After three long grading periods of school, I was looking forward to spring break more than anything else. My family and I planned a trip to Greece, and it was one of my favorite trips ever. We traveled for one week and visited many places, but my favorite was Santorini, where we stayed for about two and a half days.
The trip started in Athens, where we took a Blue Star Delos ferry from the port of Athens to Santorini. A flight would have taken about 45 minutes, but the ferry took about 7 hours. Although it was a long ride, the views of the small islands and blue water were amazing. In Santorini, we stayed at a house a few minutes from Oia, the most famous (and most expensive) part of the island. The house was right by the water, and a gentle, cool breeze brushed past our faces.
The caldera is the huge flooded volcanic crater that Santorini's cliff-top towns look out over, and Oia has the best views of it, so we headed there for pictures. In Santorini, and in Greece in general, walking is often the easiest way to get around. With narrow roads and crowded streets, it is faster than driving. We parked in a nearby lot and walked 15 minutes up the cliff.
The town of Oia looked like something out of a movie. What amazed me most was the architecture and the precision needed to balance each building on the side of the cliff while keeping great views and making the town easy to walk through. The buildings were mostly white, and the churches had blue domes. Keeping the whole town one color made it stand out, almost like a synchronized colony. From a distance, the white houses made the cliff look like a snow-covered mountaintop.
We strolled through the streets, admiring the buildings and the attention to detail. We stopped at a local restaurant called Skiza Cafe for a traditional Greek lunch of Greek salad and chicken souvlaki, plus a few cappuccinos and ice cream while we enjoyed the view. From the top we could see other islands in the distance, and even the volcano that created Santorini. My favorite part was the donkeys that carried construction materials. The roads are too narrow for cars and trucks, so dozens of donkeys carry supplies up the cliff on their backs. Santorini's caldera will always be one of my favorite places, with its beautiful views of the islands, the cliffs, Greek architecture and peaceful stone streets.
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