Med Cruise: Santorini

Santorini is a gorgeous island off the coast of Greece. It's a volcano, and I believe that it's still active. But it's clearly past it's prime. In fact, it's the volcano that some people believe is responsible for the sinking of Atlantis. So it's old.

The island that people live on is essentially a large crescent, with high cliffs. The cruise ships stop between these cliffs and the crater. We had to get on a smaller boat that took us to the docks. Then it was up the cable car to the actual town of Fira, which has lots of hotels and restaurants and shops. The shops are open whenever there's a cruise ship around and closed whenever there isn't, which tells you all you need to know about the economy.

We didn't have a ton of time in Santorini because we slept late on the day we visited. We had opted not to do an excursion for this one, and that may have been a mistake. It would have been fun to visit the volcano or see the other towns. As it was, we spent some time wandering around, shopped a bit, and got drinks and calamari at a cafe before heading back to the ship. Hardly a bad day.

The main excitement came from ascending and descending the cliffs. We decided to take the cable car up because it was easier. Though waiting on the stairs for it to arrive left me feeling dizzy. The steps were steep and I was accustomed to being on the boat, so I spent most of the wait half-convinced that I was gonna topple down the stairs. Kevin didn't help. But once we got in the gondola I was fine.

We had enough time at the end of the day that we decided to walk down. There are also donkeys that you can ride up or down the paths, but everyone told us not to do that. It seems that there was some sort of incident recently, possibly involving a death. Avoiding the donkeys was fine by me. Or it would have been, had it been possible.

The path down was a series of gently descending switchbacks. And every so often a train of donkeys would pass you either coming or going. The trail was wide enough for everyone, but the donkeys wandered all over the place. Twice I ended up pressed against a wall with a donkey coming straight at me and the guide telling me not to move. Both times the donkey swerved away from me at the last second, but it was still terrifying. I can only imagine how much scarier it would be to actually ride one. No one looked like they had good grips or proper seats.

Still the day was fun, and Santorini is gorgeous. Extremely picturesque. It's like something out of a fantasy novel with all the bright white buildings clinging to the cliff sides. I didn't get any pictures, because I was too busy admiring the view, but you should definitely google some.