Live by the Sun - Love by the Moon: DAY 21 - FINALLY! 5 a.m. We're in Santorini

April 9- The most magical place – Oia Sunrise

Rich and I didn't want to pay 30 euros from the ferry to Oia by taxi, so we caught a ride with Athena's friend, but it turned out that our Couch Surfer lived in a different town than we thought, so she dropped us off at Thira's bus depot. It wouldn't open for two hours, though, and nothing was open. Luckily, our host, Vladimir, was up waiting for us, so he called a taxi to come get us.

Santorini - what remained after a HUGE volcanic eruption....MY NEW HEAVEN ON EARTH!

There are dozens of little churches like this on the island

Vladimir lived in the perfect place to see Oia and some of the best places in Santorini. We walked around a bit, and saw the pre-dawn. It was so magical as the sea looked like glass and everything was still asleep except for the one and only bakery. Rich went back and went to bed, but I couldn't possibly leave such a beautiful place for mere sleep. The sun rise was amazing as I saw it come over the mountain. We had already lost two days before getting to Santorini, so I went exploring by myself and had so much fun!

I walked up the mountain on an old trail from hundreds of years ago

A sweet little monument to a loved one who had died

The island of Santorini is the site of one of the largest volcano eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption) occurred some 3600 years ago. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete (68 mi) to the south, through a gigantic tsunami. Another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis.


1650 B.C -this painting was found in Akrotiri (a city that was buried by a volcano), thought to be the lost city of Atlantis.

A cemetery - there were fresh flowers on many of the graves.

This one had a lot of new flowers - there must have been a celebration.

After Rich woke up, we had a nice lunch prepared by Vladamir. We enjoyed our conversation together as he talked about Ron Paul. He is quite acquainted about American politics and talked and talked about his philosphy along with politics and his personal endeavors to help bring about change.

Vladimir gave up his double bed to us and slept up on top

Maybe it wasn't quite a double bed, but still very comfy!

Tall, dark, and handsome, and the perfect host in his one room studio flat.

We then walked around again, enjoying the beautiful weather and looking at some more of beautiful Oia.

This was the cutest house with a little donkey painted on the side

Next time I come, I'll wear a beautiful turquoise dress and really enjoy the "photo op" session.


So many beautiful Asian girls were there having their pictures taken with beautiful dresses, and I was just in one of my four "touristy traveling blouses." Oh well!

Vladimir, our Santorini Host and now good friend!

Notice the original cave-like houses and how they now fix them all up.

No, it's not snow in April, it's white houses on the tops of the mountains.

We rented a car so we could get around to see some of Santorini's amazing history and sites. The first thing on the agenda: “Sunset at the Caldera” - It was beautiful as we drove to a secluded place where the island's lepers used to be banned to. I thought it was nice that they at least had a most beautiful spot each evening watching the sunset.

The famous Santorini sunset at the caldera!

Then we drove to Vlademir's friend's house. Drasko was quite the character – a 21^st century “Hippie”.

He was also a fellow couch surfer and often housed 4 at a time. He took us on a tour of his meager abode. What was interesting was his way of decorating, painting, and using “junk” in a most artistic fashion. He fed us a late dinner which was great, but there was a HUGE amount and I couldn't possibly eat even a fourth of it.