Our Cruise – Day 3 – Santorini, Greece

We arrived in Santorini (officially called Thira) in the early afternoon. There is no port large enough to dock ships here, so small groups of us were taken to shore in smaller boats. Here’s a little history before we tell you about this lovely island.

Once just one island, Santorini is now three due to a volcanic eruption in 1450 BCE, one of the largest ever recorded. The main island, which we visited, is now crescent-shaped due to the great blowout. Santorini is the southernmost part of the Cyclades, the chain of islands that surround the island of Delos. Delos is an ancient sacred place and much mythology originates from it; for example, it was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

Once on the island we had to go up the steep mountain to the cliff-top town. There were only three choices: By cable car, by climbing over 600 zigzagged steps or riding mules up those steps. It was a quandary for Julie: She’s afraid of heights and dangling carnival-like cars from cables. She’s also afraid of mules. And the walk, which would be long and arduous, is also littered with mule dung (nobody comes behind them sweeping up). We took the cable car.

The view, both up and down the mountain, was spectacular (although Julie saw nothing through her tightly-closed eyes). At the top, the town of Fíra was charming, and consisted of a Greek Orthodox church in its small square, and winding, narrow streets snaking about.

We chose lunch at a restaurant with a patio overlooking the water and our distant ship. The afternoon was golden and the air smelled sweet. The lunch was decent, but nothing spectacular. Someone remarked that restaurants with the best views rarely had the best food. But we went there for the view.

We walked around, took in the views, looked in the church, shops and bought souvenirs. It was getting late in the afternoon and although we weren’t really hungry, it was a MUST that we eat a proper Greek dinner. Where to eat, though? Terry had looked for recommendations on TripAdvisor.com, but only two were mentioned. One had only one review, and that from a guy that liked a place where he could buy a beer and a sandwich for takeout. The other had a few dozen reviews, but didn’t impress him. So we decided to wing it.

One café owner (who was not Greek) recommended a place that we thought might be run by his cousin, but we could never find it. So Sheila approached a young woman with body piercings, tattoos and a motorcycle. (Terry remarked that it reminded him of old high school girlfriends). How could you go wrong with that? A true local! The restaurant, Naoussa, did not have water views, but some otherwise interesting views, as it was situated on a large covered patioupstairs .

Our waitress and her husband were the managers and main wait staff. They were very friendly and helpful. Sheila asked what kind of vodka they had (she didn’t want to touch Ouzo, which in the U.S. reminds many of turpentine). Well, Greece isn’t exactly known for its vodka, but her husband said that he had some “moonshine vodka,” whatever that was. A few of us tried it and everyone tasted it. Moonshine it was.

The meal was awesome! It was very different from American Greek food. We at too much, of course, but when didn’t we? We had a short time to head back to the ship. The line for the cable car was very long. Someone at the restaurant told us that the trip down the steps was about a 20-minute walk. We would have to avoid the hazard course (mule dung), but might get down quicker. And, it would save 2 Euros.

Everyone but Terry favored the cable car; he wanted to take to steps. Then Sheila decided to join him, then Wande and then Carol, who was the tipping point. Julie threw in the towel. Mind you that Terry tried to convince no one to join him, but soon heard (directed at him no doubt), “2 Euros is looking pretty good right now!” He ignored it and walked faster to separate himself from more taunts.

Wande, who was wearing sandals, upon seeing how much donkey poo accumulated from the day, proclaimed “DP” to be used as the warning signal from those walking ahead of her. The walk was, well, interesting. We had to compete for space with the mules. Most had no riders and were coming back up the steps. They sometimes stopped and blocked the path entirely. Julie called for help from the mule tenders, who were struggling with them themselves. At one juncture, Terry pulled the bridles of one to create an opening from another mule, but no one – especially Julie – was going to get in between them. A mule tender finally came and managed to move them on.

When we reached the end of the steps the sun was starting to set, so we were lucky that we had daylight for this little adventure.

Back on ship we refreshed ourselves and enjoyed our balconies. We had a light dinner and called it a day. Our ship pulled out and we were on our way to Athens.