It’s the penultimate day of our cruise and despite the lingering sore legs and sunburn of Malta, we are desperate to alight the Resilient Lady. Not because we are tired of her, but because we have just arrived at the stunning island of Santorini.
The Boring Bits About Santorini
Santorini, population 15,480, is a 76 squared km island about 6 hours ferry time from Pireus (the principal port for Athens). Its capital is Fira and when arriving by cruise ship may be the first place you visit due to a generously donated cable car that prevents one having to climb 600 steps or risk life and limb atop a poor donkey. With 2 million visitors per year, it’s a busy place and, unfortunately, expensive. Volcanic eruptions have created a rugged, steep landscape and its villages are not the easiest to traverse.
Our Santorini Itinerary
Santorini is only accessible by tender and knowing just how frantic 1500 disembarking passengers become, we elected to skip the queue by taking a ship organised excursion. It would have us visiting the buried city of Akrotiri, lunching in Oia (pronounced Eee-ya) and shopping in Fira.
Santorinis Answer to Pompeii
With most of Santorinis villages situated well above sea-level, it’s a memorable experience accessing the towns. Shortly after boarding our tour bus, we find ourselves switch-blading our way up a steep and rugged mountainside. The view from our bus window becoming more incredible (and scarier) the higher we climb. It’s a bit of a relief to reach the top and continue our journey towards Akrotiri.
Akrotiri, once a simple fishing and farming village, was buried beneath 200 feet of ash sometime between 1620 and 1530 BC, when one of the largest volcanic events ever recorded on Earth occurred in this region. Discovered through a series of excavations in the 1960s, what we visit is smaller than expected and, truth be told, a little humdrum. While it is possible to make out the outlines of ancient dwellings and even a toilet at one point, I was expecting a lot more. Pompeii has always been a place I want to visit, and I had been hoping to use this as a substitute. It wasn’t.
Lunching In Oia
While Greece is famous for many things – the Parthenon, Feta, Ouzo, Socrates, Homer, Greek Salad, the Olympic Games, when you envision Greece, it’s more likely you are picturing the village of Oia on the island of Santorini. Blue domed, white-washed buildings perched atop steep cliffs.
Alighting our coach, it’s a sweaty 10 minute uphill walk along crumbling Greek footpaths before we reach Oia. Here, our guide bids us farewell, and within minutes of entering the first steep narrow alleyway, we find ourselves swept up in a swarm of bodies. With people everywhere, steep paths and steps to negotiate, it’s not the easiest place to navigate but we persevere.
What we find is a gorgeous little place with the most stunning views and souvenir shops to die for. I have never seen so many great jewellery outlets. (Note: One week in Greece and I am finding jewellery shops very common here). Add linen clothing stores, leather-sandal shoe shops and it’s a shopaholics paradise. Unfortunately, our suitcases are full so we don’t linger, instead we find a little restaurant with iconic Santorini views and lunch on some Greek meze.
Fira and the Cable Car
Two hours after our arrival we depart Oia and I am not sorry to be leaving. It is a lovely place and I am glad I now know what it really looks like, but tourism is surely suffocating it. The sheer volume of tourist bodies makes me shudder at its future.
Our last stop for the day is Fira, another town full or souvenir shops and tourists. Here, I succumb and purchase a linen shirt before a punishing 45 minute wait for the cable car that drops us back at our tender.
What Next?
Tomorrow marks the end of our cruise, and we will spend the next 5 nights in Athens. I am not sorry to be disembarking. I prefer my travel to consist more of the unknown rather than being one of a large cosseted crowd. I can’t wait to become a traveller again rather than a tourist.
