There & Back Again...An ATV Tour

Alrighty!! Well I must say this will not be a short entry, so be warned. Also be prepared to see many pictures of our faces... We took extra today cause we know you miss our faces. 

We had an amazing day today! We got up and rented a quad. It was awesome! We really saw the whole island, and I must say I love it, much more then the other time we saw it. Not only because I wasn't nauseous, but also because we made it our own. We saw typical Santorini, and many other great things along the way. 

Don't worry moms! We wore helmets...

 

SOOO...they didn't last long, but the thought was there. We made our way along and stumbled upon a neighbourhood of cave houses. We really went our own way many times and this was certainly a great choice. It was pretty crazy they legitimately have their houses in caves in the hillside. Garages are this way as well. You really have to second look to see the houses even. You just see the front or a car out front until you really look.

We also found a few donkeys in the neighbourhood as well. They rather randomly appeared and looked a little out of place at times. This was a super neat find. The residences I don't think were used to seeing tourists driving by and looking so interestedly. At least that's what I gather from the looks on a few faces I saw. Super cool place.

 

We also found the best place to have a coffee, and the view was amazing. This was the first viewpoint of the day. Spending the little extra for coffee just to sit and look out was a great choice. It was also our first peak at the Santorini you see in pictures. This was just up from one of the two main towns on Santorini. Fira, this is also the main destination for the cruise ships as well.

 

The mailer ways the cruise shippers have to get up to Fira are cable car, donkey, or walking. You definitely could smell the donkeys, and the line for the cable car was huge so you certainly knew where that was also. But seeing the cable car in action was kind of neat as the one side going down was very full, it drooped. Fira was a pretty neat place, but with the mass amounts of people was annoying cause the streets are so tiny and so full you are shoulder to shoulder, people going both ways, and people behind you trying to get in front of you which is just annoying because there is no where for anyone to go.

 

From Fira we headed south. We stopped at a viewpoint along the way that you could see a ton from. Here we decided to take some pictures of our super sweet ride. Luckily we got one with enough power so I didn't have to push it up the hill. We saw this happen girl pushing guy driving, so it was a real possibility. 

The one thing we noticed was that the rentals got crappier the closer we got to a manner place. Or maybe more well loved, and older is a nicer way to put it. We rented ours in Messaria two doors down from our hotel, that was super nice and convenient for us as well.

 

We made our way to the southern most tip of the island, where there was a lighthouse. This was another stumble upon thing, that really worked out for us. We got a great view of the ocean and the whole island. But you can't really see it from the pictures here. But trust there are hundreds of pictures from the day, so unless you wanna see em all, take my word for it. Was also cool to se this as we could see the lighthouse going as we were having dinner.

 

Well, I know I say it a lot, probably cause I love this guy but we have lots of fun together. No matter what is going on, we always enjoy everything we do. Living life with my best friend is truly the best. Also, his good side is one that sometimes only I see, so when it gets documented sometimes it deserves a share. I like to think I bring this side out in him.

 

Continuing on the coast we made our way to a number of different beaches and walked along them. We also got a stone from each. I feel I have been to a red sand beach before but am not entirely certain. Well this one I won't forget. 

Black sand beach.

 

Red sand beach. There was a random path past a little market that you walk through to get to the beach. Well a mini hike is a more accurate description, purely due to the terrain. At the beginning in point and as you enter the beach there is a sign telling you that there is a danger of landslides and to not enter. Clearly there are numerous amounts of people who don't listen to this. We didn't either.glad we didn't use it was certainly worth the risk.

 

AWWWWW!

 

White sand beach.

 

A few other ransoms throughout the day. Please note the 6 or so donkeys that are being herded up the street, we were asking by this and I am actually surprised I even got a picture, but it was pretty funny and just randomly happened to drive by it. We assume that meant the cruise ships were all done for the day and the donkeys were going to eat and sleep. Also our rock collection.

 

We made the windy drive up to the northern most coast to Oia. This is your typical Santorini picturesque place. Luke loved the drive up there as it was twisty and turny and fun to drive. I just minded my own business and tried not to get sick, which was a success. We were headed up to Oia for sunset, which is where EVERYONE goes for sunset. 

When we got there we found some windmills which were pretty neat as they were very old. We decided very quickly though that the Dutch do windmills much better. 

 

We watched the sun go down and then continued on walking through Oia and found a place to have some dinner. A great way to end a great day travelling around Santorini and ending up in typical Santorini.

 

I leave this picture big so you may see the SWARMS of people that gathered in this one spot to see the sunset. This. Was not where we decided to watch it. Well in the centre, we were closer to the very top, away from the people. But look at the all!! Way to take a very tiny street and all the sudden make it tinier and more annoying. But very funny to see I must say.

 

I love lights, and I love stars, onto of me loving sunsets. Maybe this is a word I use to much but oops. We watched and overlooked Oia as the night sky fell and the stars began to shine. Then came the next fun part. Driving home. Luke also really loved this part. As I said, going to Oia at this time was not an original idea. Even though it was late we were in the middle of a long line of people heading back to our various locations further south on the island. Even got to see some of the night life as we drove through Fira. 

Looking up at the stars was beautiful. Talking or rather yelling back and forth to be heard over the quad and orther various methods of transportation, arms around Luke watching the lights of the towns appear and disappear, and then looking up at the sky to see it filled with beautiful stars. A day and night that I will treasure and certainly never forget. Along with many others from the trip, but this day as a whole had it all.

Fun fact that I didn't know about Santorini, it used to be a volcano. The islands are all were the rim of the volcano once was. It collapsed and then got filled with ocean, and so today there are many islands that make up Santorini. The inside islands was where the lava lived. This was very interesting to me. Especially when looking at how incredibly large it is, it is hard to imagine it being anything other then what it is today. 

Well we are disgustingly sunscreeny, sweaty, salt watery, and extremely dusty after our adventurous day. It was an amazing day, really seeing all of Santorini and enjoying every bit of it. Tomorrow we head to Ios. Many more memories to be made.

And so the adventure continues...