Chora, Greece
From Mykonos to Santorini we had two more ferry rides with a
stop for three nights in Naxos in between. Our departure from Mykonos wasn’t
until around noon, so we had a quite relaxed morning before taking the water bus
to the port. I had made reservations previously, but we needed to pick up our
tickets at the port. They pointed to me
exactly where our ferry would be arriving at 12:20 P.M. So when a ferry arrived there and I confirmed
it was going to Naxos, we boarded.
However, we got detained by the ticket collector on the stairs to the
passenger deck. The ferry had already
left port, and it turned out we were on the wrong boat and there was nothing we
could do about it. We were supposed to
be on a Cyclades Fast Ferries boat but instead we were on a Seajets boat. He
demanded we pay the fare to Naxos, 95 Euros for two people, but suggested going
to the Fast Ferries office in Naxos for a possible refund.
Upon arrival in Naxos, we went to the Fast Ferries office
and got told there were no refunds but we could get credit for another
trip.
I asked about going to the
neighboring island of Paros, a day trip from Naxos I was considering for two
days ahead. “No. We don’t go to Paros!”
I didn’t completely have my heart set on a trip to Paros
anyway. The Seajets ferry we mistakenly
got on actually stopped in Paros on the way to Naxos, so we got to see some of
the island’s north shore as well as Parikia, the main port town. I’m sure Paros is a lovely island and Parikia
and Nouassa, its other port are pleasant towns, but it did not seem that
distinct from the other islands.
I made certain we didn’t make the same mistake on our last
sailing from Naxos to Santorini three days later, a journey of several hours
with a stop at the port or Ormos on the island of Ios. Ios looks dry and
mountainous. It supposedly has great
beaches and a youthful summer party scene second only to that on Mykonos. Maybe I’ll get there some other time.
The scenery of all the Cyclades is impressive, but nothing
compares to Santorini. The main island of Santorini is crescent-shaped and consists
of the rim of a major volcanic caldera.
The inward facing slopes are extremely
steep, effectively mostly cliffs, while the island’s outer sides away from the
caldera slope more gradually toward the sea, although still steep by most of
the world’s standards. Meanwhile, three other smaller islands make up caldera’s
volcanic center and another part of the caldera rim. Santorini’s villages are perched on top of
the cliffs of the caldera rim, 400 meters (1,300 feet) above sea level at Fira
and about half that elevation at Oia.
The dazzling white architecture looks like vanilla icing atop the
chocolate cake of volcanic rock cliffs.
It is truly stunning, attested to by its popularity, including multiple
large cruise ships moored daily in Santorini’s caldera.
The ferry port is a short distance south of Fira and is very
chaotic. We found our taxi van transfer to our hotel quickly, but the traffic
up the narrow road that zigzags a thousand feet up the cliff in several long
switchbacks was intense. I’m glad I
splurged on the 35 Euro reserved taxi rather than try to take the public bus to
town. Money well spent!
2025-05-23