After awaking at Athens Airport, I fall asleep on a bus to Piraeus Port. I awake and we arrive just in time for our boat to Santorini. I again sleep through most of the ride and awake to find that we're docking in paradise.
Santorini is, to put it bluntly, the most beautiful place I've ever been. Whitewashed houses line the seaside cliffs, which plunge into the deep blue see-through water. At the first beach we find in our rental car (for which we bought maximum insurance and will feed only the right food), the sand/rocks are black, expelled years ago by a volcano that rests offshore. I plunge into the comfortably chilly tides with my toes amidst all kinds of squishy stuff. Getting goggles, I place my face below and immediately meet a school of little fish. Ignoring the "Jaws" theme that occasionally jumps out of my subconscious, I explore more and see further creepy crawlies to which I'd been oblivious of but next to just a minute ago.
Riad tells me we witnessed what's known as the most beautiful sunset in the world and I'm not sure I want to argue. Standing on the ruins of a church atop a seaside cliff, we witnessed the sun sink behind an island in the distance, a red-orange ball, then less, just a sliver, and rapidly gone, having left oranges and pinks exploded, spread out in its wake.
The rest of the night's hopping among all the island's towns, which isn't exactly impressive considering there are all of 3. They're basically what you'd expect on a beautiful little island heavily touristed but also significantly populated by locals: lots of kitsch depicting sunsets, but cheap eats and drinks mixed in among the tourist traps. After heading back to America for a few touristy minutes via an Irish bar that lured us in with the siren call of free shots, we head back to the black sand beach, our tent on the shores of paradise a welcome change from our airport beds of the past nights.