Today was a Fairytale

We said goodbye to our lovely apartment in Plakes and drove down to the port for breakfast before catching our 10am ferry to Santorini. The ferry was delayed, but we were all in good spirits and had fun trying on hats in the shops and taking silly pictures. 

Hat shopping

Playing with a snail shell

We got a lot of mileage out of that snail shell

Silly sisters

Our ferry arrived about 30 minutes late but we had no real schedule so weren’t worried. Diane did not want to take her Dramamine, but reluctantly agreed just as we were boarding, so we weren’t worried. We found our assigned seats easily: in two rows of three so Melina and I were in a window and middle seat in front of Zach and D who were in the window and middle seat behind us. “Are you ok sitting with D?” I ask Zach. “Of course,” he says. “Are you sure?” I inquire skeptically. “Yeah, I’m not worried!” Then the boat pulled away as we were subjected to the creepiest safety video ever, featuring a handful of kids miming out the very explicit instructions on what to do if we need to evacuate the boat. But we were not worried. Then the boat hit open water and ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE.

I puked. Melina puked. Poor D puked three times. Zach managed to keep his breakfast in his stomach but in taking one of Diane’s barf bags to the trash can spilled it all over the floor and his pants. It was horrific. Almost as bad as our flight to Portugal a few years back (no, not even close since that was 7 hours of hell and this was only 3).
Needless to say, we arrived in Santorini quite shaken and very nervous about our transfer to the hotel. Our driver met us and greeted the girls. “I threw up three times!” Diane told him cheerfully. Thankfully his English wasn’t good enough to understand her or he may not have let us in his BMW.

It’s a good thing our apartment is adorable and our views are spectacular, because we forgot our troubles quickly and re-fueled with a glorious lunch, the highlight of which were mussels cooked in a buttery ouzo-based sauce. The best mussels I have ever tasted.

The girls in their loft in our apartment at Alonistra Oia

Cute kitties outside of our apartment

After stocking up on supplies at the grocery store, we began the nightly pilgrimage taken by all visitors to Santorini: the walk to the town of Oia to watch the sunset. Santorini is a crescent-shaped island formed by a volcano, so the bay in the crescent is called the caldera. Our apartment is right on a walking path that follows the rim of the caldera for about a mile to Oia, at the west-facing point of the crescent. Our walk was gorgeous and we were all having fun. Melina updated me on every minute detail of the plot in her Gods of Olympus series, and Zach took pictures every few steps. 

Views of Oia

More from our walk

A rare family photo over the caldera

Oia

As we got into town it became more and more crowded until we were being pushed through the narrow walkways like cattle. We reached a good spot with promise of a sunset view and staked out our spot at approximately 7pm. Sunset was not until 8:15. Melina keep busy with a new book of Greek Myths she bought on the walk over, and D and I read some Beatrix Potter stories on my phone (hooray for e-books!). As we neared 8pm the crowds became stifling, and one woman kept edging into Melina’s personal space. “Bite her!” goaded Zach, but I overruled that and just encouraged her to elbow the woman in the gut. I guess Melina is nicer than we are because she did not take either suggestion, but managed to hold her ground anyway, so we were proud.

Staking out a spot for the sunset

The sun about 30 minutes before setting

The crowds wait in anticipation

I guess this is where I should say that the breathtaking sunset made it all worthwhile, but that was not at all the case. The sun turned orange and then just disappeared. No brilliant colors, no flash of light. Of course some nights it must be spectacular, but this was just not one of those nights. Afterwards we were frozen in our places while the crowds pushed their way back by us to leave. It was a big disappointment. Tomorrow we will watch the sunset from our private balcony instead. 

But…we salvaged the evening by strolling through shops on our way back wile everyone else was fighting for tables at restaurants or catching buses back to their cruise ships. We grabbed ice cream (the ricotta fig was delightful) and took our time. The views at night are even better! 

Oia at night

As we walked farther from the brightly lit town we could see the stars, and even got to watch the orange moon rise above the island! That was way better than the sunset. For the whole walk back Melina kept singing “today was a fairytale” and then saying, “it really was! It was a fairytale!” I reminded her of the boat ride from hell but she was not to be dissuaded. “Mom! Something bad always happens in the beginning of a fairytale, but it turns out great in the end!” Ok Melina, I’ll give you that one.