The flight to Santorini from Athens was a short one. All I remember is closing my eyes, waking up and being offered a drink, and then being forced to chug back said drink and buckle up as the plane went into its final descent. We grabbed the first taxi driver we saw and got a ride into Fira for a lot more money than it was probably worth, but neither of us was in the mood to argue.

After trekking down a few sets of steep stairs with our monstrous backpacks, we located Hotel Keti, where, as promised, we had an amazing caldera view from our cliffside rooms. Santorini is actually a series of islands that formed when an old volcano collapsed in on itself during a massive eruption about 3500 years ago. We arrived just in time to see the sunset over the water, and no matter how cliched a romantic sunset may sound, this was the highlight of the trip for me. A camera cannot possibly capture the beauty of what we saw there. It’s all around you.

That night we wandered through the quaint town and its touristy shops looking for food, finally settling on a rooftop restaurant because it was the only place where a waiter wasn’t planted in the doorway, trying to drag us inside. At the end of the meal they gave us free shots of Ouzo on the house. Clearly it would have been rude to turn it down so we just plugged our noses and gulped it back.

The next day the whole place was crawling with tourists coming off the many cruise ships that were anchored in the harbour (they have their choice of cable car or donkey ride as transportation up the side of the cliff). We didn’t have much planned so we just walked along the roads outside town to see what else was around. We found a cool outdoor movie theatre, with tables where you can eat and watch a movie on a big screen. We considered renting a moped or ATV to explore further but considering how narrow the streets are and how those crazy Greeks drive, I wanted nothing to do with it. Eventually we had walked all the way to another town, so we hiked back using a cliffside path (avoiding the dog poop where possible).

Dinner the second night was at a fancy Italian restaurant called Calderini’s. It was expensive and had limited vegetarian options, but we still enjoyed our meal. The chef made a habit of coming out to each table to talk to them personally after they ate. Apparently he was some sort of celebrity in the cooking world — he told the people behind us that he was trying to get his own show on the BBC. I think he was full of it.

Our last day in Santorini was spent doing a little souvenir shopping (pretty much every single store there is trying to sell some form of jewelry, clothing, postcard, knick-knack, etc.), and seeking out shade whenever we were not inside air-conditioned shops. One of the shopkeepers, upon finding out we were newlyweds, gave us a gift of a small evil eye pendant. He said it was to ward off evil and that we should keep it under our pillow at night. He also said it would help give me a peaceful night’s sleep despite the fact that women like to talk and talk. Amen brother.

In order to get to our next destination, Crete, we had to catch a bus from Fira to the port of Athinios so we could board the ferry. The bus ride was interesting to say the least. Our bus driver appeared to navigate the narrow, treacherous hillside roads with ease, and yet he still seemed nervous at times. He often had to sit and wait for 5 minutes at a blind corner, getting out of the bus and looking downhill until there was an opening in the traffic since there was not enough room for us to turn the corner without hitting oncoming vehicles. It seemed like every other vehicle along these roads was either a big tour bus or a tractor trailer carrying cargo — not the small European cars that we were seeing everywhere else. Despite non-smoking signs that were plastered all over the bus, our driver was smoking like a chimney. But I really can’t complain, since we arrived in one piece.

We weren’t sure where to catch the ferry exactly, so I walked over to the nearby building that looked like the departure terminal. There were a couple of Americans who had been on the same bus as us, and I guess I looked like I knew where I was going so one of them decided to follow me non-chalantly. As I reached the building I realized it was essentially an empty room with a few chairs in it and nothing else. There was no signage or departure schedule to be found. Puzzled, I turned around and noticed that the American had been following me. Acting quickly so as not to look like a dumbass who didn’t know where he was going, I simply sat down in one of the plastic chairs. And waited.

It turns out the building was actually the departure terminal anyway, and twenty minutes later, a large mob of people were all crammed into it waiting for the same ferry. It ended up being over a half hour late, and we were sweating our asses off. The next step in our Greek adventure was off to a great start!