We’re off to Santorini today. We were unsure what to expect of an even more travelled Island than Naxos. As time passed in Naxos, we did get into the groove of the crowds and negotiating the more tourist-focused neighbourhoods you find in any city.
We missed breakfast completely again. We keep failing to get gyros for breakfast for Karine. Considering our late sleep schedule, we thought it would be easy, but we were very wrong and will have to give up on the project. Gyros are like poutines or any other national dish after drinking. You get that in the afternoon as a snack, as a diner on the go, or, as I think is the real reason, to soak up the booze at night. Breakfast is none of those things. We had to fall back on a Tarverna on the port. While open, it had a limited menu for the time we had, and we had fried cheese and toasts with olive oil for breakfast. As I’m no champion, I cannot state unequivocally that it’s not the breakfast of champions, but it did provide calories for the morning.
Boarding the ferry, we should have realized we were likely headed to an even more popular destination. From the hundred people or so boarding on our previous ferry ride, there were busloads of people with expedition backpacks or what would be best described as gangster luggage, as in luggage you could hide a corpse in.
Santorini is a volcanic island. The main island, Thera, and the smaller Thirasia make up the lip of the caldera. The port is on the inside of the caldera, where all the cliffs are. The entry into the caldera all the way to the port gives everyone a beautiful first look at the natural beauty of the island… or so we were told. While the sheer dark cliffs make for splendid views, the hundreds of people crowding the open deck trying to grasp a picture on their phones, cameras, tablets, and other devices do make for a crowded experience. Also, while the ferries are clean and without a spot of visible rust anywhere, the windows are another story. They are, understandably, full of dry salt stains. It makes viewing with the eyeball OK, but picture taking is near impossible. The outside deck, with few exceptions, is also rigged with plexiglass panels to reduce wind and improve safety. The few spots without panels did contribute to the crowded experience.
We spilled out of the ferry with about a thousand people and made our way to our transport to the hotel. There’s a literal crowd of people waving signs with their names just in front of a row of private transport cars and vans, with a smaller group of tour operators and their many buses behind them. Behind all of that, a row of small buildings was built against the cliffs with coffee shops and bars in them. They all seem set up to handle the large volume of tourists that transit here. I can’t say the port makes a good ambassador for the island.
We planned for a quick bag drop and headed right out to explore the city. Our host had other ideas. He first introduced us to every single piece of furniture, electronic and other assorted objects in the small apartment. While I’m always happy to meet the A/C unit, I don’t need to know its name and where it went to school. As long as it can cool the small room at night, I’m good. Tour done, he tried for host of the year by sitting us down for an hour-long monologue on the island, its tourist attractions, favourite restaurants and other assorted places he has a connection to. Even Karine’s gold-plated patience was tested there. Personally, it made me wonder how competitive the hotel and apartment business is for the host to invest so much time in greeting his guests.
Fira, the largest city on Santorini, is spread out as a long line along the cliffs of the caldera. You don’t so much wander the city as walk the street along the cliff and walk back one road down. The view itself is amazing, and we enjoyed taking pictures and walking in the warm sun and gentle breeze. We snagged a small spot at the Tropical Bar around 18:00 and chilled on its small terrace, watching the surrounding streets and terraces with people settling in to watch the sun set. Oriented westward over the Caldera, Fira offers numerous prime spots for sunset watching. Being very busy, we realized that finding a sitting area around 18:00 for the 19:30 sunset was good timing. After 18:30, it doesn’t seem to matter if you want to watch the sunset sitting down, as everywhere seemed to be full and the streets got crowded. Sunset means big business in Santorini.
Dinner was at a tavern a little bit inland. Being inland and not taking reservations worked in our favour; at 20:30, they had a couple of tables available and we were seated without waiting. Kapari offered us good mezze, but we should have stuck with them. It’s not the only taverna where that was the case, leading us to believe that in a taverna, we should stick to mezze unless we have strong indications that the mains are worth the risk.
The three main historical sites stagger their closing days, and we’re running against them during our stay. We’ll be doing one a day starting tomorrow. Good thing we’re here for three whole days.
Places
Kapari Taverna · 25is Martiou, Thira 847 00, Greece
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Tropical Bar · Stairs, Thira 847 00, Greece
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