Firostefani, Greece

The alarm went too early for our liking but we had to check in 1hr before our flight to Santorini which left at 0900. Even staying next door, its an hour to shower, repack the bag, double check you have not left anything behind and check out. All of this including check in went smoothly and we grabbed a quick spinach pie to share as we zoomed through the process.

The domestic terminal is part of the international complex and our flight only took 45 minutes before we landed at Santorini. It was one of those hop on a bus from the plane to get transferred to the terminal which was really grotty by any comparison. Toilets are filthy and no wifi – it is a tourist island and a very very busy one so you think they could spend money on basic facilities, upkeep and cleaners. From the airport you can get a cab up the volcano side or a local bus, which takes you to the main town Fira, where you can get another bus to your accommodation at the other towns. Each leg of the bus is €1.60 vs taxi at €15-20. The bus staff are so rude and blatantly disdainful towards the passengers its shameful. You ask questions because there is no signage and they respond half answering in a very ‘you are dumb’ tone/manner. You cant get shirty back or you would be even more out on a limb. Really the concept of hospitality and tourism service is not one they subscribe to at all. Its like the visitor should be so thankful to be allowed to visit. I think Greece should have a good look in the mirror at their state of affairs and learn a thing or two about living in a global world. I have zero sympathy for their plight.

We continue to be our polite, smiley selves (except to queue jumpers) and try not let it rob us of a good time in Greece. The island is build on an old (still active) volcano (some say the lost city of Atlantis was here). The little towns are built along the rim of the ‘caldera’, which is quite narrow so when you are walking along the top at some parts you can see water on both sides. It is renowned for its beauty of traditional domed white washed houses and blue churches, a couple of windmills, the cobalt blue sea and magic sunsets. Houses and accommodation are built along and down the cliffs which are very steep and consequently there are lots of steep steps to navigate. There are narrow lanes between the buildings and the towns and wandering these taking in the dramatic views is a major past time for visitors. In the middle of the caldera (center part of the volcano which caved in under its weight when it did its big eruption) there are some island bits that have hot water beach and some venting still going on. The cliffs rise up to 1,000 ft above sea level and display volcanic colours of red, black and browns adding to the visual drama of the volcanic island.

Our accommodation here is not cheap – but a bit of a treat section. I don’t think there is cheap accommodation here in Santorini, but we choose above average in the scale which included a sea view. We also chose a town called Firostefani for its location – a 15 minute walk from main town with good caldera views. When we arrived our room wasn’t ready but our friendly host sat us on the balcony and made us coffee and served this with a chocolate cake drenched in chocolate syrup. Rather nice it was too – like a chocolate Madeira and ‘wet’ from about half way down. When it came time that our room was ready he explained that the superior sea view we booked and paid for was not available till tomorrow so we had the ‘family suite’ for one night instead.

I was spitting tacks as he had obviously double booked. I did a preliminary questioning of this to which I started to get a bit of a brick wall so I dropped it so as not to jeopardise our room for the next two nights. I will be taking it up with bookings.com and tripadvisor though. We really had no option but to accept it as if we had walked out and tried to get something else it would have been even more expensive at this late date, not to mention all the better ones probably sold out. That is what really added to my frustration, is that we were powerless to do anything about it. This is one of the things of travel – compromising the standards, rights, protections, understanding of ones own culture and country and experiencing and learning about others. It is also an example of an appreciation of one of our NZ ones 🙂

Moan over, the room was still nice but just not what we had booked. We did a temporary settle in and as we were a bit peckish we headed off up the steps to hunt out some food. We settled on a place called Vanilla where I ordered the fresh octopus with fava puree and a local ‘sweet’ wine sauce. Vern had a pork gyros on a plate rather than a sandwich. Both were nice, my octopus being exceptionally tender and juicy. The wine sauce must have taken its colour from the octopus, and was sweet but not too much – an unusual but nice combination. Fava is a local dish of split peas puree – yum.

We walked for a short distance up the hill towards Imerovigli and marvelled at the views. It was really warm so after about 20 minutes we headed back to have a well deserved rest and perhaps have a siesta in the heat of the day. We have been operating on a bit of a sleep deficit and taken in a lot in this first week of our holiday, so we are planning to take the foot off the pedal and re-energise here over the next two-three days. Vern wanted some shut eye and I wanted to catch up on blogs and load some photos but the ‘high speed’ internet was slower than dial up and would not let me load a picture so I managed to nod off and have a nana nap which was nice despite the harder than my liking bed.

Early evening we freshened up and headed ‘down’ to Fira for a light dinner. Along the way we experienced our first Santorini sunset which was nice but not as spectacular as I am lucky enough to experience from home on a regular basis. I have googled pictures of them and I think what we saw is pretty much typical of what is seen – golds and pale pinks. None of the fiery intensity of home or what I have had the pleasure of seeing in Australia.

There are a zillion tourists from all around here – English, German, Spanish, French, American and the odd Australian. Its touristy in feel, but not in a bad way – after all without the millions of euros coming in here – Santorini would probably be a poor village or two – so it exists for tourism and in return is made very wealthy compared to many other areas of Greece. Fira town is alive and kicking, everyone trying to pull you into their little shop or dining establishment well up to 10-11pm. It is set on top of the ridge and is a maze of small lanes and small shops selling everything you need and don’t need. One lane is called ‘Golden Street’ as it is lined with bling shops. they are very attractive and have beautiful items in them of which I hoped to bring a memento home but the prices are hidden so I figure that’s a bad sign. I will check it out later in the week when less tired. Fira feels safe and holiday like although we don’t appreciate the strong marketing they employ.

For dinner we settled on a smaller establishment inside town away from the cliff edge (which is most expensive) and had a mixed dip platter and greek salad to share. It was just perfect – not super flash or the best we have had – but nice and tasty and light. Dips included fava, spicy cheese, tzatziki, eggplant, and taramasalata. With drinks an affordable €20 all up.

The walk back was lovely and romantic with town and accommodation lights glowing along the edge of the cliff and soft lighting along the path making the notable ascent home more bearable. The air was still warm and we passed through smells ranging from grilled meats, seafood, drinks and cigarettes, to warm donkey and star jasmine.