We awoke after a good nine hours of sleep but still 5 hours from our first port. This meant I had time for some yoga. I had brought my travel yoga mat and was lucky enough to have room in my cabin to spread it out.
Travel tip #7: Arm balances are harder on a moving ship than on land. Make sure you have room so that when you fall unceremoniously out of crow pose, you don’t simultaneously crack your head on the floor and your butt on the sliding glass door.
We made it to the sit Grand Pacific for breakfast with minutes to spare which saved us from having to battle the buffet. We were sailing very close to several islands at the time and most people seemed to have either already eaten or were elsewhere because the dining room was very quiet. We were due to dock in Fira, Santorini at noon and there were already people lining up to get the first tender tickets. Because Fira is such a small port, ships need to dock off shore and run smaller boats, or tenders, back and forth. There was a huge crush of people desperate to get the first tickets. Since we are on the “chill out” anniversary tour, we refused to line up early – we’d prefer not to line up for anything at all – and instead enjoy our breakfast. Once we were done, we went upstairs and grabbed tickets for group #13 to go ashore.
We actually docked a little before noon and we could see the famous white buildings set into the cliffs. Fira is actually built up on a caldera (a volcanic crater) which meant there is a long way up between the port and the town. There are 3 ways to get there: donkeys (nope, not happening), walking up the donkey path, or cable car. Because we had no desire to battle the crowds that would be lining up for the cable car, we opted for lunch in the dining room before we left. Our group number came and went while we were enjoying our meal and we finished in time to catch the open tender – which just meant no tickets necssary – to shore. We arrived to find an incredibly long line for the cable car so we instead decided to take a speedboat to Oia on the top side of the island and start our day there.
If you’ve ever seen a picture of Santorini, it likely had white washed buildings and churches with blue domes. Yes, it is as stupidly picturesque as the photos would lead you to believe. It is a rabbit warren of small cobbled walkways with shops, galleries, and restaurants. And where there are 4 cruise ships docked, it is a mass of humanity that is quite frightening. Yes, we had read that it was crowded when the ships were it but nothing prepared us for exactly *how* crowded and what that actually meant. We wandered the village for several hours, taking the requisite tourist photos like everyone else (but without being rude or using a stupid selfy stick) before ducking into a taverna for a local beer and glass of rose.
Travel tip #8: drink like and with the locals whenever the opportunity arises. Today we had the opportunity to hear the Greek waiter argue with an Italian couple in English. Most entertaining.
After a few hours of battling the hoards, we caught a bus back to Fira which turns out to be a slightly bigger version of Oia with wider streets and more shops. By this time, clouds had moved in and the wind had picked up. We feared that the promise of the amazing Santorini sunset was not to be. So we did what any intrepid traveler did: we stopped into a local bar for a drink where Frank got the local microbrew, Crazy Donkey IPA, while we figured out what other activities we wanted to experience. Turns out, we were done with scenery and made our way to a local grocery store to pick up a few things that we had forgotten. (Eg conditioner. I *hate* the concept of “conditioning shampoo” that is common now.)
Then back to the ship which meant we needed to make decision we had avoided earlier. The cable car wait was more than an hour and the donkeys were not an option. So walk we did. Down 589 steps that were also used by the donkeys and covered with donkey poo. While our knees were not all that happy with us, we made it with no real issues and just in time for sunset. Clouds or not, the sky outside Santorini was absolutely amazing. The photos don’t do it justice. I could definitely go back just to be able to watch one from a proper vantage point.
We definitely earned our dinner and wine today! If you believe my iPhone, we covered 21,331 steps and 64 floors. My quads agree.
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