Have you seen those photos of a pristine Greek village with a panoramic vista of the sea below? Chances are, they were taken in the hilltop village of Fira, on the island of Santorini. It’s beautiful, but getting up to Fira can be a challenge. Getting back down can be worse!
We’re cruising the Greek Isles. When our ship reached Santorini, two other gigantic cruise ships were already there. That was unfortunate.
Vacationers from all three ships had just enough time to find their way up to Fira, have a short visit, and get back to their ships. Fira is a picturesque village perched high on a cliff overlooking the cruise ship parking lot down below. The preferred method of ascent is by cable car. After some decision-making and a lengthy wait, (as described here), we rode the cable car up to Fira.
Fira
Fira is beautiful. Pristine blue and white buildings sparkle in the sunlight. Curvy walkways meander through a maze of shops. And of course the views are spectacular.
We had lunch at a cliff-side restaurant. We sat outdoors under the shade of an umbrella. Having lunch on that terrace was a little slice of heaven. But before long we had to get back to the ship.
Reluctantly, we left the restaurant and started walking toward the cable car. We weren’t even close when we could see throngs of cruisers waiting to get a ride down. It wasn’t just a long line. There was a mass of touristic humanity waiting for the cable car.
If we waited for the cable car, there was no way we’d make it back to the boat on time. There were two other options: ride down a 588-step stairway on the back of a donkey, or walk down the same stairway the donkeys use.
I have nothing against donkeys. They can be kind of cute. But these donkeys had a pungent aroma. They looked grumpy. Mean, even. Riding one of these guys wasn’t going to be like going for a pony ride at the park.
The Girls from New York
While we were deciding what to do, three girls from New York appeared. They were in the same predicament as us. We decided to go down together, on foot.
It was hot. The blazing Aegean sun beat down on us. The girls from New York didn’t care. There was no getting them down. Hot sun or not, they were full of energy. They talked non-stop. Or should I say, they “tawked” non-stop. Tawked LOUD! New Yawk style.
To hear ’em, you’d have thought there were 5 or 6 of them. They yakked about every possible thing. “Why is God doing this to us? How many more steps to go? When is the next rest stop? Watch out! Don’t step in that mess! EEW! Was that from a donkey? EEW!”
The first 100 steps weren’t too bad, but we were getting seriously hot. We were drenched in sweat. The girls’ chatter helped take our minds off the heat.
After another 100 steps or so, our feet were swelling up. Everyone’s feet hurt. “My feet are expanding! My shoes are too tight! We have to be losing weight, right?”
After another 100 steps, everyone’s quads started cramping up. We learned that our quads are our walking-down-stairs muscles. Sweat poured out from places where we didn’t know we had sweat glands.
200 Steps to Go
The New Yawk girls’ chatter died down. The “eew’s” didn’t have the same punch as they had before.
We stopped to take a break. We looked at the beautiful view. No one cared about that lousy old view — we just wanted to be off those steps and out of the sun. Have you seen photos of old Greek fishermen whose faces make one think of well-used saddle bags? Now we knew how they got that way.
When the end of the stairway was in sight, we all got a surge of adrenalin. By the time we made it off the steps, the muscles in the front of our thighs had turned to stone. Our legs wouldn’t work on flat ground. We could barely walk.
We bought bottles of water and got ourselves rehydrated. Somehow we made it to the tender and back to the boat.
It turned out that the New York girls were on our boat, so we went back together. We watched as other passengers made their way back to the boat. Apparently we weren’t the only ones who had had enough excitement for one day.
We said good bye to the New York girls and headed for our room. Before we knew it, the big horn blew and we were leaving beautiful Santorini, Fira, and 588-step downward walk of doom.
Next stop: Mykonos.
To be continued…
