Santorini: Day 4

I was woken by Lynnea tapping on my shoulder and whispering in my ear, “Time to get up.” After all of last night’s wine, I just wanted to sleep in to the 9:30 alarm I’d set for myself. But against my will, I was up.

At 10 AM, our entire group set off on rented ATVs. We all sort of went off on our own to explore the island. I didn’t understand a word of the explanation given to me on how to drive an ATV, but I also wasn’t listening too carefully. When it comes to “toys” such as these, or any type of electronic, I disregard all direction to figure it out on my own. Much more fun that way. Katula joked later that the scariest moment of the trip was watching me speed away on the ATV.

I turned out to be a fabulous driver, and my partner Kristyn would agree. I found the balance between crazy/daring and safe. I had so much fun driving! The ATVs go up to about 55 mph and can drive on any terrain. We didn’t have any kind of map, so just set out towards the water. It was such a windy day; the huge, goofy helmet we had to wear (to escape a 150 euro fine) kept flying back off my head causing the strap to choke me. I spent most of the day driving with one hand, the other a top my head.

We ran into a dead end and pressed every button to go into reverse but had no luck. Some young guy finally came over to explain that ATVs don’t reverse, so we had to get up and physically turn it around. We drove up some steep hills to the site of ancient Thira, which had some really cool views of the water and hillside. Though we’d been sent off on a full tank of gas, our empty light was flashing after only 45 minutes. I had no idea what to do so just looked everywhere for a gas station. I pulled in and the guys just filled me right back up for 7 euro – which lasted on full for the rest of the day, so clearly the rental place scammed us.

We stopped back at our hotel to pick up a map and see if we could find the rest of the group. The hotel manager said a lot of people went out to the Red Beach at Akrotiri, so we headed in that direction. We got lost once, but arrived in about 40 minutes. I stopped for a water and (excellent) spinach/cheese pie, and all of a sudden Sarah and her partner rolled up on their ATV. I don’t think we’ve ever been so happy to see each other! It was nice to see a familiar face after being separated. So the four of us hung out at the Red Beach, which was very cool. We climbed up a cliff to look out on the huge, dark red rock-mountains above the red-sand beach. There were tons of rocks in the water that you could swim up to and sit on. The water looked so refreshing that I couldn’t help but go for a swim, despite not having a towel. It was freezing, and the rocks really hurt my feet, but so much fun.

We made the trip back to the hotel about 3 PM and I fell asleep while blogging – which just turned into a 2 hour nap. Sarah joined me at some point and we woke up to find everyone gone. It was 8 PM at this point and Katula had asked us to watch the sunset with him on the front porch. The colors were amazing – maybe better than Oia. But again, afterwards was more beautiful. The lines of yellow, orange, pink, and purple just melted together on the horizon. Everyone finally returned from the wine tasting they’d gone on (so disappointed I missed it) and Kristyn wanted to learn to drive the ATV, so we went out for a little bit.

Our short sunset drive turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Kristyn’s driving was short-lived and before I knew it I was back in control, exactly where I like to be. I drove down a long, narrow road hoping to do some off-roading – but it turned out to be the drive way of a mansion. Then I went up a really steep hill to see where it led, but it was a dead end. It hadn’t occurred to me that we might have to go back down that steep hill, and I think that was the scariest experience all day. I was holding the break, but was convinced we were going to flip forward. Kristyn kept saying she trusted me and we’d be fine, but all the way down I didn’t even trust myself! Obviously … we survived.

The sky was gorgeous, like I already said, and it had really cooled off. It was so surreal; driving an ATV at sunset in Santorini. I felt a sense of freedom I’ve never before experienced. I really made a memory of it, because it will almost surely never happen again.

We had a very low-key evening. Most of us just went into town for some take-out dinner. I grabbed a gyro (my last!) and met up with the group. I walked around a bit afterwards, then drove the ATV home in the dark, which was kind of fun. Sarah and I packed, and I was up finishing until 1 AM. But I’m very organized and pretty much packed for the return trip home.

I’m so sad to leave Santorini tomorrow! It came and went so fast, which I knew it would, but I wish we had more time. I can’t believe I made it here. This was probably the one place in the world that I wanted to visit and it actually happened. I feel so lucky, and truly appreciate everything it took to make it happen. But hey, if I can’t stay in Santorini, the only place I’d rather be is … headed home.