Oia, Santorini: The Edge of the World

Here's a tip: If you are planning to visit the Greek Islands, make your travel arrangements in advance. I learned this piece of advice the hard way.

Before leaving for Greece I checked out the ferry schedule from Athens to Santorini, but only to make sure that there were ferries traveling between these two locations and that the trip didn't take a million hours. I've taken plenty of ferries in my day, and I've never booked the trip more then a day in advance.

When I tried to book a ferry on the second morning of my stay, I discovered that in Greece the rules are different. All of the morning's high-speed ferries were booked, the late-afternoon high-speed ferry only ran on Thursdays during the high season (which officially ended the week before I arrived), and the only available boat took over 13 hours.

I knew Kevin wouldn't be a happy if I told him that we were spending the better part of the night on a boat, so I decided to book a flight. As it turns out, there was an affordable and available flight that fit perfectly into our timetable. By 6:30 P.M. we were watching the sun set in Oia.

On the western end of Santorini, Oia is hands-down one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. The town is perched on cliffs overlooking the Aegean Sea. Our hotel, which promoted itself as "traditional rooms," was a series of rooms with terraces connected by what seemed to be a million steps.

The room itself was a little cave carved out of the side of the hill. Though the room was very basic – minimally furnished and without a television, phone, or even clock - it was absolutely perfect. The best part was our own private deck on the roof. Kevin and I happily spent plenty of time up there simply watching the moon reflect on the water, the boats come and go, and the donkeys climbing the steep path from harbor to the town.