Fira, Greece
Fira, sometimes spelled as Thira (Greek doesn’t distinguish
between f and soft th sounds like English) is the main tourist town of
Santorini, where cruise ship passengers arrive by foot, donkey, or cable car
from the old port, and the hub of the island’s bus system. It seems to hang precariously along the caldera
rim at 400 meters (1,300 feet) elevation, spilling over somewhat on the
precariously steep slopes. With
buildings painted almost entirely in white, the settlement itself from a
distance looks like a fog bank spilling over the mountain. With 1,500 of
Santorini island’s 15,000 population, it probably has twenty times as many visitors
in town on a given day and ten times as many hotel rooms.
Santorini sometimes makes lists of the world’s most Instagrammable
places, and with good reason. It’s physical location and views are stunning,
what you expect a Greek island town to look like. It’s almost entirely fake, though, almost
none of what you see historic or actually lived in, nowadays a place entirely
devoted to serving the needs of millions of annual visitors.
Fira was somewhat different topographically from what I
envisioned, which was more mesa like, that there’d be flat space on top of
those cliffs. Not really. The caldera
rim is more like a ridge with the east side dropping off quite steeply as well.
Out budget hotel for about 70 Euros a night was inland on the east-facing slope
and perfectly nice, although it was a haul up some steep steps to the nearest
road. My guess is the super-expensive
places are the ones with the iconic caldera view. You don’t get the great view from your room if
you don’t spend a small fortune.
Pretty as Fira is, to me it’s become a kind of touristy
hell, one of those over-touristed places which has become quite cliché with
expensive restaurants and shopping as well as overpriced dive bars and tacky souvenir
shops. While most tourist spots in Greece are fairly quiet during the day but
come alive at night, Fira is pulsing all day long with throngs of cruise ship
passengers on day excursions from the massive ships moored in the caldera.
One of the fun things about Santorini is the donkey taxis
which still do the stone step path into town from the Old Port.
The path used to be the only up into Fira,
which you’d either have to walk or pay for a donkey ride. Ferries now dock at a
different port with a road to it, and cruise ship passengers can now take a
cable car from the port to town, but not all the donkeys have gotten their pink
slips yet.
There are a few churches and museums in Thira, but it’s mostly
about the place. The Archaeological
Museum of Ancient Fira and Museum of Prehistoric Fira are supposedly quite
good, but have limited hours and weren’t open at the times we were in
town. Otherwise, there’s eating,
drinking, shopping, and lots of picture taking to keep you busy, so much so
that tourists are literally elbowing each other for space at the best
viewpoints in town.
Santorini is a place that’s mobbed with Asians on package
tours and Americans. I don’t think I’ve
ever seen such a thick concentration of American tourists anywhere in Europe as
here and Mykonos. Meanwhile, there are few on many of the less famous islands
dominated more by Europeans on beach holidays.
Santorini is also supposedly so
popular with Chinese and Indians because it appeared as a location in two Chinese
and Bollywood movies (Beijing Love Story and Wanted, respectively).
Fira was a bit commercial for my taste despite its beauty
but made a food base for exploring the island of Santorini for four nights and
three full days. And not all was lost in
terms of sampling good food I found a place named Kaperi Restaurant, as small
hole-in-the-wall with absolutely no view along the main automobile route
through town. It specializes in the
foods of ancient Greece and Santorini, supposedly using ancient recipes and
only ingredients that were available at the time. Hence, no chips/French fries to be had. I
cover the food more in my Greek Cuisine entry, but dishes included Illiokaftes,
feta in phyllo with ouzo and honey, ancient Greek chicken with fennel and dill,
seafood risotto, and Pangasis fish fillets with fennel, dill, capers, and white
wine.
2025-05-23