Crete 10 - trip to Santorini

wonderful island - miserable cruise

Today we made the booked trip to the island of Santorini to which we were really looking forward to.
We had to get up very early to catch the bus to the harbor of Rethimno.
The harbor looks fabulous in the light of the rising sun.

Boarding the ship - the Golden Prince - took quiet a long time, because passengers were let in in smaller groups. Once on board we hurried to one of the upper decks to get a nice place for the four hours cruise but immediatly realised that the ship wasn't built for such an amount of passengers.



Julia and I waited for a rather long time hoping there would be an announcement about breakfast. I don't know if we just didn't hear it or they had forgotten about it but after a while we decided to search the restaurant. As we arrived there many people were already waiting in line. It was not organized well. I know it's hard to serve so many passengers in a rather short time but there have to be better ways. We had to put everything we wanted on one single plate and then balance it with a glass of orange juice to a table. Is it really so difficult to give out some trays? Would have made the whole procedure much easier!
The restaurant itself was nice but the missing service killed the ambience.



After breakfast there was a little briefing about the bus tour on Santorini in the ship's theater.

Right after that the passengers who wanted to make the tour had to buy the tickets for that in quiet a hurry.
So far we were already peeved by all the stress and that unpleasing way of treating people.

Landing at Santorini was a big relief. After a long wait at the ship's exit we finally had solid ground beneath our feet again. Now we thought everthing will be fine - yes we are sometimes just naive.

The island of Santorini is beautifull. All those nice white houses built on the mountain look fantastic - some of them just like flowing down the mountainside.


When we finally got on one of the busses we couldn't sit beside each other because we had to wait at another bus - witch wasn't big enough for the amount of passengers they wanted to put in - before and so we got the two last seats in that bus.

First stop was Pyrgos. A nice town near the harbor with narrow alleys and a lot of churches. On a holiday - to bad can't remember which - the whole town is only illuminated by torches what makes a very special and medieval ambience.



Some say that on Santorini are more churches than dwellings. That's because in the sailors that came into trouble out on the sea prayed to god and promised to build a church if they come home safely. And they did build the churches.

To bad we just had half an hour for that stop.

Next stop was Ia at the north-western end of the Island. That's the place were most of the photos for the famous postcards were taken. And again you can see a lot of those typical white houses built along the mountain's back and side.



From all the villages on Santorini you have a breathtaking look along the island and out to the sea.

Ia is one of the most expansive places. There are hotels with prices of about 1.500 Euro per night and grounds at prices of about 3.000 Euros per square meter.
Here we bought some postcards and had a little drink in a taverna and once again had to hurry to the bus.

Third and final stop was Thira, the capital of the island.

Here is the only Catholic church on the whole island.

In Thira we had planned to go to a nice taverna and have lunch but time was short and we were told that there are three ways to get down to the harbor.
Per feet (30 minutes), riding on a donkey (10 minutes) or by cable car (3 minutes, but a long waiting period). We didn't want to walk in open sun and there had been some accidents with the donkeys so we decided to go by cable car.
Well, we had to wait about 40 minutes - most of it in direct sun - and were pushed by other tourists who hoped to get along faster that way.



At least ride down was pleasant short.
Afterwards we know we should have walked the stairway down to the harbor. Wouldn't have taken longer than waiting in the sun - but would have been much more delightful with a few stops to take photos.

Now we had to get back to the ship by a small boat because only those could land in the harbor of Thira. The transfer to the Golden Prince was extremely sudorific because of the heat inside that tiny tender.

Back on the ship we were just tired and waited for dinner laying on the seats in the theater. That was at least so far organized as they had given out different colored cards so they could serve the passengers in groups.
It still was unacceptable. Again to many people at once and again no trays.

After dinner we watched the sunset. That was nearly the best part of the whole day.



Later we looked for a place to sleep for the rest of the cruise but all comfortable places were occupied. Finally we came to the lounge were we have been on the way to Santorini which was the only place with some free seats - no wonder it was just freezing cold in there. But we were so exhausted we just fell asleep and woke up being chilled through just before landing.

The harbor of Rethimno at night with all the lights dipping everything into a magnificant yellowish glow looks just as great as at sunrise this morning.

Back at the hotel we were very disappointed of that trip.
The long transfers on the ship from Crete to Santorini and then back and the hurry on Santorini were just not what we had expected.

The island of Santorini is great but don't visit it when you're on vacation on another Greek island - at least as long as it isn't one of the nearer ones like for example Ios and you have the chance to go to Santorini by hydrofoil. Then you could have enough time to enjoy this wonderful Island.

We will go to Santorini again for sure - but the next time we will go directly there and stay there for some days.

I can just recommend you to visit Santorini!