Dry Santorini, Straight Up, With a Twist

Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Santorini, Cyclades, Greece
I have been to Santorini; B4 has not. I am anxious to share it with her.

Well into the Aegean Sea, Santorini gets its shape from having been completely devastated by a 16th Century BC volcanic eruption. The two principal towns, whitewashed head to toe, are Fira and Oia which ride the top and edge of the hillside like a fedora on a roaring twenties gent.

I remember arriving at Fira on a cruise past and being smitten by the place as we anchored in the geological caldera—a giant central body of water in a protected bay. Santorini is beautiful as its people look down on your ship and the ship is even more beautiful for viewers from above. I do love this place.

I have not had the pleasure of visiting Oia, the other—and older—settlement on Santorini. I look forward to it now.

This place, as is the case with many places in this part of the world, has been ruled by many peoples, including the Greeks followed by the Romans. During the Crusades, Catholics from Western Europe annexed the island and, after that, it came under the control of the Ottoman Empire. In 1821, Santorini was reunited with Greece during the Greek War of Independence; that status was ratified later in 1830 under the terms of the infamous Treaty of London.

In 1956, an earthquake (not volcano) interrupted life here. Many structures collapsed. Slowly, tourism brought the island back. Santorini greets visitors primarily in the summer months of April to October which is the warm and dry season. Fewer visitors come during the rainy season from November to March. In 2007, the cruise ship MS Sea Diamond ran aground here and sank. We hope to avoid that fate; we're Jade, not diamond.

The opinions of Sea Diamond passengers notwithstanding, many have named Santorini as one of the top islands to visit, as noted in Travel+Leisure and elsewhere.

Water is scarce here; there are no rivers. I saw many cisterns to capture the little rainwater (15 inches annually) that falls here. There is a desalination plant but, I am told, you can’t drink the water it produces but it works well to irrigate the famous Santorini cherry tomatoes that grow here.

Our sail from Corfu covered about 400 nautical miles so, even with our early departure yesterday (3:30pm) we don’t drop anchor here until 1:30pm the following day. Up very late (9:30) we drank coffee from the amazing Lavazza Blue 9000 and then, since it was too late to enjoy a leisurely breakfast at Cagney’s, we went to the Garden Café for fried eggs and crispy bacon and then walked the promenade deck until B4 had to break off to go (you guessed it) check email and sales numbers. I grabbed a couple of more miles and then headed up to 9000 to watch our approach to Santorini from our catbird’s seat.

As we approached Santorini, the vista and the look on the face of B4 makes me think it was worth the wait. The whitewashed structures atop the cliff bring to mind icing drizzled from a chocolate bundt cake. Once the top of the ridge was built out, new settlers latched onto the hillside spots just below. Then the next enterprising types arrived and found spots just below that. The pathway to the lower tiers is sometimes a straight one but usually a twisted labyrinth where one can make many wrong turns before arriving at the intended spot. Rewarded by amazing vistas, the twist and turns are rewarded.

As suite guests aboard Jade, we qualify for priority departure from the ship which is a good thing because to get 2,600 passengers ashore via shuttles from where we are anchored in the caldera will take a good long time. As we land, we follow the crowd to the cable car departure point, pay our €1.5 fares and, sharing our six passenger cable car with an elderly British couple, bounce our way up the sheer face of the cliff to the top.

We are booked with Tryfon Georgopoulos of Hotel Art Photography for a photo safari today. He has sent us a map to our meeting point and, after getting directions twice along the way, we find him and we’re off. His mission is to show me the great photo opportunities of Santorini, and show B4 the sights without boring her with apertures and shutter speeds. He walks that fine line with Walenda-like skill.

We begin in Oia (pronounced, he says, A-ah). The white on white angles topped with blue domes and accented with the occasional blue wall gleam brightly in the Mediterranean afternoon sun. There are four ships in port this day which carry eight thousand or more tourists so the main walkways here are crowded. B4 finds a jewelry store to study while Tryfon and I record light on whitewash and then we’re off to tour all of Santorini. If B4 could bring herself to buy a piece of jewelry at retail I think she would have bought a ruby ring that she tried on multiple times. As she explained to me, they were Burmese rubies which we can’t bring into the United States any more but which are very beautiful. A feast for the eyes is how she described those rubies. Our route takes us to the places tourists do not go—where Tryfon has done photo shoots of Vogue models against twisting staircases and along complex mazes.

