Secrets of Santorini !!!

                                                                                    Santorini, Greece
                                                                                June, 2015

When you visit one of the most beautiful places in the world, would you rather have it all for your self or would you prefer dealing with a crowd of tourists sticking their "selfie sticks" in your field of view ? :)  I admit that I like both: people watching as well as enjoying the place when there are not many people around. Enjoy the photos, the secrets are at the bottom :)
  
Crowded Oia:

Poster says:  "Europe Out Of Greece". The financial crisis had not yet blown over when we visited.
I noticed quite some "anti-Europe" sentiments.

Here is someone sticking their hand right in to my view :)

Skala Restaurant at Oia. Reasonable prices for good food; comes with beautiful views of the caldera.

Crowd waiting for Sunset at Oia. This is the scene every evening.
Tourists form all other towns, arrive at Oia to watch the Sunset.

The narrow streets of Oia getting clogged with people returning from watching the Sunset.

Serene Oia:
All of these photos were taken during our morning walks between 7:30 and 9 AM.  
Even on the days with multiple cruise ships arriving, the mornings are always free and quiet. It has its own charm.

Before the crowds show up!

This the main walking path along the cliffs of Oia.
Many hidden lanes lead off from this path and offer some of the striking and splendid views (refer my earlier posts).

Secrets:
#1 Visit Santorini on a day when no cruise ships arrive: 
Santorini can get extremely crowded. The Cruise Ship terminal is located in Fira. On some days, as many as 5 cruise ships arrive at Fira. That is an average of 15,000 people visiting for a quick, rush through visit on top of the 1000s of tourists who stay for few days. Since no one wants to miss Oia, it gets crowded. Imagine going to a restaurant for lunch and having wait for an hour! On our first 2 days at Santorini, Oia was packed. On the 3rd day, we felt we owned the island. No cruise ships arrived on that day.

#2 Get up early and go for walks:
Especially, if you would like to experience the quiet, uncrowded morning beauty of Santorini.

#3 Start early for watching the Sunset:
Everyone visiting Santorini knows to watch the Sunset from Oia. This is not a secret at all. The old fort area at the  northern end of Oia gets very crowded. To get a comfortable viewing location with unobstructed views, you need to be there at least an hour before Sunset. The earlier, the better :) 

#4 Explore the hidden lanes in Oia ( while doing #2 ):
All the beautiful cliff side photos from my previous posts ( Santorini Blues , Church Bells of Santorini ) are from exploring the hidden side lanes,  off the main walking path.

#5 Stay in Oia:
Oia is the most beautiful town in Santorini and yes the hotels are costlier compared to other towns. But, it is worth staying there. If you stay in any other town, you need to take a bus or cab to arrive at Oia. If you stay in Oia, it is much easier to do #2 and #3 and  #4.

#6 Small places also serve the best food:
One day we just wanted to have Gyro for lunch. I asked the hotel folks where the locals get their Gyro. The manager pointed me to a very small cafe on a side road. The Gyros turned out to be so delicious that every day we either had lunch or dinner from that place.