Greece: 10 days of paradise. I was in Greece having the time of my life from March 29 until April 7 with 5 of my friends. We stayed three nights each on the islands of Santorini and Naxos, and then 3 nights in Athens. We all shared our (1500!) pictures of the trip, and so I'm having a really tough time picking which ones to post. This is going to be a long one...

First Leg: Santorini

We took a 6 a.m. flight from Stuttgart to Athens (after staying up all night), and walked around for 4 hours until we caught our 9 hour ferry to Santorini. We arrived at 2 a.m., a bit delirious but ready for our vacation.
We stayed in 2 rooms that were like little villas. The one I stayed in was on the second floor, so we had a balcony.

This is the crew on our balcony, our first morning there.

From the left: Elliot, Adam, me, Ingvild, Erik, and Marc

The first day we just walked around. We were still pretty beat from, as Adam so cleverly put it, our 'Odyssey' to Greece. haha

This is the biggest town on the island: Fira. I took this from a cafe where we stopped for a drink.

Us at the cafe...

Cliffside hotels. There just aren't words to describe how beautiful everything was, and the pictures truly don't do it justice.




Day 2: ATV's!!!

We rented 4-wheelers to get to a wine vinyard/museum and do some exploring. This was possibly one of the best, most fun days of my life. We just rode around, beach hopping and terrifying the locals. I can't even begin to explain how much fun we had...







Marc, Ingvild, and I with our feet going numb in the very chilly water. None of us were really prepared for how cool it still was in Greece.

Black beaches! Or, as our hotel owner said with his accent "Black bitches." Yeah, we never got tired of that one...

Erik and Marc at the top of a mountain we rode up. What a view!

Last day in Santorini:
We took a boat trip out to the famous volcano- the Caldera. There were also supposed to be hot springs to swim in (which was what we were really excited for). Let me recreate the day for you....

Everything cost more than we thought it would. That's ok- it'll be a cool experience. We freeze our asses off on the boat, however.

Yup, we were a little cold- but, we had hot springs to look forward to! (ha ha, read on)

Then we get to the volcano, which was wicked cool, don't get me wrong. However, the hot springs aren't here, we need to make another stop on the other side.

Awesome picture, though, isn't it? We climbed on the volcano for a little while, excited to depart for the hot springs....
(That's Santorini in the background)

Ok, (finally) leaving for the hot springs. The much anticipated, much sought-after hot springs.

But wait, the boat just stops about 50 feet from the coast. The captain is looking at us. We ask, why have we stopped?

Captain (with crazy Greek accent and hair): "This is where we stop. You jump out and swim to the hot springs."

Us: "Oh! We jump off the boat and swim there??!! Well, how cold is the water right here."

Captain: "Cold."

(Silence and worried glances)

Me: "How cold, exactly."

Captain: "Oh, about 12 or 13 degrees" (Translation: about 55 degrees Farenheit)

Us: "Holy (insert explicative)"

Captain: "Oh, and the springs aren't really that hot yet. They're just warm right now."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

However, and with much credit deserved, Erik, Elliot, and Ingvild jumped in and swam to the 'warm springs.' All of the many Asians on board were ohhhing and ahhhing and capturing the stupid Americans (and 1 Norwegian) for all time on their cameras. Marc, Adam and I just sat on the boat and laughed.
Elliot swimming back...

Ok, moving on...

Second (and in my opinion, the best) leg of our adventure:

After the boat-trip debacle we hopped on a ferry to Naxos...

View from the balcony of our hotel. We only paid 10 euros each per night, and the place was beautiful! Not to mention the fact that we were the first guests of the season, and had the entire hotel to ourselves.

"Man eating aloe vera plant," Erik and I were amazed by the size of these things, and they were everywhere.

Just amazing...
Naxos was a gorgeous island. Thanks to Elliot for capturing this one

Downtown Naxos. There were a bunch of cute shops and cafes

Naxos coast. We rented ATV's again and went exploring- it was the best way to see the islands!

Beach time!! Naxos had gorgeous beaches- this is Marc and Adam in the middle of "Frisbee wars, 2007." The water really was not warm at all, but they were having a great time (and entertaining the locals). It had warmed up quite a bit, though, and we all got some quality sun-time in.

St. Anna's beach. We set up here for awhile

A little further down...

And our last night in Naxos- and the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen.

This is the downtown in the setting sun. There was a little island with ruins on it that you can walk out to (you can see the walkway in the picture).

Ingvild and I in the setting sun

Unbelievable...

The crew

Naxos at night. Again, a huge thanks to Elliot for this one, it's one of my favorites.

Although we were very sad to leave gorgeous Naxos, we had to set out for our last leg..

Athens:

We stayed at an awesome Hostel that was just a big party all the time. The staff and all the people staying there were great, which was helpful as the Acropolis and ruins are pretty much the only big thing to see in the city.

Ruins...

View of the Parthenon from the top of our hostel.

Up at the Acropolis....
This is a view of another temple, and the very crowded city of Athens.

Ancient scaffolding and cranes...

We got some culture and enjoyed some wild nights in Athens. However, all good things must come to an end, and our 10 days of paradise ended too quickly. It was back to Germany and to the beginning of my semester.

One thing is for certain, I will be returning to Greece someday. We had an incredible time and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to go and spend this time with some wonderful friends. Words just can't explain....