Santorini, Greece

We next sailed to the island of Santorini in Greece (also known as Thira/Thera since ancient times).  Santorini is one of the Cyclades islands in Greece (so named because they make a cycle in their circular pattern around the sacred island Delos that we visited later).  In the 16th century BC, the island of Santorini blew its top in one of the largest volcanic eruptions ever recorded.  What is left of the island is crescent shaped with steep cliffs along much of it making for extremely picturesque villages perched on the cliffside that draw a massive amount of tourists every year.

We decided we would deal with the long lines and crowds and ride the cable car from the port where we tendered to the island up the cliff to the town of Fira (one of the two main towns on the island).  Tanja was on the ball and reserved us a decent tender number which allowed us to leave the cruise ship in tender ports (where you have to get off the huge cruise ship into smaller boats that shuttle you to the port) earlier than other passengers who got a later number.  There were still long lines and lots of crowds to deal with on the island, but the views were magnificent.

Here's Lydia in the cable car as we went up the steep cliff.  I remember our taxi driver in Corfu talking up his island and how beautiful it is because it has trees and other vegetation.  Santorini definitely was barren in comparison.

Derek wasn't particularly enthusiastic about wandering around the city streets in the heat.

Looking out over the beautiful blue water of the Aegean Sea from on top of Santorini's cliffs.  I think our cruise ship is the big one just over Karina's shoulder.  We walked around the town of Fira with its narrow cobblestone pathways that choked up with tourists and enjoyed the views and the architecture.

Santorini is full of caves and some of these houses/hotels in Fira are built right into them.  Originally (300-400 years ago) the cave houses were for the poor fishermen who couldn't afford to live on the top of the island and they built with the material they had (stone and volcanic ash that they mixed into mortar) with added benefit of keeping the temperature cool and stable without air conditioning.  Now these cave houses are for the wealthy (though I am sure that the cave mansions are much larger).

 

We tried to find shade against the walls on some of the alleys.  Derek alternated between borrowed hats and Mormor's spare shirt over his head to try and stay cool.

We finished walking around Fira eventually, and still had time before the cruise ship departed so we had a choice to make.  Derek convinced us that he wanted to go back to the ship and Mimi and Mormor agreed to go with him.  Tanja and I took the girls on a bus to go to the town of Oia (home to the famous blue domed church that is instantly recognizable as Santorini).  After a small amount of chaos, we found a bus in the bus depot going to Oia, paid our fares, and jumped on.  The trip along Santorini was interesting in that it looked so barren - they had a few vineyards and groves of olive trees, but not much beyond that.

In Oia, we wandered around town browsing through tourist shops.  Lydia picked out a beautiful fire opal ring set in sterling silver that she is still wearing and taking care of.  She continually remarked as she kept looking at rings in other stores that she liked the one she picked out more than any others, so I'm glad she found something she wanted.  Karina got a nice sweatshirt with Santorini embroidered on it that lasted one night before somehow getting ruined with a bleach stain.  Dangers of souvenir hunting I guess.

Here's Lydia in front of one of the shops selling amulets and other trinkets with the evil eye that we saw everywhere in our travels in Greece. 

We had to be very careful of pickpockets who prowl the streets.  They have turned stealing money into an art form and we were repeatedly warned in the shops to guard our valuables.  We stepped out of one shop and noticed a line forming.  We joined the line without really knowing what we were lining up for, but figured with that many people, it must be interesting.  As the line crept along the narrow alleys of Oia, eventually we learned that we were going to the famous overlook for the church with the three blue domes.  Perhaps I would be more enthused about it if we hadn't accidentally joined at the end of a long line of cruise ship passengers on a "Let's Take a Selfie" shore excursion, or if I could figure out how to get our fancy camera to take better pictures of people in the bright light of Greek islands, but by the time we got to the front of the long line and could take our pictures, I was grumpy.

 

This was my case of sadly playing this location up so much in my mind based on the beautiful pictures I had seen like this postcard perfect shot:

 

These pictures (while certainly not bad) were our reality.

 

 

To give some idea of what the crowds were like, here's a picture you can see the people squeezed tightly into the narrow alleys.

 

And a shot with some of the other tourists at this extra crowded perch for the blue domed church.

 

We got some pictures from that overlook facing the other way as well.

 

I did enjoy wandering down the streets and some people had beautiful flowers in their gardens.

 

I also liked the distinctive architecture of the Greek Orthodox churches we passed.

Eventually, it was time to head back to Fira and the cruise port.  On the way, we bought a cup of tasty frozen Greek yogurt to share.  We brought it on the bus thinking we didn't have time to eat it and the girls ate their portion while we were waiting for the bus to leave.  When Tanja and I started eating our portion, the bus driver came back and threatened to kick us off the bus.  Not wanting to deal with waiting for the next bus and potentially missing the cruise ship, we apologetically allowed him to confiscate and throw away our frozen yogurt.  I was upset at that, because it was really good, but oh well.

The drive back was uneventful, but as the sun started to set, the white walls of all the buildings began to glow.

To travel between the cruise port and the top of the caldera cliff where the town of Fira sits, there are three options.

1. Take the cable car like we did when we started
2. Walk up a steep zig-zag path of stairs for 1.2 miles with a 600 foot elevation gain
3. Pay to ride a donkey on the same path.

We decided to walk down the steps to avoid the cable car line and passed many donkeys on the way.  The donkeys are horribly abused carrying people up and down the path with their handlers whipping them with a switch if they object or do anything the handler doesn't like.  Honestly, it is horrible watching the donkeys suffering and even when the donkeys weren't carrying a person, the handlers whipped them if they didn't move fast enough when the handler was trying to reposition them.  

As iconic and famous as the Santorini donkeys are, I hope they go out of business because I hated seeing donkeys suffering.  The girls stopped to pet a few as we worked our way down.

We were very cautious as we walked down as the steps had grown slippery from so many people walking down them and wearing them down.  The donkeys didn't help with the slippery conditions because of leaving their droppings all along the path.

The universal whitewashed houses help the residents regulate the temperature.  White reflects the heat of the sun.  Whitewash is also a natural disinfectant which helped residents at the beginning of the 20th century avoid diseases like cholera.  Combined with the blue doors and domes on the churches, the colors also are a nod to the Greek flag.

My favorite reason for the white houses is that it makes them seem to glow in the sunset.  Santorini is well known for spectacular sunsets and it didn't disappoint.

 

Our cruise ship was waiting for us as we eventually worked our way through the line and got on a tender ship to return.

Here's Fira lit up as the sun was nearly down.  You can see the zig zag of the path we walked down lit up.

I am glad we went to Santorini as it was a place I had wanted to see for a few years.  Perhaps because of that, I had built it up in my head and my disappointment is a result of expectations not living up to reality.  In any event, I don't feel a desire to return now that I have been there.