Santorini by ATVVeeee!!!

Although yesterday didn’t work out for Ryan and Wismine and I to rent ATVs to drive around the island, today we managed to get our schedules aligned.  Ryan and Wismine had met up in Fira the night before with some other people we’d all met at our hostel in Perissa and didn’t return until last night after dark.  So Ryan and I (who had originally planned to rent ATVs and see parts of the island that day) planned to try and meet up again in the morning.

After I got up today and made some coffee, I opened my balcony and saw that Wismine was sitting at the pool bar talking to Adonis.  Since I met her, she has maintained that this hotel is like Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave!  Evidence: the fact that she has stayed here days beyond her original plan and keeps extending her stay.  The same happened with Sydney and Ryan.  I’d even been thinking about staying longer, and had decided last night to stay until the weekend.  There is a large group of people staying here, all of whom keep extending.  When we all met at Tranquilo the other day, we took a photo.  A few of them have left by now, as our stays have overlapped a bit, but it’s an interesting phenomenon here at “Hotel Santorini”.

Anyway, Wismine kept saying that she was going to leave today, but the minute I saw her, I started asking her if she wanted to join Ryan and I on an ATV jaunt around the island.  Adonis joined in on the cajoling about staying longer, helping to argue the merits of a day or two longer.  By the time Ryan woke up, she was pretty close to deciding to join us.  His voice joined the chorus and she decided to stay.

So the three of us set out shortly after noon to rent ATVs from a local shop.  They’re offering off season prices right now, which is great.  So for 25 Euros each, we all got our own four-wheelers to zoom around on!  Here on Santorini, people just drive the ATVs on the road, with the rest of the cars.  There are a couple of different speeds of engines you can get.  The midrange, which we had gotten, maxes out at about 80km (which Ryan and I found out through rigorous testing!)

On our way to the ATV rental place, we were passing a store window, and the craziest thing happened – we saw movement in the window.  At first, I thought it was a butterfly or something and that it was some kind of terrarium-type display.  However, upon a closer look, we realized that there was a bird actually trapped in the window!  We went into the store and managed to get the owner to come outside with us to show him the problem.

He was as surprised as we were.  He opened the window and we tried to let the bird out, but it was so clearly panicked that it simply kept trying to get out by flying up, rather than down and out the window.  It was just crashing into the roof!  Finally, it went out through the rafters – apparently the way it had come in. The owner then got Wismine to climb into the window, jokingly indicating that she could be the new display (he spoke as little English as we did Greek).  It made for a fun photo, and we were all so relieved the bird was okay, that it was pretty fun – and only a little creepy that he was essentially locking her in to his glass cage…..

After getting our four-wheelers, we headed up to a winery, perched on top of a hill near Fira, the capitol of Santorini.  We decided to share an 18-glass wine tasting platter between the three of us.  It came with a platter of food as well, and descriptions of all of the wines.  We really enjoyed ourselves (more and more, unsurprisingly, as we progressed through the wines)!  The view from Santo Winery was spectacular.

Many photos were taken there (including some selfies)!  I particularly enjoyed the moment when I captured a selfie with both Ryan and Wismine taking their own selfies in the background!

Our goal had been to get to the Oia lighthouse, at the far west end of the island to watch the sunset.  It’s supposed to be one of the most spectacular places to see the sunset on Santorini.  We were not disappointed.  The view was wonderful, and the sunset was incredible.

 

The next morning, Ryan and I got up and took the ATVs to Akrotiri.  This is the site of an archaeological dig.  The city that was here is rather like Pompeii, only it happened repeatedly.  The volcano erupted, earthquakes occurred over and over, and this city was built layer upon layer over itself after each disaster.  Scientists are unearthing the city as they can, which is difficult, as they are going through volcanic rock most of the time, rather than dirt, and finding the civilizations from as early as the middle of the 5th millenium B.C.E.  That’s 7000 years ago!  Apparently, the place has more or less been inhabited continuously since then.  The topmost layers they are uncovering date from 1650-1500 B.C.E.  Then, there are the layers below, going as far back as 7000 years.  Fascinating.

Some of them are quite well preserved, having been essentially frozen in time by the volcanic eruptions.   Only four of the 30 buildings found so far have been fully explored, and (as they were at the sites in Malta), everything is covered by a weather-resistant bioclimatic shelter.  Unfortunately, most of the artwork, such as the murals, have been moved to museums off-site, but the relics were great to see.

After our romp through the ruins, we went down to the nearby beach for a delicious freddo cappuccino and some greek yogurt with honey on it.  Then we headed back to Perissa to return the ATVs.  All in all, we had a pretty great time, and covered a lot of the island of Thera!