Student-hood of the traveling Americans: Santorini

And I did buy a  pair of pants-Harem pants, at least. 

Let me start off by saying that Santorini is the prettiest place I've ever seen. It's more than a view. Even the little towns are adorable and articulate. There was a distinct style of architecture and everything throughout the entire Island. We went 28th-30th of September, which was still perfect weather. 

Edge of the World.

Watching the Sunset.

We left early Friday morning, and were at Santorini by 4:30. Unfortunately, the boat ride was longer, and much more rough than we'd anticipated, and some people got a little ill. With most of the day spent on the boat, we decided to go to our hotel (which was located in the middle of the Island, at Fira) and drop our things off, then head to "Oia" which is at one of the tips of Santorini. Oia is where both "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" and "Mama Mia" were filmed in. There was a poster shop we visited, the woman's store was featured in The Sisterhood of the Traveling pants, and told us a little about it. Oia is also  known for its amazing sunset. At the edge of the island, the sun setting just give you the illusion that the sun is sinking into the edge of the world. It was stunning. People from all over the Island came to be apart of it. This particular sunset marked the full moon as well. For Santorini, the people take the weather of the day of the full moon to be the weather they can expect until the next full moon. So as the sun went down, the people clapped and cheered. It was very cool. You could see people celebrating down the entire cost. Oia at night was even more beautiful. The entire island lights up, you can see the entire thing just bright and beautiful.

For all the Sunset pictures, Click here!!

The password is, "Sunset"

Saturday is where the real adventure began.

The View

Ancient graffiti

Our first stop was to Ancient Thera. Basically, It is an awesome archaeological site at the top of a mountain. How do you get there, might you ask? Oh, well you climb it of course! We didn't ACTUALLY climb it. There was a road that's been paved leading up to it. But it was still quite the uphill trek. It took us about an hour to reach the actual site. This site was very cool. There were lots of old buildings all over this "hill" top. We didn't exactly have free range throughout the ancient streets, but we got a fair depiction of what the city looked like. There were ruins from an ancient house and an ancient hilltop theater, which would have had an amazing view in antiquity, as it had that day. And there was even a gymnasium there to train the young men for war. It was quite impressive for being at the top of an impossibly large hill. My favorite thing to see was the ancient graffiti. Because there were a lot of places closed off to tourists, we only had one piece of graffiti to admire. It seems that the ancient Greeks were no different than ourselves, some times.

For all of Akrotiri, Click here!! 

The password is, "ForThera"

Next, Some of us decided to check out the black beach. It was below Ancient Thera. The sand, or rocks, rather, are black from the volcanic ash. The swimming was just amazing. You could see underwater from the top of the mountain. And only a few feet into the water, it was pretty deep. And there were little fish swimming around. It was a very little Mermaid experience. I even dared to open my eyes up underwater, which didn't burn much to my surprise, and it was so clear. You could see everything. There was no telling where the floor was because the water was deceptivly clear. We spent some time shopping and eating, and waited for our bus. While we were waiting, Grecian hospitality kicked in, And a Father-Son taverna duo invited us to sit down and gave us free handmade Ice cream while we waited. 

Our next stop was a special kind of awesome. We visited the archaeological site of Akrotiri. This place was a land mind of archaeological finds. It is nicknamed "Santorini's Bronze age Pompeii." It, too, was buried alive under volcanic ash. 12 structures (not including stair cases and halls) were uncovered, with much more still underneath the rubble. They found incredibly preserved wall paintings (fresco's), plaster, Ash castings of wooden tables, and even grains along with so much more. Akrotiri was so advanced for its time, it already had an efficient pluming system. It's baffled excavators on how successful it would have been had it not been destroyed by the volcanic eruption. They found so many things worth reporting on, it fills nearly two museums and one art gallery with it's finds. I also forgot to mention, the entire site is enclosed, to protect it from the elements.

For more Pictures of Akrotiri, Click here!! 

The password is, "Pompeii"

Our day ended at the Red beach for some cliff diving. Unfortunately, we didn't find actual cliffs. We found really big rocks. There are pictures of my friend Remy and myself jumping, but Remy has them for right now. The red beach was beautiful. The water was super clear once again. It made jumping absolutely terrifying. Even though I knew the water was deep where I was planning on jumping, my brain was convinced that the ocean floor would rush up to meet me and I would break myself.

For more pictures of the beaches, Click here!!

The password is, "Beaches"

Sunday was the day we had to head back to Athens, but not without visiting 2 museums and an art gallery. As I mentioned before, most of the stuff seen was from Akrotiri, with the occasional pieces from Ancient Thera. The stuff there was beautiful and amazing to see. We even got to see the original Fresco's from Akrotiri! As nice as spending the entire time on the beach might have been, I'm really glad the group I went with made a point to see the history here. Of course, that's why I'm in Greece, after all!

For all the artifacts, Click here!!

The password is "Museums"

*I am so sorry this was an absurdly long post >.< But thanks for paying attention!