Early Friday morning the 17th, 18 of our group caught a ferry to the island of Santorini. We left at 7:35am, and arrived on the island at around 3:30. We hadn't made any arrangements regarding where we were going to stay, since we had been assured there would be plenty of people there to offer us rooms. Since it is the off season here, everyone is more eager to have any business for their rooms, and to get rid of unwanted merchandise in the stores. Very good for bargaining :) When we first arrived, we saw many people with signs, but assumed they were waiting for friends or relatives. It turned out they were waiting for us. Several people came up to different members of our group, and kept offering us different locations, different prices, different options. It was very exciting. Finally one man led us off to the side, and offered us a price. As other representatives came over to speak with us, he would start shouting at them (loudly) in Greek - I assume to tell them to get away from us... that we were his customers. He ended up lowering his price per person by 3 euro while we stood there and debated, and took us in vans up to his little hotel near Fira. His name was Artimis, and he and his sister Maria run this small hotel. (Where, by the way, Nia Vardallos has stayed several times, and has become friends with Maria). There was much confusion and bustling about as they tried to figure out where to put us all. Splitting up 18 people into a comfortable room situation is a bit tricky when you have people who want to stay together etc. Somehow I ended up being in a room by myself, so Artimis took me upstairs and gave me a single room which should have cost 70 euro. I definitely got a deal! I was on the top floor, had my own balcony, and a view down to the sea. It was beautiful. There was a pool, which was apparently very cold, and beautiful flowers climbing all the way to the balcony.
In the afternoon, Kaitlyn, Lauren and I all walked up towards Fira, stopping just short of the actual town, and then walked back to meet the rest of the group for a lovely dinner close to our hotel. I love the fact that meals take longer here in Europe, and one can feel free to just sit and enjoy a meal. I will probably miss this when I get back in December. After this Lauren, Kaitlyn and I walked around a little bit, and tried to get a fairly early night before our full day on Saturday... which will be coming later!
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