For our first evening in Santorini, we just stuck around Thira, and fought off cruise ship visitors waiting to get on the cable car back down to their ships. Good riddance, says I. They are a waste of space. They come in like they own the place, but aren’t contributing to the economy for food or lodging because they’ll just go back to their ugly ships for that. So not only are they bad for the overall sustainability of the island, they walk slow, which is an unforgivable offense when you are on narrow paths. Defeated, but also hungry, we got out of the super busy areas and ended up eating at what was essentially a fast-food Greek place. I had a Greek salad and Nicole had a vegetarian pita. It gave us at least enough energy to get back to our hotel, but not much more. Tomorrow would be another day.
Having been to Santorini before, I didn’t need to see anything in particular so I deferred to the great and wise Nicole for her priorities. Our first stop was the town of Oia. Busy and known as the place everyone needs to go to for sunset, we visited in the morning. While parking was a minor challenge (spots are hard to come by), it wasn’t too crowded (in a relevant sense). We could at least walk the pathways without being stampeded by another cruise ship. We explored the various side pathways and steps looking for an iconic shot of the blue domes etc. We were able to walk out on the old fort area, which was more than I was able to do on my previous visit, as it was far too crowded. It did not take long, however, before the cruise ship crowd began showing up in a big way. Lines formed to take photos. It was not relaxing. We somehow ended up in the middle of a slow-moving tour group, unable to break off from them. Eventually an alley to our right became available and we were able to recover from the madness. We did splurge on an overpriced cliff-side lunch, but thought it was about time to leave Oia as the narrow streets of the small town were becoming unbearable.
We drove back to Thira and walked back into town to do a small amount of shopping. Nicole needed to add a Greek flag pin to her camera bag. The crowds were out of control. It was hard to find any respite. We planned our routes completely around avoiding the hordes of people. At one point we were walking up stairs to a Catholic Church just to get away from the crowds below. We had made a dinner reservation to avoid our issue from the previous night which was, well, not having a reservation. I had some stifado (veal with pasta) and Nicole had some ravioli while huddling in our jackets as the wind assaulted us. After dinner, we walked around a little bit, angrily muttering about the crowds and the lie that is “idyllic” Santorini. Crowds have absolutely destroyed any charm to this place, and it’s the off-season! Not only is the island severely overcrowded, those that do come are perpetuating a myth about this place.
People were doing selfies and silly modeling poses in front of the blue domes while wearing sun dresses, when they should have been wearing a windbreaker. Had the camera panned a bit to the right, their followers would have seen a line of impatient, but equally vain individuals looking for that perfect selfie. It reminded Nicole a bit of Bali, not from a cultural or visual aspect, but from the facade it has created about itself. That comparison might have been more accurate than you might expect. At the street market in Bali, there were dozens of stores all selling wooden penis bottle openers. These have nothing to do with Bali. In Santorini, we saw the same thing. So clearly, what we can learn from all this is that if a place is selling wooden penis bottle openers, there are way too many people walking about that there is somehow a market for wooden penis bottle openers.
Having been to Santorini before, I didn’t need to see anything in particular so I deferred to the great and wise Nicole for her priorities. Our first stop was the town of Oia. Busy and known as the place everyone needs to go to for sunset, we visited in the morning. While parking was a minor challenge (spots are hard to come by), it wasn’t too crowded (in a relevant sense). We could at least walk the pathways without being stampeded by another cruise ship. We explored the various side pathways and steps looking for an iconic shot of the blue domes etc. We were able to walk out on the old fort area, which was more than I was able to do on my previous visit, as it was far too crowded. It did not take long, however, before the cruise ship crowd began showing up in a big way. Lines formed to take photos. It was not relaxing. We somehow ended up in the middle of a slow-moving tour group, unable to break off from them. Eventually an alley to our right became available and we were able to recover from the madness. We did splurge on an overpriced cliff-side lunch, but thought it was about time to leave Oia as the narrow streets of the small town were becoming unbearable.
We drove back to Thira and walked back into town to do a small amount of shopping. Nicole needed to add a Greek flag pin to her camera bag. The crowds were out of control. It was hard to find any respite. We planned our routes completely around avoiding the hordes of people. At one point we were walking up stairs to a Catholic Church just to get away from the crowds below. We had made a dinner reservation to avoid our issue from the previous night which was, well, not having a reservation. I had some stifado (veal with pasta) and Nicole had some ravioli while huddling in our jackets as the wind assaulted us. After dinner, we walked around a little bit, angrily muttering about the crowds and the lie that is “idyllic” Santorini. Crowds have absolutely destroyed any charm to this place, and it’s the off-season! Not only is the island severely overcrowded, those that do come are perpetuating a myth about this place.
People were doing selfies and silly modeling poses in front of the blue domes while wearing sun dresses, when they should have been wearing a windbreaker. Had the camera panned a bit to the right, their followers would have seen a line of impatient, but equally vain individuals looking for that perfect selfie. It reminded Nicole a bit of Bali, not from a cultural or visual aspect, but from the facade it has created about itself. That comparison might have been more accurate than you might expect. At the street market in Bali, there were dozens of stores all selling wooden penis bottle openers. These have nothing to do with Bali. In Santorini, we saw the same thing. So clearly, what we can learn from all this is that if a place is selling wooden penis bottle openers, there are way too many people walking about that there is somehow a market for wooden penis bottle openers.
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