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| Santorini Mule Taxi Stand |
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| Cliff side switch backs to Fira Village |
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| Fira Skyline |
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| Direction to Donkey Staion (Mules really) |
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| Bell Tower on Santorini Church |
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| The famous Santorini Blue Domes |
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| Cliff Side Oia on Santorini |
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| Oia Bell Tower |
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| Oia Church dome |
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| Village on a cliff side - Oia |
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| Old WIndmill in Oia, now an Inn |
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| Ocean Glass Sculpture |
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| Romantic Oia |
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| Candle depository in Oia Church |
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| Oia Cathedral dome interior |
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| Fira Monastery bell tower |
13 April 2012 - Santorini, Greece
Santorini is one of the southernmost islands in the Cyclades Group, and is located about 126 nautical miles southeast of Athens. An ancient active volcanic cone formed a round island, which was known as Strongyle, however, in 1628 BC the largest volcanic explosion in recorded human history blew it apart. A gigantic solid rock shot straight up in the air, landing in the sea with such force, it spawned a catastrophic tidal wave. It is believed that this tidal wave wiped out the late Minoan civilization (the one with the labyrinthic caves, the Minotaur and all the Greek legends connected to it) located on Crete, about 70 nautical miles distant. The explosion must have been felt all over Europe. Definitely the antique city of Akrotiri, which sat on part of Strongyle, was buried under thick layers of ash. Modern Archaeological research has discovered the remnants of an entire city, some intact frescoes are now displayed in a local museum on Santorini.
Thira, another ancient buried city on the island, gave it's name (alternative way of spelling) to Fira, which is today one of the better knows towns on the island, the other one - a little smaller - is Oia. Both are perched high on vertiginous cliffs raising steeply out of the ocean, and their white washed houses look from a distance like a dusting of fresh snow.
The historic explosion about 3600 years ago split the original volcano rim into pieces, what still shows above sea level today forms two islands, with a still actively boiling caldera in the centre. Santorini still suffers from seismic activity, and 1956 it was hit with another serious earthquake, which destroyed most of the original buildings on the islands.
Fortunately, whatever the islanders did, today both towns are the perfect calling card for the 'typical' Cycladic Greek Architecture. Steep cliffs, blue sea, black, brown and white beaches, and white washed houses atop the rim of old volcanoes. Blue painted domes top many of the mostly square buildings, and the villages are featured on just about every Greek travel brochure in existence.
Neither town on Santorini has much of a harbour, although it is said that waters are mostly calm at the base of the cliffs. Tiny breakwaters shelter a few skiffs and serve as docks for inter island ferries. A few mooring buoys dot the foreshore, which drops off to considerable depth within a short distance. Many local fishermen spider-tie their boats in tiny volcanic rock coves on the centre caldera island called Nea Kameni. Looking through binoculars, one may also discover at the rear of those coves a few half submerged hulls, who succumbed to surf during less kindly sea conditions.
It is said, that waters are usually calm - not when we arrived, the wind blew the sea into a confused state, which almost made tendering ashore impossible. Local boats were used as tenders instead of the usual Prinsendam ones. Double-decker affairs, they had quite a challenging time to get close enough to take on passengers from the ship. Despite violent motion, everyone who was physically fit enough to do so, made it ashore. The 'tour-ists' had to be ferried to a different part of Santorini, as buses could not get anywhere near shore except via one lone road at the other end of the island. All else was just too steep.
Which meant, that 'independent' travellers like me arrived at the bottom of the cliff, with Fira straight up and hardly visible on its lofty perch. A narrow cobble stoned low rise stairway/trail switch backed on the side of the cliff, which looked like something out of the Grand Canyon.
Similar to Grand Canyon transport, here we had a line up of mule-taxis, all waiting patiently for their first load of people to dare the ride up the sheer cliff side. Yours truly, vertigo and all, mounted one of them and off we went climbing towards heaven. Sitting high atop a mule, one found oneself somewhat beyond the protection of a low slung stone wall, and enjoyed an unobstructed view of the abyss below. To make things perfect, those smart mules tended to scrape rather close to the walls, covertly attempting to get rid of their load either over the cliff side, or against the opposite rock wall. Everyone had minded the advise of 'ride them up, but not down' - when those 'taxis' descend to sea level again, they speed up and race down the dizzying staircase with a terrifying mule trot, and they often do succeed to get rid of their human loads.
