We eventually were told that we would soon be arriving at the Port of Santorini, and wouldn't you know it was right on schedule!!! We made our way down to the garage where everyone waited in anticipation for the ferry door to open for about ten minutes. Once the door dropped all the way, all we could see were cliffs and we knew we were in for a beautiful sight once outside. 
All around us, the cliffs were straight up and towering. I wondered how we would get to our hostel, but there was a giant group of men holding signs with names of their hostels. We found ours and were on our way! The worst part about being at the base of vertical cliffs is that to get to the top by car, you must drive on switchbacks. This was a scary drive anyways, but with an older van, more scary. But we finally made it to the top of the cliffs and could see the rest of the island. 
Our hostel was in Perissa which is on the south coast of the island that is newer because of the boom in tourism over the last ten years has made more room for growth. The entire drive back to the hostel was amazing, but once we arrived at 'Hotel Perissa' we were even more amazed! Our private room looked out onto the sea and the place seemed deserted, giving us the entire pool to ourselves!
Basically we had stayed at hostels with loads of backpackers or in busy cities but this place was so nice and quiet. It was a family run hotel that didn't know how to be rude. They drove us places, have us free drinks and basically answered every question we had for them. They even let us use their printer. Their youngest son spoke little to no English but wanted to help us out with carrying our bags and showing us around. A highlight of our stay was we were at breakfast and the son walked by with three tiny puppies. They were only two-months old!!
On the first day, we wanted to just walk down to the beach and check out the "black sand beaches." 
The entire island is beautiful with spectacular views, but the side of the island where we stayed us fairly new. Santorini has had a major boom from tourism and the area where we were has only been popular within the last decade. People used to come to Santorini solely because of the amazing architecture built right into the cliffs, but it has grown to become a resort island. 
On our first full day, we planned to go see the rest of the island and then spend our last day just relaxing in the sun of our beach! There are only a few rental car places on the island but all of the tourists rent scooters or 4-wheelers to zip around the island. Sarah and I split a monster ATV and Kyle drove a smaller one and we had the time of our lives!
We drove all across the island and saw both big cities of Thira and Oia, but the coolest spot that we went to was the "Red Beach." Just off of a cliff, there is a beach where the rocks are all red. So interesting and so different from all of the other beaches you go to! Also, there was a local man barbecuing corn-on-the-cob and putting his special herbs to make some of the best corn I've had. 
We ended up eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant (go figure) and it was pretty decent but what drew us to the place, besides something different than Greek food, was the setting. Señor Zorba's was on the very edge of one of the cliffs overlooking the Caldera with the volcano and hot springs. 
We drove the ATV's around the rest of the night, visiting shops and other touristy things, and then after a night swim, decided to go to bed. We planned on getting up early and just hanging out at the beach. The weather our last day was very cooperative and I even got a little tan. The black sand beach collected all of the sun's heat so if you were barefoot you felt like you were walking on fire. The only good thing was that once you ran from our beach chairs and hit the water, your feet felt amazing. The water was just right! Cold enough that it continually was refreshing, but not too cold as to you couldn't just dive in. The setting was incredible. 
The clouds wore off by noon, you can imagine how nice it was!!! By the time we had soaked up enough rays, we got a bit to eat and then headed back to our hostel where the host family had promise us to take us to a spot to watch the sunset! I don't need to explain much, I'll just show you the pictures....
We didn't want to leave, but the only way for us to get back to Athens in time was a ferry that left the next morning at 7 a.m. The three of us looked back at our stay and although incredible it had been, I just don't think I could live there. It is so secluded from the rest of the world and it would be the hardest change. However nice it may be, a few days was the perfect amount of time on the island.
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