Tuesday, 19 November (Part I)
At Sea in the Aegean — En route to the Greek Mainland
What a great day we had in Santorini, the southernmost of Greece’s Cyclades Islands.
The island, which is a remnant of an ancient caldera, came with a lot of rave reviews. It didn’t disappoint … from the spectacular sunrise to the special sailaway after nightfall, this port call turned out to be a day to be remembered.
Santorini is part of what remains after the mid-2nd century BC Minoan eruption — one of the biggest in recorded history. According to one school of thought, it was this volcanic eruption that gave rise to the legend of Atlantis.
As is the case with so many other places in this part of the world, Santorini had ancient ruins aplenty to offer us. But we decided to give our brains a rest from history and spend the day in the picture postcard perfect town of Oia. The icing on the cake, so to speak … Mother Nature cooperated with sunshine and blue skies.
Good plan, but first we had to get off the ship. You see, Santorini is a tender port. Meaning, Celebrity Constellation was at anchor in the waters at the base of the cliffs. We couldn’t just walk off the ship, but had to be ferried ashore, in this case by small boats operated by the Union Boatmen of Santorini. Tendering can be a hassle, with passengers vying to get off the ship sooner rather than later. I may not like the name of the loyalty tier we have achieved with Celebrity, but I have no qualms about using the perks that come with being elite. In this case — priority tender tickets for going ashore. We picked up tickets for the first tender, but as it turns out, we didn’t need them. Of course, it was only 8:00a when we boarded the boat. Perhaps the early hour had something to do with the lack of queues to get ashore.
Our plan for today had us taking the bus to Oia, where we spent most of the day.
The inset (top left) clearly shows that Santorini is a remnant of a volcanic caldera.
OK, it’s 8:15a and we’re ashore. But we still need to get to the top of the ridge! To ascend the 700-foot (213 m) high cliff, we had three options — walk, take a donkey ride, or take the cable car.
700-feet up zig-zag steps or via the cable car, which runs immediately to the left of the trail.
We considered walking, but didn’t want to waste time going up the 588-step zig-zag trail. Besides, the donkeys shared the same stepped-path, and we weren’t sure we wanted to be dodging all the donkey-poop that was bound to have been deposited along the way ;-) So, we took the easy way out and rode the cable car … about three minutes; €4 (~$5.50) each, one way. You’ll have to take my word about the spectacular scenery on the way up — the windows of our gondola were scratched and not conducive to photography.
A quick snapshot of the gondolas; got to hurry before the cars leave and take Mui with them!
Now, we’re in Fira, the capital of the island. What’s next? We wanted to beat the tour groups to Oia, so we didn’t dally in town. A quick stop at the overlook near the tram station, and off we went to find the public bus station.
Welcome to Fira!
We’ll come back and wander around the capital later.
Celebrity Constellation anchored in the caldera of Santorini,
with The uninhabited island of Nea Kameni in the background. This island
might be the one a Roman historian recorded in 47 AD as … “This year a small
islet, hitherto unknown, made an appearance close to the Island of Thera.”
I had a copy of Tom’s Port Guide to Santorini with a handy map that was very helpful in our quest to find the bus station — although we followed a more circuitous route through town to get the lay of the land. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the station, but we were there just in time for the 9:00a departure. The fare was €1.60 (~2.20) each, one way; a lot less expensive than a taxi ride, which we read would be about €25 (~35) each way. Yes, it perhaps took us longer to get there, but we really didn’t mind the 25-minute bus ride … and we still arrived in Oia well before the ship’s excursions.
Local Bus #21 will take us from Fira to Oia.
After all that, I am going to leave you hanging about Oia — at least as far as our meandering stroll through narrow streets lined with white-washed houses and shops. I promise the photolog that I’ll post next will be worth the wait. For now, just one teaser photo.
Take us out of the picture and you’ll get one of the postcard-perfect scenes of Oia.
Our visit to Oia wasn’t just about walking — we took a break for refreshments; another one for lunch. I’m going to share those here as part of the story of our day on the island.
First break … we found a table on the terrace of Lotza and enjoyed cold beverages and a short respite from walking under the sun. Even with the temp only in the 70F (21C) range, walking up and down stairs and curvy, sloping roads was hot business.
Break #1: refreshments at Lotza.
Second break … after wandering the quiet back streets of Oia, it was time for lunch. By this time, the near-deserted streets — and the cafés and restaurants — were filled with people. Some were tourists here on a land vacation; most were from Celebrity Constellation. No matter, we still managed to find a table on the terrace of Pelekanos easily enough.
this is what I call a great setting for an al fresco meal!