Luckily there is a 'teleferic' - Gondola - that provides alternative transport for the timid from sea to sky.
The town is charming, picturesque, photogenic, romantic and has not a single house that is built on flat ground, some can only be accessed by staircases carved into rock. A few parallel narrow streets run along the rim, and are connected with stairs and alleys. Tourist shops abound, but Artisans and the highly skilled silversmiths of the Island sell their wares as well. Most of the houses in Fira are either hotels, shops or cafes, bars and restaurants, whereas Oia is a little more 'local' and laid back.
I hopped on a local bus, which made the run to Oia, which is also perched on a cliff top a few of kilometres away, and was treated to absolutely stunning views of the rugged and spectacular Santorini islands. Prinsendam down there looked like a rubber toy in a bath tub. She fortunately had garnered the only spot in the entire 'inside of the blown out volcano' where her anchor chain could safely hook onto bottom - some underwater volcanic peak. All other ships have to keep their engines running to hover in place during their visit, as waters are too deep even for cruise ship anchor chains. Only one more cruise liner arrived later in the day, which kept the tourist invasion down during the earlier hours, when only Prinsendam's passengers were strolling through the villages.
From Oia one could reach the shore somewhere way down the cliff via a rock hewn staircase of 300 steps. Well, that would make a return journey of 600....just a few too many for a quick jaunt.
Art galleries are hidden behind white washed walls or inside inviting courtyards. Santorini has inspired many a painter with its enchantments. Inspiration goes beyond fine arts, and has animated thousands of young couples to marry in a romantic setting such as Santorini and spend a delightful honeymoon here - year after blessed year.
I savoured the delights of Santorini from a cliff-hanging restaurant/cafe: some cheese, olives, wine and fresh bread inspired my senses....and the breathtaking backdrop is something to behold: LOVELY!
I did not take the mule taxi down-cliff, and a scenic ride in a quietly gliding gondola took me saafely back to sea level.
Santorini is one of the southernmost islands in the Cyclades Group, and is located about 126 nautical miles southeast of Athens. An ancient active volcanic cone formed a round island, which was known as Strongyle, however, in 1628 BC the largest volcanic explosion in recorded human history blew it apart. A gigantic solid rock shot straight up in the air, landing in the sea with such force, it spawned a catastrophic tidal wave. It is believed that this tidal wave wiped out the late Minoan civilization (the one with the labyrinthic caves, the Minotaur and all the Greek legends connected to it) located on Crete, about 70 nautical miles distant. The explosion must have been felt all over Europe. Definitely the antique city of Akrotiri, which sat on part of Strongyle, was buried under thick layers of ash. Modern Archaeological research has discovered the remnants of an entire city, some intact frescoes are now displayed in a local museum on Santorini.
Thira, another ancient buried city on the island, gave it's name (alternative way of spelling) to Fira, which is today one of the better knows towns on the island, the other one - a little smaller - is Oia. Both are perched high on vertiginous cliffs raising steeply out of the ocean, and their white washed houses look from a distance like a dusting of fresh snow.
The historic explosion about 3600 years ago split the original volcano rim into pieces, what still shows above sea level today forms two islands, with a still actively boiling caldera in the centre. Santorini still suffers from seismic activity, and 1956 it was hit with another serious earthquake, which destroyed most of the original buildings on the islands.
Fortunately, whatever the islanders did, today both towns are the perfect calling card for the 'typical' Cycladic Greek Architecture. Steep cliffs, blue sea, black, brown and white beaches, and white washed houses atop the rim of old volcanoes. Blue painted domes top many of the mostly square buildings, and the villages are featured on just about every Greek travel brochure in existence.
