Last Day in Santorini

Saturday, April 26th 2014 Santorini
Yesterday after a breakfast of Greek yogurt, fresh strawberries, cake, cheese, coffee and orange juice on our balcony, we tidied up and went wandering around Fira for the morning.

 When we got to the cliff edge, we could see another cruise ship had arrived in the night. Two or 3 smaller boats (tenders) go back and forth between the ship and the old port at the foot of the cliff below Fira, bringing 50 or more passengers at a time. Most of them ride the cable car up the cliff but some come by donkey up the steps. Within a few blocks of the cable car station at the top, the narrow pedestrian streets are extremely crowded. Beyond that the tourist hordes thin out considerably. When it's time to go back to the ship, hundreds of people are lined up at the cable car station. It doesn't look like much fun.
We walked down to the Greek Orthodox church on the cliff edge at the south end of town and toured through it for awhile. We found a restaurant nearby where we'll have an early dinner tonight. Then we walked to the north end of town and toured the Catholic church. Both churches have beautiful frescoes painted in the domes and arches.

 We took a photo of a young Chinese couple with their camera and they did the same for us. Everyone's hair flies in the wind that comes up the cliff. It was about 20C but it's always very windy at the cliff edge.
We bought some bread at a bakery to add to our lunch supplies which we ate on our balcony. We relaxed in the sun for most of the afternoon before going back to the cliff edge for sunset.

 Unlike the previous evening, last night the streets were almost deserted. The cruise ship had gone and there just weren't many tourists in town. Maybe some other tour had left as well. Anyway, it makes a huge difference if you can organize touring to avoid the cruise ship passengers.

We sat on a stone bench at the cliff edge and watched the sun set for about an hour. It really is beautiful. It's also very peaceful when the tourist hordes aren't jockeying for position for the best pose. Some of them can get a little wild but there was none of that last night.
Afterward, we weren't really that hungry so we just ate some delicious pork gyro pitas in a little streetside bar and watched the evening action begin. Fira is quite a party town too. All through the night we can just barely hear music playing off in the distance. I'm sure some people party until dawn every night they're here. Not us. Our hotel is on a small side street and is very quiet so we're happy about that.
We have to check out by 11:30 am. We'll leave our bags here, wander along the cliff edge and eat an early dinner at a restaurant we've picked out. Then the hotel will shuttle us down to the new port where, at 5:55 pm, our fast catamaran ferry leaves for Heraklion, Crete. We'll be there by about 7:30 pm.