Santorini in a day

Ferried by friends, couple capture Greek isle’s essence.

Church bells atop one of the 250 churches on the small island of Santorini beckon worshippers on a Sunday morning.
Church bells atop one of the 250 churches on the small island of Santorini beckon worshippers on a Sunday morning.

— Sometimes it is who you know.

I’d been to Santorini once before, watched the mournful-looking donkeys ferry visitors up the steep cliffs from the port below, snapped photos of the iridescent white houses with their blue roofs, sipped ouzo in a taverna ... but I never got a real sense of the island, beyond the harbor town of Fira.

This time was different.

My friend, Pam, was spending the summer on Santorini and she and her husband, Ron, generously offered to show my husband, Jim, and me around the island when we arrived aboard Holland America’s Noordam in August. It was a wonderful opportunity to get an insider’s view of this famous tourist destination.

Granted, Jim and I were only on Santorini for one day, but that is the way with thousands and thousands of cruise passengers who pour off the ships in summer, eager to visit the places they’ve long admired in glossy brochures. And I am pleased to report that you don’t have to spend your 12 hours ashore in the postcard and jewelry and sweetsmelling soap shops of Fira. If you plan ahead, you can really “do” Santorini - the off-the-beaten-track Santorini - in a day. Then you can contentedly sail away, as we did, filled with great food, wonderful memories, and loads of vivid photos of this volcanic island of glistening white buildings topped with blue roofs.

Jim and I disembarked from the 1,918-passenger Noordam before 9 a.m., transferring by one of the ship’s small tenders to the base of Santorini’s steep cliffs striated with green, pink and brown layers of volcanic soil, part of the wall of an ancient volcanic crater. Santorini’s major villages of Fira and Oia perch high atop the crater wall, sparkling like diamonds in the sun.

Holland America moves passengers with incredible efficiency, and staggers times for its own very good shore excursions. That means that the wait for the cable car (or, if you prefer, the donkey) to take you to the top of the cliff is never onerous.

Once in town, as we strolled to meet my friends, locals streamed past us, heading into one of the perfect blueand-white churches for Sunday morning worship. My husband blended inwith them, eager to catch a bit of a Greek Orthodox service. Meantime, I found Pam, and we sipped fresh orange juice in a cafe and caught up while Ron went to fetch the rental car.

It was a remarkable experience, recalling the giant maps we had to make in junior high social studies, while gazing out across the flooded caldera of a still lively volcano. In fact, the midnight-black island of Nea Kameni, just past our docked ship, is also part of the crater’s rim. Nea Kameni still simmers, steadily hinting at future volcanic drama in the Aegean. The drama that occurred in 1600 B.C. destroyed all life on Santorini, and generated giant waves that roared onto islands hundreds of miles away.

Ever since, stories have abounded that Santorini is really the lost island of Atlantis.

Eager to get out of Fira, Ron drove us 8 1 /2 miles down the road, into a picture postcard called Oia. Getting to this northernmost town on the island was like driving along a piece of ribbon candy, curve after curve. It was worth every S along the way.

That early on a Sunday morning, we basically had Oia to ourselves. A lone woman crossed the large plaza before a large Greek Orthodox church, its bells chiming. The cafes were yet to open. The houses, in more shades of pastel than you’d see at a baby shower, hugged the cliff top and lined the streets that curve down toward the sea. The village’s perfect, white windmill stood proudly, a readily identifiable emblem of the lovely Cyclades archipelago.

Our drive across rural Santorini took us past low-tothe-ground vineyards, fields alive with fava beans and scarlet tomatoes, and dozens of tiny, white cube churches topped, of course, with theblue of the surrounding sky and sea (there are some 250 churches on Santorini). In the rural center of the island, the locals looked as though they had traveled there from another time.

The modern world was never far away, however, as we discovered when our friends took us to Kamari, a shingle and black sand beach that stretches for miles down the island’s east coast. Umbrellas and deck chaise lounges were available for a small fee, the water was warm, the pace lazy, the atmosphere multicultural - it was heaven.

Soon, however, lunch beckoned. The beach is backed by rows of outdoor tavernas serving fresh fish, simply prepared; Greek salad; wonderful bread; and even better olives, all for not a lot more than you might pay for fast food for four back home. We were utterly charmed by the outdoor movie theater, which our friends visited on many evenings. How pretty it would be to sit under the stars, watching the other sort of stars on the big screen.

We passed on hiking up to ancient Thira, since our Holland America “Roman Empire” cruise itinerary was rich in visits to ruins. Instead our island-savvy friends drove us up a narrow road with as many hairpin turns as you’d find in a child’s maze. From there we found a steep path (and one not particularly friendly for those who suffer from acrophobia), where we hiked to a tiny, perfect, white hermitage,now used as a chapel, tucked into the side of a hill. The hermitage is part of the larger Zoodochos Pigi (“Life-Giving Source”) Monastery complex. A nearby cave is home to the spring where those life-giving waters flow.

The hermitage/chapel is a bit hidden, but a whitewashed cross on the rock face makes it easy to spot. On our visit, the door was unlocked and the interior revealed a little chapel complete with glittering icons. It looked as though someonehad been in prayer there moments before. The goat that seemed to be the building’s self-appointed guard turned a steady gaze on us, but apparently approved our wish to enter.

Buoyed by the magic of the place, we headed back to Fira in time to buy some of the prettiest postcards I’ll ever send, and to stock up on essentials at less than shipboard prices. And too soon, it was time to say goodbye.

In every other port on our “Roman Empire” cruise, Jim and I had taken one of Holland America’s shore excursions, and each was excellent - well planned, good guides, with carefully limited numbers. We even took a day trip to Albania with a ship group. I’m sure their excursions in Santorini were equally good, but the thing is, they wouldn’t have included my friend Pam and our new friend, her husband Ron.

It was dark by the time we reached the bottom of the cliff, but one of the ship’s tenders was there to pick us up. The Noordam awaited us, bright lights casting a warm glow through hundreds upon hundreds of windows. It looked deliciously welcoming, as we putt-putted across the wine-dark sea.

As we neared the ship, weturned to wave to our friends, invisible in the dark at the top of the cliff. Somehow we knew they were waving back at us.

Holland America’s 10-night “Roman Empire” cruise includes wonderful ports of call, for history buffs, scenery lovers and port shoppers alike. The cruise begins and ends in Rome, and stops in Dubrovnik; Corfu (where we took the hovercraft to Albania for the day); Olympia; Santorini; Kusadasi, Turkey (gateway to Ephesus); Athens; and Messina in Sicily, where we hiked around Mount Etna. The itinerary also included two glorious days at sea. We spent those doing little more than sitting on our private veranda, reading and watching the world go by followed by many pleasant strolls around the deck. The range of dining options was excellent.Our meal at the posh Pinnacle Grill was a special treat, well worth the small additional charge. We loved The Explorations Cafe, which offered a library, Internet access and a good range of video rentals. There were shows to satisfy every taste. The spa, with ocean views, was divine.

For more information, contact Holland America Cruise Line at (877) 932-4259 or a travel agent. Holland America’s Web site is hollandamer ica.com.

Travel, Pages 54 on 03/14/2010

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