Apologies to readers of the last blog. Crete is not in the southern Aegean but separates the Libyan Sea off the coast of Africa from the Sea of Crete to the north.
The next leg of our journey was to the Cyclades, which separates the Sea of Crete from the Aegean Sea. This archipelago has been inhabited for millennia. Herodotus writes of these separate island states in his Histories as allies of a pan hellenic resistance to the Persian conquest of Ionia (today the Turkish coast of the Aegean).
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| The Cyclades are centered around the Island of Naxos and Santorini is just below Naxos. |
Signature among these islands is Santorini (called Thira in Greece); on the list of any must see travel locations. I generally avoid these locations, at least during their peak season, as they are commercialized and loved to death. Santorini (name comes from Saint Irene) is a volcanic caldera; remnant of a massive explosion ejecting 86 cubic kilometers (ckm) of material - one of the largest in history; magnitudes larger than Mt. St Helens, WA (. 25 ckm); Mt Pinatubo, Philippines (5 ckm); or Krakatoa in Indonesia (21 ckm). There were few larger in world history: Mazama, OR (112 ckm) and Yellowstone, WY the grand-daddy of them all had one almost 2500 ckm! It is speculated that the Thira explosion in 1600 BCE contributed to the collapse of the Minoan culture on Crete, 60 miles away; blanketing the island with ash, killing crops, and causing mass starvation and exodus.
Today the island is an insta-gram destination. The defensive architecture to resist Ottoman invasions by moving from the coastal plain up to the rim of the caldera, massing all their buildings together and down inside the caldera, and painting them white to reflect the sun has created iconic images that everyone must capture (including us).
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| Iconic blue Orthodox Church Domes on Santorini |
Fortunately, we avoided the summer when MOAs crush the narrow streets and overlooks with selfie takers, the nouveau riche of the East pose for wedding photos with fans blowing chiffon and coiffed hair, and the rooms along the caldera buzz with thumping "music". It can take hours to get a restaurant table, when done you're hustled out for the next in line, and hawkers are everywhere to squeeze out the last euro for some meaningless memorabilia. Everything is transactional. Even the workers we did speak with hate it, whether 30 year residents or newly arrived from Albania.
In the summer there are 3 - 4 ferries/day from Crete to Santorini and the fast one takes only two hours. In off-season there is only one ferry per day and that takes over 6 hours. So we chose to fly from Crete to Athens and then back south. We arrived at our unit hugging the cliff in the main town of Fira. It was dark so there was no view to be had, and the wind was ~25 mph driving the volcanic grit in our eyes and creating dust devils on the cobbled path. Looking for a place to eat we found only one sit-down restaurant open with martinis at EU$20 and main courses at EU$35. Entering, the thump thump thump "music" brought back unpleasant memories. When we asked what else was open we were dismissed with "nothing". We wandered the main street with mopeds, fast food stalls, closed nail and hair salons, and shuttered offices offering tours, wedding photography, and scooter rentals. We finally selected take-out Indian food. I instantly took a dislike to the place - and we hadn't even seen the view.
Morning view from our terrace
Fortunately, Robin previously read about a 6.5 mile hike from Fira to Oia at the far end of the caldera rim. We started off in the commercial town of Fira, but soon were walking alone up and down a four foot wide cobbled path carved out of the lava rock or between white plastered walls, with stunning views west to the blue waters, the caldera rim, and distant islands. Along the rim we could see other white towns like snowfields cresting a mountain summit.
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| View of Oia at end of Caldera Rim looking like snow on the top. |
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| Stairs to old monastery on rock outcropping |
The weather was perfect for hiking, and we met almost no-one, in contrast to wall to wall tourists a couple months earlier. With the tourists gone, it is construction season and beasts of burden carry sacks of plaster up and down the same trail.
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| Burros on narrow foot path delivering construction material |
After a few hours we reached the town of Oia and had a delightful meal overlooking the rim with a conversant waiter, and a bottle of excellent Greek white wine.
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| View inside empty restaurant with white plastered buildings cascading down rim. |
My reticence melted away. This organically laid out town in dazzling white with blue domes and winding paths is truly stunning in the sun. It justifies the hype. If you decide to go to Santorini do NOT stay in Fira, but in Oia, and come in late September and early October to avoid tourists, but have a few more amenities open.
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| We have our insta-gram moment, sans others. |
Our second day here we drove to other towns and sites on the island. Besides a very good archeology site of a Minoan town, the main event is the caldera rim.
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| Remains of wealthy resident's house in ancient Minoan town of Akrotiri. This was a major trading town with Crete 60 miles away. |
The rest of the island is agricultural. Earlier in the season several good wineries offer tastings and tours. Greek wine has changed considerably since I first came in 1980. Then it had a very resin taste (think Retsina). There are 100s of wine grapes unique to Greece, and we didn't have a bad one. As our waiter said, "you can have Chardonnay anywhere".
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| The back side of the caldera is flat and agricultural. Mostly grapes for Santorini wine. |
Our last night here was another wind storm. In the middle of the night I got up because a plastic bottle was caught in a gyre outside our bedroom window, and was constantly crashing off the walls. When I opened our door to collect it all the terrace wicker furniture was overturned and blown against our entry. In the morning, my suitcase that was below a cracked window, was covered with grit. We leave as we arrived. Iconic place; lovely imagery; no need to return.
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| View of caldera in the morning after a wind/dust storm. |
All photos by Robin
Next Post: Cyclades Part two: The Island of Naxos.
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