On the 8-hour ferry ride from Athens to the island of Santorini we happened to run into our roommates in Athens, Angela and Alison from Harrisonburg. Steph and I stayed at a hotel on the western coastal town of Fira which had great views of the sunset every evening. We were told that the Greek islands are absolutely dead at this time of year, and we found this to be too true. There were three other people staying at our hotel while we were there! The weather was cooler than I thought it would be, but it was still neat to see the island.

We happened to run into Alayna and Chai, two girls from California that we met on the ferry from Italy to Greece last week, and invited them to hang out on our balcony last night. Steph and Chai had the bright idea to jump into the freezing cold pool and after some convincing, Alayna and I decided to join them. We changed into our bathing suits, jogged down the steps from our room to the pool, counted to three, and all jumped in at the same time. I was definitely the first one out in about two seconds. It was enough to take your breath away! I hightailed it up to the room and jumped into the hot shower! Good times in Santorini.

Today Steph, Chai, Alayna and I rented ATVs for the day and explored the whole island. We first drove north to the town of Oia, where Steph and I ate lunch at a restaurant with a sweet view, then drove south to a Red Beach.

Tomorrow we take the ferry back to Athens, and the next day fly to Israel!