Wednesday 21^st. 10am

  After an early alarm (6:30am) and a quick breakfast we transferred by bus to the port for the ferry crossing to Santorini. At a distance of about 110km north of Crete, the trip is scheduled to take about 2 and ½ hrs. Known as a Mega SeaJet the boat, is equipped to transport several dozen vehicles as well as a couple of thousand passengers in several lounges. The ride is a little rocky but the seats, which are airline style, make the crossing reasonably comfortable. Due to the speed, it is a little breezy on deck. That has the benefit of removing the second hand smoke quickly from what is, unofficially, the boats smoking area.

competing ferry on Aegean Sea

 Around me several passengers seem to be turning various shades of green and many take advantage of the disposal bags that one of the crew is handing out.

4;15pm

 The island came into view around 10:30am. Approaching from the western side we could see a cruise ship ahead, sailing towards a mooring point in the centre of the caldera. ( Santorini is somewhat difficult to describe- see attached map)

  When we got even closer 4 more cruise ships came into view, all anchored in the deep water to the west of the island. This meant we would be competing for space with up to 10,000 tourists on the narrow streets.

  The ferries have a docking area some 6km south of the main town of Fira and when we arrived the parking area was jammed with a dozen or so buses as well as a small fleet of taxis. The trip to the hotel involved a nail biting serious of switchbacks from sea level to the rim of the caldera some 300 feet above. From there, a 7km trip north took us through Fira to the adjacent town of Firostefani.  The hotel, Santorini Place is a white jumble of cubes located some 100 metres east of the western face of the island. Our room faces east and looks directly onto the swimming pool/bar area as well as the east coast of the island, some 4km away and several hundred feet below. From the balcony, which measures about 10 feet by 30, two smaller islands can be seen to the southeast and east.

 After a quick lunch of buns, meat and cheese smuggled from the breakfast bar of the hotel we walked along the cliff pedestrian path ( Gold Street) towards Fira. The 15 minute trip followed a pathway taken by a couple of million tourists a season. The path meandered along the cliff face slowly descending to the main town. Along the rim dozens of restaurants promoted themselves as having the finest view, the most beautiful sunset, etc. etc- all rolled into the price of the meal.

 Santorini has a reasonable claim to its status as one of the most beautiful islands on earth, but with that many tourists competing for space, it is also one of the world’s most annoying places to visit.

map of island

 After a quick stroll around the downtown core we returned via the main road, somewhat away from the tourist path. The further one went the lower the restaurant prices and the cheaper the price of the house wine. The same applied to the small “supermarkets” which dot the island, with prices dropping as the distance from the centre increased.

Thursday 22nd.

The northern town of Oia is separated by about 5km from Fira. By road this turns into a winding 8km of narrow route which passes along the eastern side of the ridge forming the caldera. A flat plain to the east, and several hundred feet below the level of the road, seems to run the length of the island, It ranges from about  1 to 4 km in width and is dotted with small villages with hundreds of individual houses scattered in between.

 The town of Oia is located at the northwestern tip of the island and straddles the one main road. Consisting of several dozen narrow pedestrian streets, it is composed of small, mostly white, cube shaped buildings, piled almost one on top of another and spread up and down the steep slopes.

 With a scheduled 11 cruise ships expected today, the narrow streets were quickly filled with pale tourists, wearing nametags (or stickers bearing their ship name), following tour guides bearing stop sign sized placards identifying their group. With a scant half hour to visit the town they would get to see a small sampling of the towns offerings before scrambling back on a bus for the next destination.

typical view-Santorini

  Enjoying a more leisurely approach we spent a couple of hours exploring the towns many narrow streets, its numerous art, galleries and its varied scenic views of the adjacent volcano and the other islands.

 Some rather heavy cloud cover seemed to dampen down the brilliance of the white buildings making them a lot more comfortable on the eye, compared to a typical sunny day.

  The bus back to Fira failed to stop at the hotel bus stop, resulting in an unplanned ride to the centre of town and a resulting 20 minute uphill walk back to the hotel. Luckily it also gave us a chance to pick up a sandwich and some pastries for a enjoyable lunch at far less money than we would have paid for similar fare in a restaurant.

  With dark thunder clouds hanging over much of the island, a planned afternoon trip to the beach has been postponed until tomorrow.