Bartering in Santorini

I arrived in Santorini at 1:10 AM on a ferry from Kos with the intention of heading straight for a beach to sleep for the night. When I departed the car-loading area of the ferry, I looked around and something became astronomically apparent—my plan was not going to work. The moon, while hindered by the clouds, provided enough lighting to illuminate the massive, rocky cliffs lining the shore. I glanced around hoping to find public transportation, because I was in no condition to scale these roads. “Great. Nothing,” I thought. Among the handful of the shops lining the port, I saw two travel agents positioned one right next to the other. Options. Nice. Time to have some fun. I chose to approach the closer of the two shops first. This way, I would not have to backtrack if my bartering skills were unappreciated by the locals. I was strangely confident considering my only options were to get housing from these agents or to sleep until morning on the concrete dock. I attribute the confidence to knowing that either they sell me a room or it remains vacant because we were the last ship for the evening.

I walked into the first travel agent and a gentleman on my right asked if I needed a room. Perfect. I mentioned that I forgot to arrange housing for that night, but I only really wanted a bed to sleep until morning. He proceeded to offer a nice hotel room (even showed me a few pictures) with a price tag of...25 Euros. The rest of the conversation is below:

Me       “I only need a bed so 25 Euros for 8 hours is way too much.”

Him     “20”

Me       “15 is my max”

Him     “Ok. 15”

Me       “And you will get me there?”

Him     “Of course. Of course.”

That was easy. It was a NICE hotel too...off season has its perks.