I fear that B4  is getting bored from time to time but she assures me that is not the case. At one point we stop for a snack of Greek salad containing local cherry tomatoes and some local Santorini wine which is quite good. Cherry tomatoes and wine are pretty much the only industry on the island. The grape vines, more like plants, grow more like bushes than vines. The grape clusters actually touch the ground from vines that are no more than 18 inches high. They are not irrigated, nor are the cherry tomatoes and it is a wonder they both survive. Tourism is really what the island survives on. But we found another surprise which the locals really ought to take advantage of – that was a pepper tree, yes pepper grows on a tree. When you bite on a leaf or eat one of the tiny pods you have no doubt that you have just eaten from a pepper tree.

Tryfon persuades me to abandon the automatic settings on my camera and go manual which is similar to flying the trapeze without a net. It is difficult and one wonders why he should work with no margin of safety. Why make it difficult when the Nikon people have worked so hard to make it easy. Tryfon convinces me and what you see here is all manual. I’ll bet you can’t tell. Neither, I think, can I.

We don’t want to cut our timing close so we are back near the cable car boarding point for the trip down early enough to enjoy some mousakka and a glass of wine before boarding. There was no line when we ordered but a long one when we finished. Lisa and Paul walked by our spot and, after a few minutes of conversation, told us they would be walking down rather than taking the cable car.

When B4 saw the line that had formed she announced that we, too, should walk. Not being one to disagree, I went along knowing that this was a long trek. I walked up this way a couple of years ago and, even though down is easier, I know the path to be shared with donkeys who bear tourists. Unlike my grandson, these asses are not potty trained so the mule train leaves clear evidence of its passing.

Several times B4 would see the next switchback ahead and state that this next one must surely be the final leg only to peer over the edge and curse seeing that we had many more steep steps still to negotiate. The reality is that the path that had to be traversed is 566 steps made of cobblestone and very long steps that do not align with how one walks. Not the easiest even going down. Passed once by donkeys under hire, my beloved remarked more than once about how this was not a good plan and how I should have warned her. I kept my laughter mostly to myself—at least as much as I could. Fortunately B4 has a sense of humor about the whole thing but I doubt she will ever do it again. Next time it is the tram.

We reached bottom, boarded the tender and were swiftly carried back to Jade where we made our way up to the Garden Café for a bite to eat while we watched Jade haul anchor and slowly steam from the caldera en route to Mykonos overnight.

As I write this late in the evening from our bow-balcony, the night sky is unencumbered by ambient light of any kind and the stars gleam brighter than I can recall seeing anywhere other than interior Africa. The temperature is perfect and the chaise upon which I lounge as I write is comfortable and perfectly suited to my purpose. There is no sound but that of the sea below and the clicking of the keys I strike.

The night is perfect as B4 and I discover what it means to truly relax. Even the news that Donald Trump has today announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the presidency doesn’t concern us as we sail quietly into the dark night ahead, guarded by towel elephant and mouse, courtesy of room steward Rodrigo.

Comments

Bev corr
2015-06-16

Love love your blog
I feel I am traveling with you

Kathy g
2015-06-17

Loving your blog. Enjoy every minute!!!!

Deb Meyer
2015-06-17

It sounds amazing! And looks beautiful. Thanks Paul

CC & JC
2015-06-17

BBB3 Best, Beautiful Blogger3! Keep it coming! I'm in the air again....back to Vegas.....

Enjoy!

Betsy Sears
2015-06-20

Beautiful and descriptive writing, as usual, Paul. Great history lessons and amazing storytelling. Far more enjoyable than the 200+ emails that are waiting for me. . . .

Catherine
2015-06-21

Can only e hi the thanks...you truly are am amazing writer... we all love your sharing!!

2025-02-06

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