Island Hopping

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Island Hopping is a romantic way to travel from island to island in Greece - exploring to see what there is to see. It is best done in the summer (June through September) because one of the key things to do on most islands is to explore the beaches and swim. In April it was too cold for swimming…the water was about 60 degrees F (15 degrees C) but I had a nice week anyway exploring sunlit spaces.

I actually visited three islands after leaving Hydra: Syros, Paros and Thira (aka Santorini). The prettiest (and correspondingly the most popular) was Thira but the other two had their attractions as well.

Syros

One fun thing about Island Hopping is waiting until the last minute to decide where to go. This might not work in high season because the ferries may be full, but this time of year one can almost always get a seat on a boat.

So I started my Island Hopping in Hydra where I spent Easter. From Hydra the only place one can go to access multiple destinations is Piraeus, the port for Athens. Once I reached Piraeus, I had to decide where to go next. I had missed the boat to Thira so I impulsively decided to go to Syros and within three hours my boat was approaching the island.

Pulling into a port is interesting. The ferry carries cars, trucks and buses but it is not like the ones in Seattle that can load from either end. Rather they are the size of and look like a cruise ship but at the stern is a big ramp that lowers like a draw bridge. Because of this, the boat needs to back into the dock so the vehicles can drive off and on. As the boat approaches the dock it does a long hockey stop like in skiing and ends up turned 180 degrees with the stern facing the dock. It is quite impressive to see them basically skid to a halt in a cruise ship.

We arrived right on time in Ermoupolis, the port town for Syros and there were two domatio owners waiting. Domatio is Greek for “room” and is a common type of accommodation in Greece but we don’t anything comparable in the US. They are small, privately owned hotels with 4 to 8 rooms. I am sure there are exceptions but all of the ones I stayed in were quite clean and very cheap (€25 per night (off-season) = $35). On the down side, they had rather thin walls so I could hear the comings and goings of my neighbors often into the wee hours of the morning. At each port there was a group of owners looking for people who were looking for a place to stay. It is a rather efficient system. I found places to stay on all three islands using this system.

The next day I wandered the town and the island. Ano Syros is a medieval town built on the hillside above Ermoupolis. I believe it was the original town and is a Roman Catholic enclave. During the War of Independence in the 1800’s, thousands of Orthodox refugees arrived and built both Ermoupolis as the port town and a settlement on a nearby hill called Vrodedo. Ano Syros is crowned by St George Catholic Church which dates back to the 3rd century CE and Vrodedo is crowned by an Orthodox church. I visited both and the differences between an Orthodox church and a Catholic church are subtle but noticeable. The biggest differences I saw were the Catholic Church has pews and the Orthodox has choirs along the wall and chairs. Also the Orthodox Church has icons and the Catholic Church has chapels along the walls. I imagine if one were to compare doctrine, more differences would emerge.

I took a bus across the island to a town called Galissas where I was literally the only person on the beach. I did, however, find an open restaurant and their fresh fish (“very fresh” the hostess assured me) was called Kalkani which she described as similar to a flounder. It was the best fish I have had so far in Greece.

Paros

The next day I headed for the island of Paros primarily because it is a main ferry hub but also because it had some interesting sights.

There are two major sights in the main town, a church and an archeological museum. The church is called Panagia Ekatondapyliani which is quite a mouthful and roughly translates to Our Lady of the Hundred Doors. The baptistery for the church dates back to the 4th century. The next day I went to the Archeological Museum. People have inhabited this island since pre-history so they had pieces dating back over 4000 years. I especially liked the Medusa statue. Most Medusa’s I have seen are just the face. This was a full size sculpture with the body, legs and head intact.

They also have several archeological remains around town. Just like in Athens, if you dig anywhere you will probably find ruins of something. For instance there is a wall that is all that remained from a Frankish Fort built by the Venetians in the 17th century. They must have been in a hurry because they used pieces from many other ruins. One can see round pieces of columns from Greek temples used as building blocks in the wall.

Next I took the bus to the town of Naousa where my tourist map showed a winery with a tasting room. I got off the bus in the middle of a thunderstorm. I walked about three blocks and finally took shelter under a closed newsstand. The lightning and thunder were only 3 seconds apart, the rain was coming down hard and the road had an 8 inch deep river flowing down it. I huddled under the awning for 30 minutes as cars hydroplaned up the road in front of me. Finally the storm passed and it was raining only lightly but the road was still a river and I was soaked. I gave up on the winery and headed back to downtown. I had 1 ½ hours until the bus back so I found a restaurant. They had wine from the winery I had tried to visit so I ordered a half bottle and it was quite nice. I wish I had had the opportunity to visit the winery.

