Would My Donkey be the First?

Friday, September 8: Ia, Santorini (Bill)

Santorini has two major harbors: the Old Port near the main city of Fira, and Port Athina, the new port built south of Fira for large cruise ships that now frequent the island. To our benefit, we didn’t sail into either of them. Instead, Thomás took us into a small cove on the northern section of the island. It was a fantastic choice. As we sailed into the cove, the deep blue indigo water contrasted with the towering red clay cliffs, upon which sit the white buildings of the beautiful city of Ia. We dropped anchor, ate lunch, and had a swim. Thomás and Sini took us in the motor dinghy to drop us off at the base of the cliff and we made plans to meet up later for dinner in Ia.

In the meantime, we wanted to do a little sightseeing and shopping in town. Had we been at the port in Fira, there would have been an easy tram ride to get us to the top of the cliffs. At Ia, there was no cable car; our choices were either to hoof it, or, quite literally, to hoof it. In other words, either walk or ride a donkey. We opted for the donkeys.

[Amanda’s Note: So we get to the donkey stand and the man asked us if we want “taxi”. Bill and I said Yes and waited for the donkeys to make their way back down the cliff from their last drop off. When they returned, one of the men directed me to hop on. But they just got back, I thought, it seems like the poor donkeys never got a break. As we started up the steep and narrow mountain path, I got a little nervous. After all, just one step to the left and the donkey and I were going bye bye. As I looked down over the cliff, many thoughts started going through my head: What was my donkey’s life like? Was he a happy donkey? Did he have a drink of water today? Has a donkey ever decided to jump because it just wasn’t worth it?]

In Ia, we made our way to the westernmost tip of the city (which in fact was also the western most tip of the island) and took in one of the sunsets for which Santorini is famous. We then met our crew for dinner, followed by a walk back down the cliffs and a dinghy ride back out to the catamaran. It was about midnight, and the large moon we had been treated to over the past couple days was finally at its fullest. It lit up the entire sky and made the white buildings of Ia look like snow caps on a mountain top. We spent half of our last night on the boat lying in the hull’s trampoline, just staring at the city.

In the morning, we said our goodbyes to Thomás and Sini. Thomás fired up the dinghy again and took us to the dock at Amoudi so we could catch a real taxi to our hotel in Fira. Our cab pulled up as we were watching the catamaran sail northward back to Paros.