island life's the life for me!

After 4 days in Athens, Justin left to return to the real world (sucker!) and I then took a ferry to the Greek Islands. While several islands had been enthusiastically recommended to me, I was informed by the people at my hostel that almost all of the islands I'd been recommended were basically ghost towns now, since it was the end of the season and almost all the shops had closed. So, I ended up at Santorini, one of the ones that was less reliant on the party scene, so still had some life left.

I ended up getting along very well with the other guys in my hostel, and we hung out and explored the island over the next few days. One day we went on a day-long boat tour where we got to climb up the youngest island in the Mediterranean (something like 450 years old), went swimming in some hot springs (which were more like "lukewarm springs", but still cool), and ended up in Oia (the town with the white buildings, windmills, and blue-roofed churches which most people associate with Greece) for the sunset.

The next day we rented Mopeds/ATVs and did a tour of local beaches. I had also intended to go scuba diving, but bad weather (rough surf) ended up forcing the dive to be canceled. Oh well, guess I'll just have to come back! All in all, it was a great few days. Very nice to just chill for a bit, and an island is certainly a good location for that. From what we saw, with all that the island had to offer even when it was half closed, it must be insane when operating at full capacity in the summer. I'd definitely recommend a visit!

I'm on a boat!

the famed cityscape of Oia, Santorini. Note all the white buildings, and blue-roofed churches

another Oia view, this time of the area with windmills

life in Santorini: beach and a kindle. Life is good

one really weird thing I noticed here - there are TONS of snails! Never seen anything like it before.

artsy shot of a classic Greek house in the late evening

cool erosion patterns at one of Santorini's beaches

I was amused to see this bag of Pumice stones selling at the grocery store for 25 euros. If you drove about 2 miles, you'd get to a beach which has thousands of 'em! I wonder how many people buy these anyways? And I wonder if they'd be interested in sand as well. . . this could be my million-dollar idea!!!

another artsy shot - grapes

at the goodbye dinner with the guys from my hostel