Day 16: The Volcano

we had class this morning from 9 to about 1045, where we learned all about the santorini volcano. essentially, this thing was huge. it violently blew up in the second century BC, and its debris reached 75 miles into the air. it was bordering space. it completely blew off its top, and the mediterranean rushed in. this is what formed santorini as we see it today, as a crescent island with another small one across the caldera. the very middle is home to two small lava islands.

meghan and i decided to do a tour of the volcano and hot springs - the two tiny islands in the middle of the caldera. we bought our tickets at a tour agency in downtown fira after class. the plan was to go to the black beach first and then the volcano, but i had some atm problems and we missed the bus to the black beach. so we just went back to the hotel for a little bit, where we recruited avis to come with us. we got her a ticket and then took our time walking through fira to the stairs down to old port. we grabbed some gyros to-go and hit the stairs.

these steps were INSANE. it was about 9 or 10 switchbacks down the cliffs, and the steps were about 3 or 4 steps apart. on top of that, you had to walk at a steep decline between steps and the rocks were slick in places. my legs were jello two switchbacks in. i stopped to eat the rest of my gyro because i couldn't walk and eat at the same time. it was crazy. on the way down, i almost got run off the cliff by a couple of donkeys. it was traumatizing.

once we got to the bottom, we hung out at old port until it was time to go. we found the girl we were supposed to meet, and everyone tried to get on this really cool looking ship called the jason (because that was the name that the agency told us). the lady in charge of that boat started screaming, "sofia! get your people off my boat!" at the girl from the agency. wrong boat named jason. so we went to a much more boring boat to take us to the volcano.

we sat on the top level in the sun, but it got pretty chilly when we started moving. it was about a ten minute ride to the volcano. as we were passing closer to the island that was formed by the cooled lava, we got to see these strangely smooth and black rocks that didn't even look like rocks. meghan said, "i feel like we're landing on mars." it really did feel like we were - the landscape was like nothing i've ever seen. once we got there, we had an hour until the boat was going to leave. the three of us started to climb.

the first thing i noticed was that the path, which was crushed lava rock, was really sharp. it was like walking through sand while wearing sandals, but more painful. the sandy lava rock would easily get under my feet but then couldn't get out because my chacos are strapped on pretty tight. the volcano was an incredibly steep climb. overall, it took about half an hour for meghan and i to make it to the very top. the view from there was absolutely amazing. it's one thing to stand on the edge of the island (the rim of the volcano) and look around, but it's a completely new experience to stand at the top of the very center. it looks even more massive. it really was breathtaking.

we booked it back down just to make sure we made the boat, which we did in plenty of time. we then went to another small island just behind the volcano, also in the center of the caldera. this was where the hot springs were. we were getting close to land when we suddenly stopped and they told us to get out because we had to swim 50 feet to the hot springs. definitely not what we were expecting. so meghan and i got into our swimsuits and jumped ship. we swam through pretty cold water to the shallow area where it wasn't any warmer. every once in a while you would catch a warm spot, but if you tried to stop and hover in it, it would disappear. it was actually a little gross because it reminded me of the warm spots in a pool and the negative connotations that come along with that... i think you know what i mean.

we had to swim back to the boat against the current, which was workout number three for our poor legs. they were jelly after 1/8 of the staircase! i have no idea how i also made it up and down an entire volcano and then back 50 feet against the current.

the boat ride back was relaxing and way too short. once off the boat, we had to find a way back up the staircase that took us so long to get down. our options were:

1. climb

2. take the gondola

3. take a donkey

if anyone thinks we did number 1... you haven't been paying attention to my poor legs this whole blog. number 2 was a neat idea, but i've ridden a gondola before. donkeys it was! meghan got on her donkey and then i got on mine and they took off! and then mine stopped. i only got two switchbacks up when my donkey decided he would be sneaky and get in line with the donkeys who had just finished coming down the stairs. so i sat there for 5 minutes. there were a few people who tried giving me advice like, "kick him! pull him!" yeah, because i didn't already try those things. i even had one man try to pull him for me. just a note, donkeys really are as stubborn as everyone says.

i was about to get off, walk back down, and demand my money back when a guy who works for the donkey people came riding up and scared my donkey halfway to china. the guy rode behind me the rest of the way to motivate my poor donkey. i caught up to a big group of asians on donkeys, and that's when it became a donkey free-for-all. everyone wanted to be first. donkeys would squish between other donkeys and walls without regard for the human legs sticking out on their sides. my right leg fell victim to another donkey who was making his move for the front, and i now have a bruise on the inside of my leg and a giant scrape on the outside of it. oh and the stairs are just as slippery for donkeys. i also nearly ran about 15 people off the cliff, just like someone did to me on my way down. there just really isn't much you can do. i was so traumatized that i had to have the guy who was whipping my donkey help me down. then i ran past all the other donkeys so i could just get out of there. never again.

i decided that i deserved some gelato after that, so i got lemon and cantaloupe. they were a lot sweeter than i was hoping for - i really wanted something citrusy - but it was still yummy. we went straight from the stairs to the other side of fira where the bus station is. we got on the bus to kamari, and were there ten minutes later. from there we walked to the black beach. we were hoping for sand, but got rocks. some spots had really really small rocks, so they didn't really hurt. we met a lady who teaches at mizzou and had actually just finished studying the mediterranean diet with a group of students. they went home from athens and she came to santorini. we told her about our amazing day and gave her our brochures so she could do the same thing the next day (minus the donkey ride!). we also took her back to fira with us and told her how to get to oia so she could see the sunset. then we went back to the hotel.

we were exhausted, and so were the people who took more expensive tours, so we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. when i got down there, erica, jenna, and brooke were excited about the buffet that was 7.50 euro. after everyone had their plates, we got the bill. all three of them heard wrong, and we all owed 17 euro for our mediocre food. it was a little disppointing, but was pretty funny in hindsight. and i learned a lesson: never listen to my friends.