The Santorini archipelago is one of the most picturesque areas in the Mediterranean. Comprised of five islands, it is a collapsed volcanic caldera surrounded by impressive 1000 foot high cliffs. While the island where cruise ship passengers tender to is officially called Thira, it is more commonly referred to by the name of the archipelago, Santorini.
Santorini is probably my favorite stop on Mediterranean cruises. We spent a magical day there two years, drinking and dining at an outdoor restaurant perched on the cliff of the most famous and picturesque village of Oia (EE-ah). I was hoping for a repeat of that today, especially given our beautiful weather…but it was not to be. One of us hit the wall today, not an immediately obvious condition, but one that became apparent as the morning unfolded.
Starting fairly early, we kept downgrading our plans for the day. By the time we had enjoyed breakfast in the Windows dining room, open tender was called (the Norwegian Spirit is small enough that the tender process, much like on the Pacific Princess, is smooth, efficient and fast). We took one of the island’s large commercial tenders over to the pier. The Pacific Princess was in port with us again today, and, except for either ship being the only one in port, it’s hard to imagine a better combination; 2700 passengers in the off-season means that nothing is overrun. It also means no wait for the cable cars to the top of the cliff. The boats that take passengers directly to Oia had already left for the day (even with just small ships in port, it’s important to be off the ship early to do that), so we paid €6 each for the cable car ride to Fira ( FEE-rah) on top of the cliff.
Large local tenders were used to shuttle passengers to shore
The Pacific Princess with Oia in the distance
Cable car wheel
Six cars at a time, each holding six people
The caldera’s cliffs from Fira Once we arrived at the top, we followed Maps.me for walking directions to the public bus. It runs down to Oia twice each hour for just a couple of euros, and we initially intended to do that. That plan was the first to be eliminated. As we were walking along the narrow cobblestone sidewalks, we decided to just spend some time exploring Fira. We continued our walk but toward the Museum of Prehistoric Thira, a museum presenting items recovered from the ash after Santorini erupted around 1600 BC. Halfway there, G thought he might like to just have a meal at one of the many restaurants in Fira overlooking the water with the Norwegian Spirit and the Pacific Princess at anchor. After perusing the menus of several restaurants, he thought he’d really just like to return to the ship. And so we did.
After resting for a couple of hours, G was up for enjoying lunch at the expansive area at the back of the Norwegian Spirit just outside of Raffles Buffet. It was a beautiful day back there, too, and we eventually moved into a hot tub overlooking all the islands in the archipelago. It was our first time using a hot tub of pool on the Spirit, and it was nice to have some time to do that.
We were dressed for dinner and on the large open decks on the back of the ship for sail away and a spectacular sunset over Santorini. Turning around, the white buildings and houses of Fira glowed pink in the last of the sun’s rays.
Just before sunset, the sun shining on the caldera’s cliffs...spectacular!
Sunset over Santorini...heaven!
Window side table with view of Santorini...priceless!
After the sun had set, we went directly to dinner in the Windows dining room. Paella was on the menu, and I had been wanting to have that since we were in Barcelona. I simply didn’t eat the chicken or chorizo sausage in it, but enjoyed the rest. G had a banana soufflé with caramel sauce for dessert, and he said that, though it was delicious, it was the first thing he’s had that wasn’t better than the way Princess makes it. Princess knows soufflés! He is really enjoying having two different beef options every single night, and neither of them is a hamburger, as on Princess. We’ve never felt deprived on Princess, but it takes trying something else to realize the level of cutbacks they’ve implemented.
The main entertainment tonight was a magic show, and despite how I feel about magic shows, we went and sat in the just in case seats. Well, Javi Cruz and Anahi from Malaga, Spain were fabulous. These were big time illusions. I remember seeing a show on the Royal Princess during its inaugural season that was similar, the kind of shows for which people pay significant money to see in Las Vegas. I would never likely do that, but it’s nice to see them on a ship for free.
Afterward, we didn’t even go to Raffles Buffet for G to have a pre-bedtime ice cream snack or me to have a crêpe. It really was a down day for us, but, after nearly three weeks of travel, a rest day was probably inevitable. Tomorrow we will spend just the morning in Chania, on Greece’s largest island of Crete, and another relaxing afternoon at sea en route to Malta.