Thira (aka Santorini)

Santorini is a group of islands that used to be one island. In the 16th century BCE there was a massive volcanic explosion that destroyed the one island leaving a crater with a volcanic cone in the middle surrounded by a caldera. Where the wall of the caldera is above the water there are islands. There are five islands in the group. Most of the people are on the biggest island called Thira and the big city on Thira is Fira. There are 12,000 residents and only god knows how many tourists. The other inhabited island is called Therasia and is primarily inhabited by seniors because all the young people have left. A third island has only goats and the remaining two are part of the volcanic cone and have only very basic plant life.

Fira is a classic tourist town but has spectacular scenery. It is built on the top of the caldera which drops steeply (60 degrees or more) to the sea. The city is probably 700 feet above the water. The streets closest to the edge are full of tourist shops. I wandered and took in the sights and had a gelato. I visited yet another Orthodox church and this one is very new. It gave me an idea of what the ancient ones must have looked like when they were new.

The next morning my first stop today was the Museum of Thera which contained the finds from Akrotipi. The town of Akrotipi was buried by the volcano that reshaped the island in the 16th century BCE. They have excavated only 5% of the town but the finds are amazing from giant pots to vibrant frescoes; it is the equivalent of Pompeii except twice as old.

After the museum, I took a leisurely walk down the 600 steps to the old harbor. I had purchased a ticket for a boat ride to the volcano and related hot springs. The volcano was interesting. We had an English speaking guide and he gave a lot of history and geology about the volcano. I am glad it was spring because since the hills are only a couple of generations old, there are no trees and it got hot. Next stop was the hot springs where we had an opportunity to go swimming but I declined because this time of year the sea is 15 degrees C (about 60 degrees F). The hot springs are only about 7 degrees C (15 Deg F) warmer so I didn’t think the cold swim would have been worth the tepid soak.

We finished sailing around the volcano back to the old port. I really came for the views from the boat and that alone was worth the price of the ticket.

Next I headed to Oia (ee-wa) which is a picturesque town on the northern tip of Thira. It is full of white-washed buildings clinging to the top of the cliffs like barnacles. I wandered around looking in shops and taking pictures then sat down in a restaurant for a drink and to watch the sun go down.

On Sunday I took the bus to Kamari on the other side of the island. My plan was to visit Ancient Thira (another town buried by the volcano) then relax on the beach until the Wine Museum opened. Unfortunately since it was May 1st (May Day) Ancient Thira was closed. I was very disappointed as I was really looking forward to it and could have done it the day prior if I had known it would be closed.

The second part of my plan, sitting on the beach, was also not feasible because it was raining. So I found a café, bought a decaf cappuccino and read for two hours. By then the Wine Museum was open. The museum was pretty campy…it reminded me of haunted houses we made as kids with very odd looking dummies. But I learned about growing wine grapes on Santorini. For instance, because it is so windy instead of using trellises they curl the grape vines onto crowns and set the shoots so the grapes grow protected inside the crown.

Together Again

The next day was the best day so far because John and I met up in Athens after five weeks apart. He finished the Camino de Santiago early so decided to join me in Greece. We are headed to Crete so look for more exciting tales.

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Photos

Kamari Beach
All of the beaches on Santorini are made of black sand.

Church of St George in Ano Syros
I lit the candle for safe travels for John and I.

Beach at Galissas, Syros
I love how blue and clear the water is.

Medusa
This was found on Paros and is now in the Archeological Museum there.

Frankish Fort on Paros
The round stones used to be pieces of columns in Greek temples.

Fira on Santorini (Thira)
Taken from Oia.

Evolution of Santorini
From the bottom:
1. The island before the volcanic explosion in the 17th century BCE.
2. The island immediately after the erruption.
3. The island today.

Oia
The buildings almost flow down the cliffs.

Comments

[Jessica & Erik]

Found you!
Beth, Hello from us! I loved what you wrote about not deciding what island to hop to until the last moment; we actually managed to buy a ticket and catch a ferry from Pireas (to Patmos) in about 20 minutes time. It became quite the adventure as we tried to sprint with packs from E4 to E1. Thankfully, the bus came and I hopped on only to catch up with Erik, who was way ahead of me. He saw the glare of my "airfoil" sleeping mattress through the bus window & hopped on just in time. Never will I take for granted the power of a gaudy accessory again. Take care & keep in touch!