Thursday March 30 started cloudy in Mykonos. Out host took us to the port to catch the fast ferry to Santorini. It left at about 10:20 a.m. and got into Santorini two hours later. It was a very smooth ride and fast.
Santorini is one of the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea. Santorini was once a circular island, known as Strongili (the Round One). Thousands of years ago, a huge volcanic eruption caused the centre of the island to sink, leaving a caldera (or crater) with towering cliffs - now Santorini's trademark landscape. There was a major earthquake on the island in 1956, but by the 1970s tourism was big again. Santorini has oddly become the scene of many Chinese bridal parties, in part due to a film Beijing Love Story, which was filmed partly in Santorini. There are many signs in Chinese around town.
We landed at the port of Athinios, where it was pouring rain. It is a very small chaotic port, that one immediately leaves. We caught a local bus heading to Fira, the capital of Santorini. A long and winding road uphill. We asked the bus driver to stop at Karterados, where we are staying. It is a town about two km from Fira. We are only about a five minute walk from the bus stop. We are staying at Kelenis Apartments, which we rented through airbnb. There are about five apartments in the building and a pool. It is more like a hotel apartment suite as there is a kitchen, but is also cleaned every day or so.
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| Athinios port-- dark volcanic rock |
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| Pool at our apartment building-- but probably too cold to go in |
Our hostess came quickly to meet us and give us the lay of the land. The place is fine and very reasonable in the off-season, but Karterados is not much to look at, though there are a number of hotels and pensions in the area. Accommodation was hard to find in Fira as it still the off season and there were not many airbnb listings. There is an excellent Cretan bakery, Erotokritos, about five minutes away with a vast array of breads, pastries and coffee. The locals all shop there. We picked up some treats, found a fish store and a supermarket all nearby.
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| Bedroom |
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| Kitchen and dining room area |
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| Alain outside our apartment |
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Cretan bakery- so much choice
It was still cloudy when we walked to Fira. The central square with a number of shops and fast food places was not much to look at, so we decided to walk to the cable car which we will take on Friday to get to the old Port of Fira to take a boat tour of a small volcanic island and hot springs. What emerges is an incredible view of the islands off Fira, the caldera, and the beautiful houses on the cliffs of Fira.
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| View of another island and cruise boat anchored offshore |
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| View of the town and caldera in the background |
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| Many hotels on the caldera are not open yet |
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| Wow and wow! |
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| City on the cliffs |
Fortunately, the sun came out and it warmed up to a very pleasant 16C.
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| Enjoying the incredible view |
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| Cable car with view of port below |
After finding the cable car we headed into the main part of Fira, passing a number of beautiful churches and buildings on the way.
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| Beautiful arches |
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| A well preserved bell tower |
As was the case in Mykonos, donkeys are everywhere and one can take a donkey ride rather than the cable car down to the old port of Fira.
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| One donkey train- rider being greeted by friends |
We were walking down one path and a man with a camera was waiting to take a picture of a donkey train coming up the hill. I took a similar shot. The donkeys here seem to be in pretty good shape.
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| Donkeys with view of city behind |
The third way of getting down to the old port is a winding stairway.
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| Winding stairway down to the port |
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| View looking away from the houses |
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| Painting to get ready for the season |
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| The caldera |
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| Numbered steps with one step named "Donkey Photos" |
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| More houses on the cliff |
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| Interesting looking art gallery- not open yet |
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| Nick the Greek Jewelry and Watches.... |
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| Ladder in the tower |
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| Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral built in 1827 |
We finally ended up having a glass of Santorini white wine at a lovely small cocktail bar right at the cliff's edge. It is one of the few open, but had one of the best locations. We were there for a while, chatting to our waiter from Romania who was in Santorini working for the season. When we mentioned that we were heading to Prague next, the young woman next to us said she was studying in Prague for the year. She was from Missouri and visiting Santorini for the weekend with her boyfriend (from Sarnia) who was studying in Salzburg. They were taking advantage of all the inexpensive flights in Europe and doing as much travelling as they could.
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| The view |
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| Our waiter |
We kept changing our seats until we ending up at the edge of the bar with the best view of the sunset.
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| What a view!! |
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| The clouds had come in, but the sunset was still glorious |
We walked back to our apartment and Alain cooked the fish we had bought earlier in the day. We were both tired and I decided to finish this post on Friday morning.
No wonder you have been accumulating so many steps! All the staircases and hills you've encountered on your journey is giving you both a great workout. Thanks for sharing so many gorgeous photos of the views in Santorini and from your other visits. It's a pleasure to see from rainy (and yesterday, snowy) Toronto!
ReplyDeleteThanks for travelling with us. We have been doing lots of walking. The trip to the top of the volcano on Friday March 31 was like stairmaster. Great spring weather on the islands, though it does get windy. Gorgeous scenery and architecture in the cliffs.
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