Neither town on Santorini has much of a harbour, although it is said that waters are mostly calm at the base of the cliffs. Tiny breakwaters shelter a few skiffs and serve as docks for inter island ferries. A few mooring buoys dot the foreshore, which drops off to considerable depth within a short distance. Many local fishermen spider-tie their boats in tiny volcanic rock coves on the centre caldera island called Nea Kameni. Looking through binoculars, one may also discover at the rear of those coves a few half submerged hulls, who succumbed to surf during less kindly sea conditions.
It is said, that waters are usually calm - not when we arrived, the wind blew the sea into a confused state, which almost made tendering ashore impossible. Local boats were used as tenders instead of the usual Prinsendam ones. Double-decker affairs, they had quite a challenging time to get close enough to take on passengers from the ship. Despite violent motion, everyone who was physically fit enough to do so, made it ashore. The 'tour-ists' had to be ferried to a different part of Santorini, as buses could not get anywhere near shore except via one lone road at the other end of the island. All else was just too steep.
Which meant, that 'independent' travellers like me arrived at the bottom of the cliff, with Fira straight up and hardly visible on its lofty perch. A narrow cobble stoned low rise stairway/trail switch backed on the side of the cliff, which looked like something out of the Grand Canyon.
Similar to Grand Canyon transport, here we had a line up of mule-taxis, all waiting patiently for their first load of people to dare the ride up the sheer cliff side. Yours truly, vertigo and all, mounted one of them and off we went climbing towards heaven. Sitting high atop a mule, one found oneself somewhat beyond the protection of a low slung stone wall, and enjoyed an unobstructed view of the abyss below. To make things perfect, those smart mules tended to scrape rather close to the walls, covertly attempting to get rid of their load either over the cliff side, or against the opposite rock wall. Everyone had minded the advise of 'ride them up, but not down' - when those 'taxis' descend to sea level again, they speed up and race down the dizzying staircase with a terrifying mule trot, and they often do succeed to get rid of their human loads.
Luckily there is a 'teleferic' - Gondola - that provides alternative transport for the timid from sea to sky.
The town is charming, picturesque, photogenic, romantic and has not a single house that is built on flat ground, some can only be accessed by staircases carved into rock. A few parallel narrow streets run along the rim, and are connected with stairs and alleys. Tourist shops abound, but Artisans and the highly skilled silversmiths of the Island sell their wares as well. Most of the houses in Fira are either hotels, shops or cafes, bars and restaurants, whereas Oia is a little more 'local' and laid back.
I hopped on a local bus, which made the run to Oia, which is also perched on a cliff top a few of kilometres away, and was treated to absolutely stunning views of the rugged and spectacular Santorini islands. Prinsendam down there looked like a rubber toy in a bath tub. She fortunately had garnered the only spot in the entire 'inside of the blown out volcano' where her anchor chain could safely hook onto bottom - some underwater volcanic peak. All other ships have to keep their engines running to hover in place during their visit, as waters are too deep even for cruise ship anchor chains. Only one more cruise liner arrived later in the day, which kept the tourist invasion down during the earlier hours, when only Prinsendam's passengers were strolling through the villages.
From Oia one could reach the shore somewhere way down the cliff via a rock hewn staircase of 300 steps. Well, that would make a return journey of 600....just a few too many for a quick jaunt.
Art galleries are hidden behind white washed walls or inside inviting courtyards. Santorini has inspired many a painter with its enchantments. Inspiration goes beyond fine arts, and has animated thousands of young couples to marry in a romantic setting such as Santorini and spend a delightful honeymoon here - year after blessed year.
I savoured the delights of Santorini from a cliff-hanging restaurant/cafe: some cheese, olives, wine and fresh bread inspired my senses....and the breathtaking backdrop is something to behold: LOVELY!
I did not take the mule taxi down-cliff, and a scenic ride in a quietly gliding gondola took me saafely back to sea level.
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| People on the 'way up' |
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| Minoan inspired souvenir |
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| Fira Byzantine Cathedral - outlasted every earthquake since 11th century |
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| Mule drivers ride the taxis downhill |
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| Santorini Equestrian Statue |
