! I loved that. Yelp is not a thing in Greece. That made finding food very difficult. There were tons of bakeries, but we never could find even one grocery store. We were super curious as to where people worked. Athens was packed with people and packed with apartments.

I loved the Archaeological Museum. All of the ancient Greek statues were incredible. Their art was so ahead of it's time, I almost feel embarrassed for the rest of the world. This museum was also incredibly well curated. Every room was a delight! The Acropolis museum was pretty eh. Not a ton to see, but we did learn some interesting things. The National Gardens were incredibly beautiful and all the ancient sites were AMAZING. All my 6th grade dreams came true. (I'm not the only one who had a super intense module on ancient Greece in the 6th grade, right?)

Clayton enjoying art.

Who's a pretty museum?

Just me and my bird gals.

This was a tombstone! A tombstone!

I want to be buried ancient Greek style.

Statues on statues on thousands of years old.

More statues. Still thousands of years old.

All these vases made me think of Hercules... Like the Disney movie. Lolz.

The alley, for your comparison.

We almost impulse bought a puppy.

Don't worry mom, we didn't go through with it.

National gardens are pretty!

This was a square in the garden where all these old Greek men were arguing and playing cards. It was too perfect. 

Ruins.

The prettiest day I've had since getting to Europe!

Our view from lunch! That's the Acropolis up there!

We're doing just fine on the food front.

The real Greek Theater! #GoBears

This was the saddest thing that happened in Athens.

Mayonnaise makes me throw up.

DO YOU SEE HOW MUCH MAYO IS ON MY SANDWICH?!

Construction on the temple dedicated to the Goddess of health.

#GoPublicHealth

An ancient cat.

Me + Ruins.

I think this is the temple of Athena.

Athena is a real bad A. She beat Poseidon in a battle for the city.

More ruins.

More me + ruins.

Cool pano of a cool city with a cool Parthenon.

Athens is huuuuuuge.

Uhhh this picture is being squished all weird.

But yeah, Athens.

The dog that had no fear.

Awwwww. Friendship!

So Greek yogurt in Greece is kind of unreal.

The End!!