Santorini - avoiding the cable-car madhouse?

[zqvol]

Hi - how long does the walk down take? And the walk up? Just looked at a video and it looks do-able and I wouldn't want to put the poor donkeys to the effort of having us lot on their backs when I'm sure we're up to it ourselves!

Many thanks

 

 

First: Down is about 20 minutes - up is about 40 minutes.

 

Second: They are not donkeys, the animals are mules, that are not small. They are bred as pack animals and carrying a human is a light load.

[Langley Cruisers]

We took the tour also. Our tour went to Akotori and then Oia. Akotori was fascinating and it's contained in an air conditioned structure. Some tours do the winery instead of Akotori.

 

Aww, we did indeed do the winery. We were sampling wines at 9:30 in the morning! LOL. It was an absolute perfect day in Santorini.

[brian711]

now that the cruise is over I just thought I'd come back here to report on what we did.

 

We were among the first off the ship tendered to Fira, so there was zero wait at the cable car. We rode it to the top without any problem at all. We stumbled upon Tony's rental car & moto shop which hadn't opened yet, but while wondering what to do for 5 minutes, he came and opened the doors. We waited about 20 min for the couple in front of us to rent their car, and decided to rent a scooter for ourselves (helmets provided). If you have motorcycle or scooter experience like I do, this is no problem at all, and a lot of fun! If you don't have experience, then you'd be better off renting a car, or something with 4 wheels at another larger shop. But it was so much fun and was the best decision we made, as it allowed us to zip around the island at our own pace. Be warned though, he only gave us enough fuel to make it to the gas station, where we put in 4 liters which was more than enough to last the entire day. We arrived in Oia before the crowds, walked around the shops, and had a latte on a cliffside cafe. By the time we left Oia, it had been overrun with tourists. On our way back to the scooter I found a shirt with Santorini Brewery on it, so of course we had to find this place. But first we went back to Fira, and then on to Santos wines for some tasting (6 wines + some snacks and a stunning view for 14 euros, not bad!). Then on to the brewery where we sampled yellow donkey, red donkey, and crazy donkey beers and had a nice chat with one of the owners. I'm still regretting not buying a few bottles but we had no good way to carry it (which is why something with 4 wheels would have been better -- more cargo room). My better-half was the rear-seat navigator, giving directions using her phone. We went to the red beach, before finally heading back to Fira to return the scooter and have a final browse around some shops and head back down the cliff. The cable car line was quite long at this point (too long to make it back to the ship on time) so we walked down which was no problem at all. However, the donkey groups are tied together nose to tail, and they do not stop for pedestrians. So if you're between a donkey and the wall, prepare to be squished! There was a large group of donkeys near the bottom that we had to make our way through. Some of them made me a bit nervous, seeing one donkey nip another one, which then kicked the first one. We were the first ones to board the last tender. A little too close for my comfort, but this wasn't helped by the fact that we were swayed to stop and have a cactus cocktail on our way down, by a shop owner who was the spitting image of Gus from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Overall, we had a blast!

[chefestelle]

So is it better to walk on the side where the half wall is over the view rather than the full wall on the land side? The video on this thread looks like the mules come up the "open" side

[willing292]

We were in Santorini in May. A storm blew up and the walkway and the cable car were both closed for safety reasons. Buses were hired, and PAX were given a free ride back to the tender port at the end of the island, and then a tender ride back to the ship.

[alfaeric]

So is it better to walk on the side where the half wall is over the view rather than the full wall on the land side? The video on this thread looks like the mules come up the "open" side

 

They weave from side to side. There is no right side to walk on. The lack of dung will be a stronger decider than what the movie shows.

 

BTW, we saw a few falls on the way down- the stones are a little uneven, and hot and tired people get a little uneasy.