We booked a room at Abyssanto Villa, which we THOUGHT was located in Oia, like the website had said. Based on the pictures, it looked like a cute little villa with gorgeous views and a nice vacation getaway. Well, we emailed them to ask for their airport transfer to the villa. The first red flag was that our “transfer” was some guy who had cleaned out his little old Volvo and drove us past the capital of Fira, THROUGH Oia, and straight on to Baxedes (AKA the middle of nowhere) to arrive at Abyssanto Villa. There was no one and nothing around. I immediately thought of what we could do. After learning that the cancellation fee was paying for everything in full, we weighed our options and decided we had to get the hell out of there. We spent one night in that craptastic villa, which was probably the scariest of my life. There weren’t even streetlights around, so it was pitch-black and deserted, and no one else was staying there and no one was in reception.
The next day, we said thanks but no thanks and took a bus down to Fira where we had booked a new room with San Giorgio Villas, which was much less expensive and TEN TIMES BETTER. When we got to the bus stop in Fira, we had no idea where the hotel was, so we called them and they came and picked us up 2 minutes later! The first good sign, George picked us up in an actual company van that had a logo and everything on it. When we rolled into the parking lot, we ran into 4 other girls from the program – good sign #2. Our room was awesome and the villa was completely booked so there were no security issues. So we lost a day in Santorini thanks to Abyssanto Villa that I now have a personal vendetta against and will spend the rest of my life talking trash about, but it was worth it to stay in San Giorgio.
Since time was of the essence, we listened to George tell us what we could do that first day, and we booked a tour to the volcanic island. When we walked down the stairs to the port (covered in donkey poop) and hopped on our little boat to get to the island, we ran into two other girls from the program, Jenny and Mae. We talked to them while we did our boat ride in the Aegean Sea towards the island. They decided to go swimming in the hot springs, while we opted out thanks to the advice of George who mentioned that they were actually warm springs. Afterwards, the boat stopped at the island and we had a couple of hours to explore. The whole island was just a pile of volcanic rock and ash that we walked around. I felt like I was on the moon or some other location devoid of human life.
We got back on the boat after a while and cruised back to Fira and got in line to ride a donkey up the stairs. The line was actually really long, and packed with high schoolers on spring break vacation. I don’t know where they go to school, but Greece was never on my list of potential vacay spots. Finally it was my turn to get on a donkey, and of COURSE, it was the biggest freaking donkey I have ever seen in my life. I was freaking out and asked him if I could have another one, and the little Greek man just grabbed my arm and threw me in the saddle while I was about to cry. Pree decided to name it a honkey, cause it was more of a horse than a donkey. I was calmly riding my giant brown honkey and we were going up the stairs slowly and steadily until we came upon some bushes that he decided looked pretty tasty. Honkey stopped for a snack for a good 10 minutes and nibbled at the green shrubbery to the side of the stairs until I gently patted his neck and got him going again. I guess he didn’t get his fill to eat because a few minutes later he stopped again, this time right in front of a little Greek man who smacked him in the butt. So honkey took off up the stairs with me freaking out once again. I know that man was trying to help, but I was terrified. By the time I got to the top of the 600+ stairs, I was ok with the whole thing, and actually learned to love my special honkey. I even wrote a poem about it for my literature class.
En Grecia, con el aire fresco en nuestras caras
El olor de los burros en nuestras narices
Esperamos con paciencia como un perro perezoso en el sol
Esperamos nuestro turno
Por fin, llego al principio de la cola,
Los sonidos de los hombres griegos gritando a sus burros llenan el aire
Veo mi burro, grande como un dinosaurio
Me da miedo, no puedo respirar
Le pregunto al hombre, ¿hay otro?
No hay respuesta, solo una mano firme en mi brazo que duele con la urgencia que él tiene
Monto mi burro, empecemos a subir las escaleras desde el mar al pueblo
Un viaje largo y lleno de miedo,
Pero con la felicidad y amor entre una chica y su favorito burro
That night, we went to a delicious restaurant with Jenny and Mae where I had baked feta and pita that was probably the most amazing thing I’d ever eaten. I ordered moussaka for dinner, which I had never had before but absolutely loved. Once we were stuffed, we tried to go out only to learn that the bars were all overrun with high schoolers. We did end up at one bar where a bunch of people from Latin America were and I thought it would be a grand idea to tell them we were from Spain. Well, they were really nice and didn’t care that we were lying, but there was one little girl that was actually from Spain and getting a little attitude with us. It was an interesting night, but we decided to call it and go back to the villa.
The next day, we took our time visiting Fira a little bit before we decided to grab the bus to the black beach about an hour away. It was a classic little beach town with towering cliffs to the left, but as it was still not high season, everything seemed rather ghost-townish. After trying to endure the wind for a couple of hours, we went back to the capital and had a merienda at a rooftop café where we filled out postcards and watched the sunset. That night we went to a little inexpensive diner where we had delicious gyros and Greek beer. The whole meal was only 4 euro, but the best 4 euros I’d ever spent. We were exhausted by the end of it and went back to the villa to rest up for the last full day.
Our last day, we went to Oia, the little city in the north of the island where we originally thought we were staying. We walked through the winding cobblestone pathways between the whitewashed buildings that fit perfectly into the side of the cliff, exploring the area and wandering into little shops. The weather forecast said it wasn’t supposed to rain, but there was an overwhelmingly dark sky when we left, and after a little bit of being there, it started to sprinkle. Before we took refuge in a little café, though, we did stumble upon the house where they filmed Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Naturally, Pree and I freaked out and had a photo shoot since it’s one of our favorite movies. Overall, it was a cold and rainy day, but it still didn’t take away the charm from this little town.
We made one more attempt to go out in Santorini, but still failed miserably. We walked into a bar at midnight and ordered 2 rounds just because it was happy hour. No one was there, so we ended up watching the Barcelona-Madrid game. Funny how things turn out. Pree and I did wander over to another place a little later and found some dancing, but nothing compared to Spanish standards. I think we left before the party really got hopping, but we needed to pack so we could return to our home of Valencia.
The trip home took forever. It was probably because we were exhausted. Or because we took a van to the airport to the bus to the plane to the airport in Athens where we took a plane to Barcelona and then a shuttle to the train to the train station in Valencia where we finally took a cab home. Let’s just say it was a long day and we were happy to be back in Valencia por fin.
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