Santorini is as pretty as a postcard. We arrived early morning and we could see lots of white washed, blue topped houses on top of a volcano. The ship anchored in the bay, we used tender boats to ferry us to shore. Now we had 3 options of getting up to the town of Fira....by cable car, by donkey or by foot. The queue for the first 2 was very very long so we thought what the heck, lets walk. We used the same path as the donkeys... lots of poo, old and fresh and donkeys everywhere. It was a steep. 35 minute walk but the view was stunning. I gave up trying to avoid the poo, just trying to breathe was important I figured. We came across Gail and John, much like us in fitness!! We stopped often. We arrived at the top and found lots of small shops and stalls all selling the same things basically. Very narrow, cobbled stone streets and lots of people. The population of Fira is 14,000 and today there was 7 cruise ships in and 15,000 people descended on the town! We came across quad bikes for hire and as the town of Fira and Oia are very far apart, we hired one. Yes family we did. 20 euros for the day and 10 euros for fuel and off we went. I had to keep reminding George to drive on the right side, a bit alarming when cars are coming toward you lol. We had a great time, drove from one side to the other and back, the steep cliffs are a bit scary and I felt like Casey Stoner as I leaned to one side going round the corners. George often shouted "lean left", or "lean right" so he could keep up the speed on the 50cc quad. The views were outstanding. After 3 hours on the quad, we handed it back, feeling a bit like John Wayne.. Did some browsing around the shops then caught the cable car down to the port. One absolute fantastic day and a place we have to visit again. We had originally booked a tour here but luckily we cancelled it, it was easy to do on your own and a hell of a lot more fun.
Re tours: after a "discusssion: with the Tour manager who admitted he had made a mistake on the description of the Istanbul tour and his weak excuse and arrogant apology, we have cancelled many more. Hey we have more fun that way, and save a lot of money. Many people have come to the same conclusion.
Joanne, we do use the walkie talkies a lot... on shore we give one to other friends we have met and meet up for drinks etc, so they are really handy.
