Day 16 - Santorini, Greece

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Santorini is probably the most popular island destination for tourists in Greece. It is actually the smallest of the Cyclades island chain, but it is special because it was formed by volcanic eruption. The three cities of Santorini sit high on top of the cliffs that form the caldera of the volcano, with three small uninhabited islands in the middle, one of them an active volcano. There are three other volcanoes near Santorini, all undersea, so they are not visible. Since they are all active, with the last eruption in 1950, I was a bit uneasy the whole time. One of our drivers said that when the experts begin to see activity, the locals will have three days to completely vacate the island and hopefully make it to safety before it erupts.

It is geologically very interesting because the island slopes gently from the high cliffs toward the sea on the sea-side but is steep and fragile on the caldera side. There are beaches, some white sand and some black sand, all along the seaside coast where they slope gently into the sea. Ten meters off the caldera side the water depth goes straight to 1500 meters!

Our drivers on the island were both spear fishermen in the off season. In Greece, it is illegal to spearfish with scuba gear, it must be done with a snorkel, so they train to be able to hold their breath to reach 50 meters.

We were taken to the island port on the Santorini tenders. At the port, one is faced with choices about how to reach the top of the cliff. One option is to walk the 580 steps to the top. To do so one must navigate sloping steps and share the path with the other option, the famous donkeys. They are a popular option and were probably the only other option for many years. The third option is a “fast-boat” from the port over the the Oia (pronounced ee-ah) base where you are picked up and driven by bus to the Hungry Donkey drop off point. We chose to do that, but when were learned it would be about an hour before the first boat left, we opted for the fourth, and most common, mode of transport up the mountain, the tram. The cable tram runs almost vertically up the mountain. With six cars on each side of the cable, it works more like a funicular or a ski lift, but is powered because of the heavy lift needed.

It takes only 2-3 minutes to arrive at the top in the town of Thira. It is equally picturesque but all tourists want to go to Oia. It’s a thirty minute drive by van. We hired one for the round trip and our first driver was “Zeus”, what a fabulous name! He told us more about island life as we passed vineyards and isolated coastal houses. Homes on this side of the island cost 4-500,000 euros. In Oia, they start at 1M!

We reached the Hungry Donkey, just a local restaurant whose name is easy to remember, so they use it as the meeting point because there are no cars in Oia. Our driver pointed us up to the town and off we went! Once we reached the top of the path we were greeted with breath-taking post-card views of the white washed houses with blue accents. Zeus told us there was a law that houses had to be white-washed with limestone paint because it is antibacterial and the white color reflects sun, keeping homes cooler. The blue paint was left over from painting their boats, a mixture of limestone and the cleaning agent loulaki. How practical is that? Now you will see yellow houses and some in shades of coral. This is because the white color requires repainting three times a year. The yellow and coral once every 2-3 years. I imagine in a few more years, one might visit Santorini and see only yellow and coral colored houses.

We also learned there is a law that construction may only occur from October through February. This is so the tourists are not disturbed by construction noise. It also means that workers who support the tourist industry, can have two jobs if they choose. Most tourist activity stops by November 1st as the cruise ships do not visit during the winter. Those who work in the tourist trade work EVERYDAY, sometime 15 hours, for 9 months straight! They then take three months off.

It was plain to see in Oia, and Thira, that tourism IS the island’s source of income. Honestly, I was less enchanted with Santorini than I was Mykonos and Lemnos. While Mykonos was busy with tourists, it retained a certain local charm. You could easily see homes and locals going about their daily life. Not so in Santorini. The only indication I saw of local life was a public school on the way up the hill. School children happily played in the school yard, and were released home for lunch around 1pm.

We like the local life. This is what we appreciated about Turkey. Our guides helped us visit establishments that locals frequent, rather than those that cater to the tourists. Having lived in Turkey, it felt more natural to us to take in the local life. I wished for the same in Santorini. We did partake of both a Greek snack and lunch in terraced restaurants. Dave enjoyed a baklava, Sharon a butter croissant and I had a lovely Mille Feuille, with a Coke Zero of course. Mille Feuille is a layered puff pastry filled with pastry cream. Delish!

For lunch we again enjoyed stunning views of the caldera while Dave had a salad and Sharon a selection of Greek Tapas. We joked because all I had for lunch was bread and water. Dave shared his cold with me and I just had no appetite.

After lunch we walked and shopped for about an hour more before calling our driver to the Hungry Donkey. Upon arriving back in Thira, we walked and shopped some more, then headed to the tram for the trip down to the port. There was a looooong line, about a forty minute wait, to get tickets. It moved pretty quickly, but I later heard from other passengers, the line grew to two hours! I’m really glad we chose to leave when we did. There were three people who asked to cut in line in front of me. They said they were from the Holland America ship and had a 4:30 all aboard time. Since it was 4:15, and I didn’t have a rush, I obliged but I really didn’t think they would make it anyway. Eventually they worked they way further up the line. I hope they made it to their ship! No one wants to be THOSE people.

We rested a bit upon returning because our ship had planned a fabulous barbecue dinner on deck. It was absolutely delicious. Two roasted pigs, ribs, flank steak and local fish with dozens of sides made for a festive, outdoor, evening meal in the Santorini caldera. The moonlight and lights of Thira and Oia above us made for a truly magical and perfect way to end the day.

Tomorrow, we are at sea all day as we sail around the south and west coasts of the Greek mainland. Then the next day we will transit the Corinth Canal on our way to Athens.

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