The View from 58-inches High

After the disaster that was Monemvasia, we decided it was a good idea to skip the excursion in Santorini.  I had talked to destination services and gotten “the scoop”. There was both great eating and great shopping in Santorini. The first set of tenders would take the guests to the buses then the boat would reposition and send more tenders out to the main port of Fria. The city is actually up a bluff from the port and there are three ways up; the cable cars, the donkey rides, or walking up 740 stairs. The woman at destination services assured us that the cable car line would not be bad and gave us two tickets. We had heard that the line was always over an hour long so we were skeptical. The plan was to meet up when to get on the first tender out to Fria.

Chau and Curtis were going to do their excursion so I was surprised when Chau called in the morning asking if she could come along. Apparently Curtis was not feeling well after the fun of the night before. We met up with Holly and Ed at about 9:30 and made our way onto the first tender. It didn’t take us long to see that the cable cars were not going to be an option. The line was well over an hour long. The weather was beautiful and we were looking for an adventure so we all decided to walk. We walked up and down the dock but all we could find was the cable car line and the donkey ride line. We made our way over to the information booth and asked about the stairs. It quickly became obvious that humans walked with the donkeys and all we had to do was push passed the line and start walking. The woman laughed at us and called us brave. She asked us a few times if we were sure that we wanted to walk.

We brushed off her comments and made our way, with a bit of an American swagger, to the donkey road. We were feeling full of ourselves and ready to tackle these stairs which, surely, could not be any worse than the stairs in Italy. We made up every reason in the world why the woman was so shocked that we would choose to walk. I still remember Holly saying  “Ohh well, the Greeks are vary sedentary people.”

We started up the road and quickly realized that what seemed like a few donkeys was actually more like 200. They were lined up against both walls; rears facing right at us. I’m not sure what everybody else’s expectations were but it had never occurred to me that there would be so many unattended donkeys. I also hadn’t thought about the fact that they spend all day on this road with no bathroom breaks. I looked to the rest of the group but they all seemed committed. We were taking the steps, head down to watch where we stepped, and had gotten passed one of the switchbacks when we heard some commotion up ahead. We were all pretty separated at this point. I stopped to see what was happening when I saw a herd of about 20 donkeys, riderless, down the stairs straight towards us. My first thought was that a herd of riders had gotten loose and soon the situation would be remedied. That’s when I noticed the one rider at the back of the pack with a whip. The next thing I noticed was that everybody else was running to the walls for support. It didn’t seem to matter. Even though clinging to the wall seemed to prevent trampling, it certainly didn’t stop the donkeys from rubbing all over you as they ran by. I suppose that on top of all of the other obvious realities that we missed it shouldn’t have surprised me that we also didn’t think about how the donkeys that took people up got back down.

The Donkeys of Santorini. You can't really tell from the photo but the wall is the only thing protecting you from avery long drop. At times you had to literally shove the donkeys away.

We regrouped and briefly discussed whether we wanted to go on.  We were all pretty committed at this point so, on we went.  The next 30-minutes of our life were a strategic mix of watching the road ahead for the next stampede and watching your step. Some of the deposits were large enough that you would not get your shoe back. In another show of brilliant planning, most of us were wearing open-toed shoes.  By the top, the exertion was the least of our concerns. We were sweaty as hell but we were also pretty sure that the odor that would follow us the rest of the day was not our own. When we finally passed the last of the donkeys at the top and the road cleared of all obstacles we stopped to take photos to commemorate out death-defying feat and rest. We noticed there were quite a few cafés and restaurants advertizing cold drinks. Even though it was only about 10:00 in the morning, we all decided a cold beer sounded fantastic.

We walked passed a few shops and looked at a bit of nice jewelry before hitting an out of the way restaurant. We were thinking cold beers and a few appetizers would really hit the spot. After the gruel we were served in Monemvasia, we were anxious for some good food. The place wasn’t really open yet but they told us we could head up to the top deck and as long as we ordered dinks and apps only we were fine. We ordered baked feta, fried zucchini, and (???). It was all fantastic. The view, the beer, and the food totally hit the spot.

After refueling, we opted to split ways to get optimal shopping done. Chau, Brian, and I headed back to one jewelry store we really liked. I had my eye on some earrings that I really liked. On the way we stopped in a store to get some olive oil. We wanted to be down at the pier by 1:30 for lunch so we were shopping under pressure. We kept hearing that you should bargain for everything but nobody seemed interested. I think much of that was because we were just not spending a lot of money. I’m not really sure how the bargaining is supposed to happen so It could have been my skill at it as well. I’ve bargained furniture before and I know you do better when you have multiple purchases.

We finished up our shopping and headed for the line to the cable cars. I had some more stuff I wanted to buy at a store right next to the line. At this time, the line was at least 30 minutes long, I left Brian and Chau in line to get my final purchases. The line ended up being more like 45-minutes and we were a little later than we wanted to be. We got a nice table outside and knew we had the right place when we saw all the cruise staff and locals. We ordered lamb souvlaki, greek salads, and friend eggplant. Just as our salads arrive, we see Ed and Holly; totally sweaty. They took one look at the line for the cable cars and headed for the donkey road again. Luckily, the donkeys were mostly off the road and the poop had been scooped. Still, it was a walk for the heat of the day.

At first they said they weren’t hungry and just needed drinks. Holly ordered a beer “as cold as you can get it”. The waiter made a confused face and asked if she wanted it frozen. The waiter brought her and Ed nice frosty beers and after a few sips, they caved and helped us finish off the food. We boarded the tenders with time to spare; still grinning over the great day we had.