I’m writing this entry from the balcony of the Hotel Keti, which is perched on the caldera (cliffs) of Fira, the main town on the island. To say it’s beautiful is an injustice to the view.
The town of Fira on the caldera edge:
I haven’t written much for the past two or three days because there hasn’t been much to report. We explored Katapola on Tuesday (31st), Chora on Wednesday (1st) and then caught the ferry to Naxos late Wednesday night. Yesterday we caught the ferry to Santorini.
Getting off the ferry in the port was, well, overwhelming. The port police are blowing their whistles and herding people off the dock because, of course, they want to offload and then load people and vehicles onto the boat as quickly as possible.
Collecting luggage and marshaling for disembarkation on the ferry:
Once off the dock you are accosted by what felt like hundreds of sign-waving hotel owners and people wanting to rent a room. Once you fight your way through them, you are accosted by bus and taxi drivers. We approached one taxi driver and he said he could drive us to our hotel, but he didn’t seem to have an actual taxi to drive us in. We approached another taxi driver and he said that none of the waiting taxis were available. It took a while to figure out that the entire row of taxis was reserved.
The original taxi driver found us in the crowd and told us he had a taxi for us, grabbed my suitcase, and raced off down the road. We followed him and he led us to what I would consider a bus, but is actually a shared taxi. He loaded our luggage and then raced off to find more people. I guess he was the “fixer” for the shared taxi driver.
The drive to Fira took about 20 minutes. To get out of the port you have to drive up a series of switchbacks that climb straight up the cliff. From there it’s a straight shot to Fira.
Our taxi driver let us out on the street and said our hotel was up a set of stairs. We got to the top of the stairs and could not see our hotel. We asked around and were told our hotel was at the top of another set of stairs. So, we dutifully climbed those stairs, too. No hotel.
At that point I decided to haul out the Lonely Planet and find out exactly where we were and where the hotel was in relationship to our location. According to the map we were about four “blocks” away.
It was at that point that I realized something. The “roads” in Fira were actually footpaths and walkways. We were going to have to hoof our luggage over the ridge of the caldera and then down the caldera cliff face. Joy.
Mom was struggling in the heat so I hauled her suitcase as well as my own. She said that if she packed it, she should haul it. I asked her why she had children if she didn’t want them to help her when she needed help. It was an impasse. Also, as they say, possession is 9/10 of the law and I wasn’t going to give back her suitcase.
The final set of stairs down to the Hotel Keti was so narrow that we had to carry each suitcase down individually. It was a relief to reach the patio and the reception desk. The woman at the desk introduced herself as Iliana and showed us to our room.
It’s a lovely large room that opens directly onto the patio. It also extends under the footpath above the hotel, something that we realized this morning at 8am when all of the donkey herders were walking their animals to the cruise ship dock … right over our beds!
We washed up and then set out for a survey of the town. The footpaths were jammed with tourists, mostly Americans from the cruise ships anchored below town. It was odd to hear English everywhere. The main street is called Gold Street because every second shop sells expensive jewelry or watches. We got a bit turned about at the end of Gold Street but eventually found our way to the main square.
Every day in Greece is a bad hair day:
At that point we were very thirsty and started looking for a café where we could have a drink. The first café was nice but the prices were outrageous – EUR$5 for a coffee and EUR$4 for a can of Sprite. We left and found another café but the prices were largely the same. Simone suggested that we just pack in the café idea and find a restaurant where we could have dinner as well as drinks.
We looked on the map and I recognized a restaurant that is recommended by Lonely Planet. It took a bit of searching to find it – specifically, we had to look up. Most of the stores at street level sell tourist junk. The restaurants are located above those stores, overlooking the footpaths.
Dinner was tiropita (cheese pie), caesar salad, and pork skewers. It was absolutely delicious. Still, I was a little shocked when the bill came and it was EUR$33 (close to CAD$40). We realized that it was probably not good for our pocketbook to have every meal at a restaurant while we were in Santorini, and on the way back to the hotel we searched for a supermarket. We found one close to the hotel and loaded up on water, yoghurt, and fruit for breakfast.
Sunset and the harbour crowded with cruise ships:
I asked for retsina at the supermarket but they only had corked bottles (I don’t have a corkscrew). I looked around and found what looked like a bottle of cooking oil, but was labeled as white wine. It was in a plastic bottle with a screw top, so I decided to give it a go. I thought the price was EUR$8 but when I got to the cashier she only charged me EUR$1.50. “Oh, dear” I thought to myself. “This can’t be good.” Surprisingly, it was a lovely white wine and I suffered no aftereffects. You can guess what I’m having again tonight!
Not sure what we’ll do today. We’ll probably find the tourist information and ask about tours of the island and other activities.
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