At no point on this particular day were we certain about the form of transport we were going to take next. There was a plan but the plan unfolded in a very unexpected way. Santorini is a beautiful island that doesn't have a dock big enough for the cruise ships so they anchor in the harbor and we have to tender in. Our troubles started the day before when we went to book. We'd been told we could book at the front desk at 3:00p however there was apparently an option to book on your TV starting at 1:00p. By the time we booked we were tender 14 leaving at 9:30a.
This was just not good enough for Callie's plan for the day so after some discussions with the desk, they indicated we could try to arrive early and for each tender if people don't show we can potentially take an 'early bird' spot. We ended up strategically placing ourselves near the muster area and were able to get on tender #4 so the plan was back in place for a short moment. It's only about a 10 minute boat ride to where they drop us off and our next leg of the trip involved taking a gondola up the hill to Fira and then a bus to Oia. The problem was the gondola had a very long wait despite our early arrival.
We did have options. We could walk the 588 steps or there was a nice pack of donkeys that would take us to the top. Neither of these were appealing to different members of our party so a third option presented itself. There was a speed boat that could take us to the base of Oia directly and then shuttle us up to our destination. I was hesitant as I saw overloaded speedboats leaving but turns out the tenders we came in on turn themselves into water taxi's. The price wasn't bad considering we would have had to pay for the gondola and the bus anyways and this got us there and back to Fira.
The boat dropped us off at the base of the hill and the shuttle got us to the top quickly. Our driver mumbled something about pick up every hour which wasn't reassuring but that was a problem for later since we knew we could at least take a public bus. Oia is the picturesque hillside town that you see in many Greek advertisements and was filled with jewelry, gelato and Instagram girls. I was surprised to find an elementary school at the top and the white walls were cool to the touch despite being in the direct sun.
The lady who solid us the ticket said we would probably be bored with Oia by about noon and she was correct. We went back to our drop off spot and ended up following some man who took us down the hill a bit to some full sized buses. No one was speaking English but they let us on and we managed to get back to Fira. Our next leg had us taking the city bus to Akrotiri and we attempted to leave from the main terminal which was a chaotic sea of tourists trying to figure out which bus to take and buses backing up trying to hit them. Our bus surprisingly left right when it said it would.
Akrotiri is a fully covered 'active' archeological dig for what is considered the Pompei of Greece. It's a settlement that had a very rough time of it with multiple earth quakes followed by a volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago that covered the entire city. It wasn't as quick as Pompei so no bodies and the residents had time to pack most of their things but they left a lot behind assuming they would eventually return. The dig started in the 1960's and though they claim it's still active I didn't see any recent activity. Still interesting to see how modern their society was that long ago.
Just down the street from Akrotiri was a series of beaches called White, Black and Red beach. Callie had decided Red beach looked the most interesting and she was correct. It was a bit of a hike to get from the road and over a cliff but it was well worth it. There was a giant red cliff and a wide beach at the base. The family took a swim and then we headed back to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Fira. It was roughly on time but it only came every hour and initially drove by before turning around and picking us up on the way back.
We managed to get back to Fira around 7:30p and were able to get tickets on the Gondola back down the hill. The friendly Donkey ride salesman was taking his donkey's home to rest for the evening. There was a lot of options for donkey soap, donkey Cheese and various donkey paraphernalia so they appear to be an important part of the islands economy. We saw quite a few people decide to take them up the hill and it's probably your best option if the gondola ever broke down unless you are in Grouse Grind shape. Santorini looks like a nice island to spend a week at though based on the number of Instagram girls it's probably expensive.
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