With the Easter holiday over, I took a chance that the buses were running again and went to the bus stop after breakfast on Monday. After a long wait, a bus finally arrived. A guy inside issued tickets after the bus starting moving and we were on our way. The buses may not be that reliable on Santorini, but at least the price was right. Round trip from Perissa to Oia cost about 10 euros.
Fira (also called Thira) is deceptive. After maybe twenty minutes, with a few stops along the way, the bus lets you out at a big bus park on a busy street. There are the usual hotels, souvenir shops and cafes that you would expect, but not much else.
I thought that was all there was to it until I ventured up a hill and past a hotel. Suddenly the real attraction of the place was spread out in front of me. The stacked white structures, the labyrinth streets, and killer views of the water were soon revealed.
Way too many tourists were walking along the windy and sometimes narrow streets in search of bargains in still more souvenir shops and restaurants. There were several of these doorways along the coast; they didn't lead anywhere. They just looked pretty.
I had lunch at a restaurant on one of the higher tiers, giving me a great view with my meal. I had something called a sfanikis cake (I hope I spelled that correctly) that was insanely good. It’s feta cheese wrapped in phyllo dough, deep fried and covered in honey and sesame seeds. I had it two more times in Greece, but that first one was the best. Also had moussaka for the first time which is a casserole (?) of lamb and vegetable in a tomato sauce covered with cheese. Very tasty.
I knew nothing about Fira when I arrived. Didn’t know that a big draw of the place is walking all the way down to the shore and taking the cable cars back up. So I was very surprised to turn a corner and see these donkeys all along the steps. There was a guy at the top asking everyone “You want donkey?” Um, no. I was several feet away and could smell the stink off the creatures.
Then I looked down over the railing and there were a bunch of people going down the steps on foot – and almost stepping in the copious amounts of donkey crap. I decided right then that I was just fine where I was and didn’t need to go to the shore, thank you very much.
I turned around to go back up the stairs and realized that they had numbers painted on them. I was somewhere in the mid 500’s. Yeesh. With the wear and tear I’d been putting on my poor ankles, first with the hills in Portugal and now with the steps in Greece (more on that later), I figured I needed to take it a little easy on the walking.
Back to the bus and it was on to Oia. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve bought a lot of calendars featuring the Greek Isles. Most of those pictures are shots of the city of Oia and for good reason.
The place is a very tightly packed town with – you guessed it – a lot of souvenir shops and restaurants. Also, the blue domed churches and the white stone houses on a series of hills. The sunsets here are legendary and there are a few points where you can get the best view.
And a lot of people were there just for that. After a bunch were tired of walking around the streets, they just gathered in this one huge courtyard and waited for the sunset. I just felt bad for the residents. The tourists come in like vultures, take their pictures and then just head out after sunset. Despite the signage asking them not to litter, or climb on certain things like religious monuments, the tourists do it anyway because “I’m entitled and when am I ever gonna be here again?” This happens every day, even, I’m sure, in the off-season. The price you pay for living somewhere beautiful.
Trying to get my own pictures as a smelly tourist, I was reminded of a waiter in Fira saying that the sunsets were better there because you had a full view of the caldera. I’m also pretty sure it isn’t as crowded there as well. Made me really appreciate the sunset I caught in Naxos. I had it practically all to myself.
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