The waitress handed us an extensive menu — so many choices. We finally ended up ordering tapas style: grilled shrimp, served with a lemon-oil dipping sauce; grilled calamari; and pasta al olio, with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and cherry tomatoes. It took a while for the food to come out, but we weren’t in any hurry. Besides, the Yellow Donkey came out cold and fast, and we managed to easily entertain ourselves … sipping our locally-brewed beer and enjoying views of the town and the caldera. I can see why Oia is a popular place to watch the sunset; even at mid-day the scenery was breathtaking.
Yellow Donkey … hip hoppy kick-ass ale, brewed right here on Santorini.
A teaser of what Oia has to offer visitors —
I’m referring to the scenery, but an ice cold beer could easily be part of a day here ;-)
When the food was finally served, it was well worth the wait … even if Mui did have to behead the shrimp for me! The grilled dishes were amongst the tastiest seafood we’ve enjoyed anywhere; and the pasta was perfectly cooked, with fresh basil adding to its yumminess.
Left: looking down the street from the balcony at Pelekanos.
right center: looking back at Pelekanos from the street.
The rest is all about the food … from grilled shrimp and calamari to pasta.
The last tender to the ship wasn’t until 5:30p, so we had plenty of time to make it back to Fira after we finished our lunch around 1:30p. We could have stayed in Oia, but we did want to at least take a stroll around Fira before returning to the ship. I don’t think it’s even possible to follow a strait path anywhere in Oia, so we took a meandering one back to the bus stop to catch the 2:30p departure. On the way to the stop, we detoured only once … to take another look at a silver pendant/earring set that had caught my eye earlier. Yes, we walked away with a purchase — a remembrance of the great time we had in Oia.
The bus back to Fira was full — packed to the gills might be a more appropriate description — with locals and visitors alike crammed in the aisle between the seats. We could have taken a taxi — there were plenty of them waiting for fares at the same place where we caught the bus — but this was all part of the experience. Besides, first in the queue, we had no trouble snagging a couple of front row seats to make sure the driver knew the way back since he seemed to be following a different route this time ;-)
Set against deep blue skies, these bell towers add color and charm to the cityscape.
We had no particular plan for wandering around Fira. In fact, I hadn’t researched it much. After stopping at a shop to pick up a brimmed hat for me, we just strolled about, not even paying much attention to any signage. We went down one narrow street, up another, then down one to the left, and another one to the right. Eventually we found ourselves at an overlook with a great view of the town and surrounding scenery.
Fira — from the overlook on the far side of town.
One of the many churches in Fira.
The ornate clock tower stands near the Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist.
The cathedral was damaged by an earthquake in 1956, and was repaired and re-opened in 1975.
We’d bought roundtrip tickets for the cable car, which turned out to be a smart move. Those without tickets had formed a long line at the entrance to the station. Bypassing the queue, we were down at the tender dock in no time, and back onboard Constellation by 4:45p.
Agios Minas, a Greek Orthodox Church, sits prominently near the edge of the cliff.
In the cabin we found an invitation awaiting us — for a special sailaway on the helipad located on Deck 4 Forward. Not sure if this was an elite event, or a thank-you for booking consecutive cruises, or both — the wording on the invitation was a little vague. No matter; we’re always up for events on the helipad — our favorite, to date, being the time it was made accessible during our Panama Canal crossing on Constellation’s sister ship, Infinity.
Sailaway from Santorini on Connie’s helipad.
Fira in the warm afternoon sun.
Perhaps one day we will attempt the zig-zag walk up 558 steps, but
I am glad we took the cable car (left of the steps) to the top today.
Celebrity was serving bubbly, and had wool blankets available for us to wrap around ourselves once the ship was underway — much appreciated. Ringing the ship’s bell to salute those of us congregated on the helipad, and the ship’s horn to salute the islanders for hosting us, Captain Tasos launched into another story from Greek mythology. Yes, it looks like we’ll be getting a sailaway story while we’re in Greek waters. We stayed on the helipad to enjoy the twinkling lights of Santorini until they became mere pinpricks on the horizon.
The twinkling lights of Santorini were too far for a sailaway photograph.
How a bout a picture of Constellation in the caldera instead? (afternoon shot from the overlook in Fira .)
The San Marco Restaurant seemed rather quiet tonight. Perhaps because everyone was tired after an active day in port.
I ordered the BBQ pork spring roll, which was a tasty appetizer, and followed that with cream of chicken soup, infused with white truffle and braised leeks. Since I had pasta for lunch in Oia, I ordered the almond crusted hake instead. Mui also had the spring roll to start, but instead of soup, ordered the panzanella salad, and had the osso buco as his main course. My volcano cake for dessert was truly yummy; the “Fraiser,” a sweet strawberry cake topped with marzipan and filled with kirsch mousseline cream, wasn’t quite as good as the description … per Mui.
And so another day of our cruise is over. Mui’s gone to check out the show — performing tonight is John Nations, a juggling comedian; definitely not my cup of tea. Reading up on tomorrow’s port call in Athens while enjoying the veranda — yeah, that’s more like it for me.
