Santorini is just a magical place.
I can't even estimate how many times we said "this is unbelievable" as we strolled past yet another stunning caldera view.
Like Mykonos and Naxos, it had it's charming white washed walls and cobble stone streets, but completely different from them was the towns all sit on 300 meter high cliffs that plunge into the sea, looking like snow capped peaks that dot the rim of the almost completely circular land. The island is the remnants of an epic volcanic eruption in 1613 BC that changed what was then Strongili, meaning "Round One," into a hollowed out and ocean filled caldera. That destructive force left behind a scene of unimaginable beauty that I'd have to put on par with, if not even ahead of, Venice in terms of romantic ambience.
I did almost zero research on this destination so I'm not exactly sure what I expected, but it surpassed whatever that was, and took this entire trip to another level. Rather than post a few photos, I've just uploaded a selection here instead:
https://picasaweb.google.com/m/viewer#album/105776517996378672019/6065474472155327329
We arrived in the evening and walked up from our disappointing "splurge" hotel to an anything-but-disappointing view as the buildings parted and our jaws slammed hard on the ground. Sunsets here are world famous, and the skies had just cleared up in time for our first punch-in-the-face view. I still can't really believe how incredible it was when I close my eyes and re-envision it.
Day 1 we had super expensive tea overlooking the caldera, then began the hike along the rim from Fira to Oia, stopping along the way to enjoy lunch or drinks at various cafés, while continually shaking our heads as we took in the slowly changing views from gradually different angles. Once at the tip of Oia we took the bazillion steps down to and back up from Amoudi Bay, then splurged on a romantic meal from a fantastic spot that overlooked the most famous 3 blue church domes you see on virtually every postcard picture of santorini. Back to the tip of Oia to watch the sunset, then a local bus back to Fira for the night again.
Day 2 we woke early and rode the cable car down to the old Thira port, where Jaimie made a firm and final decision she would never do a cruise. It's easily a 2 hour process to unload that many people and a shame to waste so much scarce port time just trying to get to the good stuff. We boarded a boat to sail out to the volcanic island in the middle of the caldera and hike around what turned out to be a surprisingly large lava field. I guess the last eruption was in 1956 so this is still very active and you see steam rising from spots near the middle. From there it was a short trip back on the boat to the natural hot springs. They're dark brown from the sulfur and iron in the water, which was interesting to swim through and can still be seen on the white liner of my swimmers regardless of how long I rinse them. They also don't tell you that you have to swim through cold water to get to them. Peice of cake for Jaimie, but this anchor weight was gasping by the time I could put a foot down at the springs. Worth it though.
Once back at the port, we decided to take the donkey ride back to the top, which deserves a few words itself. First off, donkeys may be one of the earliest versions of autonomous driving, but one has to hope Google's version will be a lot smarter. They stop and start whenever they feel like it, bite at each other during passing attempts, rub your leg against the wall while contemplating if they'll still get fed if they launch you over the edge, and squish other poor sods who chose to walk the gauntlet. No amount of telling them you have no control helps, so you eventually just give up and laugh while trying to apologize for being the jack ass on a jack ass. The worst moment, other than the young girl crying and begging to get off, was when an older chap tumbled down the steps ahead of us, cracking his head so hard he was bleeding and unconscious, and all of us were powerless to keep the donkeys from continuing on despite the crowd gathering to help. My donkey in particular nearly stepped on his leg.
I have no clue why the folks in charge are no where to be seen except at the start. Once they have your money, your on your own until the beast decides to stop permanently and you eventually figure out you are supposed to get off now. It was amusing and memorable, but I wouldn't particularly recommend it and am curious to google "santorini donkey accidents" now that it's over. As fun as it sounded when we first heard about it, it's a tourist attraction I think santorini could stand to phase out.
Day 3 we rented an ATV, and although it was a hunk-of-junk with turn radius equal to a Winnebago, we had some semblance of control at least. After taking our luggage to the baggage "storage" at the bus station because our twice-the-price-half-the-service" hotel would be closed when we needed to get them, we headed south to the ancient ruins of Akrotiri, enjoying a new set of angles on the caldera view enroute. You can see the entire island from almost any high point and you'd have to try hard to get a view that doesn't knock your socks off. Akrotiri was first settled in the mid-5th millennium BC, which is about when Catalhoyuk was abandoned after 2000 years of inhabitation, which means it's just a young whipper snapper relatively speaking. One interesting note though: excavations through the ash layers from the 1613 BC eruption have not found any human remains, so somehow those ancient Myceneans had a warning - unlike, say, Pompeii or Ontake, as a more recent example.
From here we headed to Perisa Bay and enjoyed our first, true, great-weather, all-out beach day. A black sand beach that seemed to stretch for a mile either side, with course but perfectly rounded grains and warm, gentle water, backed by cafés and restaurants that brought you food and drink to your "free" lounge chair and splendid thatch roofed sun shade umbrella. I napped, waded, ate and drank. It was joyous, and made the trip complete.
One last butt-clenching bus ride down the cliffs (you really gotta experience that yourself) to meet our overnight ferry, and we were off to our day in Athens.
(Note: despite the unbeatable views, or perhaps because of them, the locals here didn't generally seem as friendly and hospitable. When you attract big tourist dollars year round, you can get away with that I guess. That said though, when the service was good, it was exceptional.)
ATHENS
Not a whole to say about Athens. We were up at 4AM to get ready to disembark at 5:15, tiredly found the well hidden metro station, dropped our bags at our hotel, then headed to the Acropolis. Pretty neat to be there before it even opened - watching the guards raise the Greek flag and sing the anthem, plus getting to take pictures of the Parthenon with almost no one else around.
Jaimie so happy to beat the lines
We continued on to walk through the main highlights of Athens, including:
- Hadrian's gate and the Temple of Zeus
- Panathenaic Staduim, where the modern Olympics (among other things) were born
- the Ancient Agora
- Ministriki and the central Flea Market
- Anafiotika, for more windy, white washed streets, except this time I literally got stuck in one of the alleys. I saw my reflection in a window today and was mortified and immediately bought more frozen greek yogurt to make myself feel better. I have some sins to pay for when I get back.
In the end, Athens was never really high on my bucket list, but I'm glad I saw it. I'd heard it was dirty and gross but it's actually really nice and green. It has a ways to go to match Rome's draw (the acropolis doesn't have that much too it really, although it is being restored, including the Parthenon itself, unfortunately for our viewing), but it is pretty neat seeing the birthplace of western civilization, and my personal highlight was seeing the stoia where Socrates often expounded his philosophies (and was apparently was indicted for impiety - I didn't realize that kind of suppression of progressive "scientific" ideas preceded Roman Catholic times but I guess it's universal, pardon the pun).
HOMEWARD BOUND
We crashed back at the hotel late in the afternoon, feeling like we should head back out but honestly just too tired from our long travels to take in any more. We'll pass the evening on the terrace of our hotel cause the view is pretty awesome, and then all that is left is the flight home.
View from outside our hotel
And the view from inside. Poor Jaimie.
I'll leave you with that image. Thanks for following.
