Wednesday March 25, 2009

Today was the Greek Independence Day celebration! There was a small parade through the main square that we were able to catch. After the parade ended all of the school children gathered in the streets to do the traditional Greek circle dances....still need to figure out what these are called.

After the parade, at the recommendation of some other tourists, we rented ATV’s at a spot in town and spent the entire day cruising from one end of the island to the other. It was soooo much fun! It’s not a big island so we got to see most of it in one day. We started off heading down to the check out the popular beach scene which was of course desolate on a cloudy day. For lunch we climbed a cliff overlooking the famous black sand beaches to rest and eat our packed lunches. At one point we were headed in search of a lighthouse that was on the map but ended up climbing to the highest point in Santorini only to reach a DO NOT ENTER RADIATION IN USE military site at the top….still a beautiful view of the entire island though! By then it was about time for us to head back because our rentals were due at 5pm.

By the time we got back to our hotel the clouds had parted and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day to see Santorini’s famous sunset. The best place to view it is from the town of Oia on the most western tip of the island. To get there we took a taxi with an INCREDIBLE view the entire way there. We arrived right as the sun was going down so we quickly made our way through the white washed houses and blue domed roofs to the open view of the ocean and sunset. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen…absolutely inspiring.

Once the sun had set we headed back to our town for dinner since Oia didn’t have many restaurants open. Our taxi driver on the way back was very friendly and gave us lots of advice about the island including where to go for the best gyros in town. We took his advice and headed straight to Lucky’s Soulvaki for dinner when we got out of the cab. We had noticed the place before and it was always packed with people so that was reassurance it was going to be good….and it was! For only two euro I had the most delicious gyro of my life. I wouldn’t call it the most authentic though because the pitas were extra greasy with butter and there were fries inside. This was the beginning of our euro obsession and path to clogged arteries.