After visiting friends in Thessaloniki for a couple days, we hopped a short flight to the island of Santorini. We stayed in Fira, a small town on a ridge overlooking the Caldera.
Fira
A white door against the blue sea of the Caldera and the gray sky.
Looking down from Fira at a cruise ship anchored in the Caldera.
Cruise ship passengers are dropped off at a small ferry terminal where they can hike up the steep path shown here which zig-zags up the hill, ride a mule up the steep path, or ride a cable car up to Fira
Our first morning in Fira, I got up early and went for a walk through the town before the shops opened and the tourists descended on the town. I heard a clattering of small bells, looked around the corner, and it was one of the mule drivers walking his mules through the village on the way down to the small ferry terminal where the cruise ship passengers are dropped off.
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- Mules on their way to work in the morning
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- Heading down to the cruise ship dock
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- The morning sun, through the patios at the Candlemas Holy Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral of Thira
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- The tower at St John’s church as the morning sun rises
The Black Beach
Black Beach
We drove to the Black Beach. There were storms headed our way and we were lucky to get a nice day at the beach before the winds kicked up.
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- Orange Cat
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- Rescue Boat
Domaine Sigalas and Oia
Our last day on Santorini, we visited the Domaine Sigalas winery and had a nice tasting before heading on to Oia, a village made famous by sunset photos with the whitewashed buildings and blue church domes. Alas, during our visit it was a little cloudy and hazy so the sunset was not great. We enjoyed a nice dinner together.
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- Wine and appeitzers at Sigalas
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- White roofs of Oia and the blue water of the Caldera
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- A small church in Oia
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- Church of the Panagia, Oia
The Ferry
We took the high-speed ferry back to Athens, a little over 5 hours with 3 or 4 stops at other islands. The high-speed ferry holds over 1,000 passengers who board the ferry by walking up the big ramp to the car deck, leaving bags on the rack labeled for their destination, and then walking upstairs to their assigned seats.
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- Lined up at the ferry building in Santorini. This started as one, neat line. The dock workers came and told everyone that they wanted “two parallel lines.” This is their idea of that.
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- Disembarking from the car deck in Athens.
Leslie waiting for the connecting ferry to Hydra at the Athens port.