Day Eleven: Friday

20Jun11

Friday was the start of our free weekend. I should have ran that morning. Keyword: should have. Our boat was scheduled to leave at noon so we woke up, ate a breakfast of leftover salad and bakery treats, packed, and went into town. We had some free time and Kelly needed to exchange a dress for a smaller size. Since I failed at packing, I bought two dresses from a shop near ParosWeb. I know some of my friends would be proud of me.
Waiting for the ferry was felt like being herded like cattle. These little blue barred corrals packed full with people waiting on the Naxos boat. Our boat ride was about 3 hours. Since the boat was filled with people we got stuck in these horrible seats with no breeze and the sun shining down on us. Bleh. We stopped in Naxos first. Between those people getting off and the other group getting on, we found better seats. Arriving in Santorini was great, until we got off the boat. You could see the towns up on top of the island and the volocanoes. Actually getting off of the boat and to a bus was a challenge. There are SO many people trying to sell you hotels, apartments, rental cars, and other crap and they follow you. One step short of harassment.
The bus ride was interesting. We basically climbed straight up the mountain. Hairpin turns. In a greyhound sized bus. Our bus went to Fira (Thira). From Fira we had to take a second bus into Oia where our hotel is located. The bus ride continued to be interesting. It feels like the towns on Santorini are up mountainsides and all of the roads are about a bus and a half wide. Makes it super interesting when two buses pass each other.
We were all exhausted, sweaty, hot, hungry and tired when we were dropped off at the bus stop in Oia. Our bus passed our hotel so we got to walk back and that didn’t help the situation much.
The hotel from the pictures seemed beautiful. Seemed bigger too, does the camera add 10 yards for locations instead of 10 pounds? It was a nice hotel. I think Paris got us a deal. We all jumped in the pool and once we all felt hungry again we got ready and went into Fira.
Fira and Oia are completely different. Just about as different as Paros and Santorini are. Oia is upscale and more expensive than Fira. As we were walking around checking out restaurants, trying to find one that wasn’t too expensive, this guy basically talked us into this restaurant. The sun was setting and we were promised a fantastic table (aren’t you always?) and food. He wasn’t lying. Our table was on the roof with an amazing view of an almost life-changing sunset. Oh yeah, the food was great too.
After dinner, we walked around and explored the shops. More people were trying to coax us into their restaurants. One man asked us where we were from then asked if we were single THEN asked if any of us would marry him. It was slightly creepy and at the same time slightly funny.
We found a strip of bars and started at Murphy’s (almost suggested by the guy from the restaurant we ate at). Happy hour in Greece starts at 10:30pm. The bartender was a little ditzy, and the table we sat at was also partially a window that was open in the front of the bar. This old man leaned into the window and stared at all of us for way too long. They had good drinks and no lies, I was trying not to drool over this very cute guy that I’d never have a chance in hell with. Only in my dreams.
We went to the next bar, Towne Club. Since happy hour started at 10:30, there weren’t really many people in any of the places. We got free shots of strawberry Ouzo, but it was basically in a slushy form. They were playing some old music. I mean old like “No Scrubs” from TLC and that dirty “Lick My -” song by whatsherface. The bartenders were trying to dance on an empty dance floor. Not impressive. One of the employees apparently had his eye on Christin because he asked her to dance then dragged her into this cage to dance with him. We felt bad for her so Kelly and I (and eventually Cathleen) joined her. I danced in a cage. Can’t say that was on my bucket list. It wasn’t wild or crazy. After a song and a half, we got Christin, our bags and moved onto this Scottish bar that was packed and sucked.
Back by Murphy’s there was a crepe shop making crepes in the window. On the menu, Nutella & Banana crepe. Kelly got one and we all had a bite. Loved. We were done with our sort of bar hopping and caught a taxi back to our hotel. Great day and night.

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Tags: alcohol, fira, greece, oia, parikia, paros, santorini, sunset, travel