As we departed Naxos on the fast boat heading for Santorini, we realized we'd enjoyed Athens and Mykonos, but we loved Naxos. There, we'd connected with history, the land, and the people.
On the fast Blue Star ferry, complete with its cute kids demonstrating and narrating the safety video, we arrived at Santorini's port in no time. We hightailed it for the local bus to the capital, Fira, which we had heard could get crowded. It was a big, full-size bus, and our E-ticket ride began as soon as the driver put it in gear. Between the wandering tourists in the parking lot, the frantic traffic, and the climbing, cliff-hanging ride on contiguous switchbacks, we were both white-knuckled. Annis said, "Maybe we should have left our sea-sick bands on our wrists."
A short distance from of the Port of Athinios
After reaching Fira, we waited 20 minutes and then transferred to the bus to Oia (EE-yah), where we were set up to spend five nights at the Aspa Villas. Our hotel host had instructed us to tell the driver we wanted off at Aspa Villas, which we did. You can imagine our surprise when the bus pulled in to the Oia bus station and the ticket seller announced, "We are finished!" What? When questioned, he told us that he'd announced the stop at Vazeos. His eyes read, dumb tourists, but he said, "Just stay on." Two stops later, we arrived at our hotel and scrambled to get our bags out of the lower luggage bins before the bus took off back to Fira.
Oia is the town you see in most of the photos of Santorini. White and caramel-colored cliff-side buildings, cave houses, and churches with blue domes characterize this northern area of the island. So does the long grey-tile pedestrian walkway with wall-to-wall shops, restaurants, and hotels.
At the far end, down 250 stairs to the Bay of Ammoudi was supposed to be some of the best, most fresh fish ever. "Of course you have to walk down the stairs, but if you get tired, you can come back by taxi -- or by donkey," our host, Nikoleta said.
In the mood for an excellent fish dinner, we meandered down the walkway, snapping photos and peeking in shops while searching for the stairway to Ammoudi. The first time we saw the donkeys bringing people up then quickly turning around to trot back down, we were excited. But, by the third or fourth set of donkeys that passed so close to us we feared for our toes and having to dodge great gobs of donkey droppings, they were no longer cute.
The Sunset Tavern was our choice among the several bayside Ammoudi restaurants. Yannis, our server escorted us to the case that held the day's fish options and told us about each one. We went for the local solouprados, a tasty whitefish, which came to us grilled to perfection.
Bay of Ammoudi with Oia on top
A tasty local Santo white wine
Wanting to dive right into the Santorini experience, on our way home from dinner, we booked the volcano tour for the next morning. On this tour, a schooner would take us to the caldera and two additional islands. Once again our luck held out for dealing with high seas as we wore our trusty SeaBands. A mother-daughter duo from the UK, whom we'd met on the donkey path the day before, tried to figure out how to use their thumbs to press on their wrists to achieve the SeaBand effect, but they gave up after awhile and decided to ride it out.
We disembarked on Nea Kameni, also known as the volcano. Because of its importance, it is a National Geological Park. Santorini's massive eruption occurred around the 15th century BC. Today, the volcano is considered to be "active, but dormant." Its last eruption was sixty-five years ago, but our guide assured us we'd still be okay today.
Passengers from a neighboring boat jump into cold sea water to swim to a hot springs
The island of Thirassia was the site of our third stop. We had enough time for a nice lunch and a little walk on the seafront in Corfos village. Judy finally got the octopus and calamari she's been wanting, and Annis added a third sample to her moussaka comparison-taste testing.
Thirassia seafront
The day ended back at the Bay of Ammoudi. Instead of that hefty climb back to the top, we gladly allowed the tour company to transport us to our hotel.
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