Does anyone have pictures from Donkey ride in Santorini?

[HLester3]

My 5 year olds will love this. How long does it take verses the finucluar tram up the hill? It is possible to do it on the way down. What are the donkeys like, they look well taken cared of? I keep remembering the scene from the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling pants were she rode into town riding a donkey. Are there other places on the island to ride the donkeys?

Thanks.

[01suzy]

Maybe it was just me - but I was terrified. You get on the back of a donkey at the bottom of the cliff. The stone path zig zags up the cliff and when you look over the side it is a long way down (so your life is in the hands of that donkey). Then the Greek guys come up behind the donkeys with whips & bells to get them to go faster (lovely)!

 

You can take the donkeys both up and down. Not sure how long it took but I had my eyes closed a lot of the time. My kids (10 and 15) rode together ahead of me of were laughing the entire time. They chose to ride the donkeys down - my husband walked down the path (not necessarily a good choice since the path is ripe with donkey droppings).

 

So, for my kids this was definitely one of the highlights of their trip and for me it was very, very scary.

[NHRedSoxFan]

[NHRedSoxFan]

[NHRedSoxFan]

[Joanne G.]

 

Here's one shot that may give you an idea of how steep it is.

It's the zig-zag path that you can see in the center of the

picture that goes up the side of the cliff. The cable cars run

alongside the donkey path to the left - too small to see in

this picture.

[Joanne G.]

Here's another shot, taken through the glass of the cable car - hence the reflection of our knees.

 

Great pictures, LADCAD. How did you get such big ones to post? I kept having to shrink them before they would upload.

 

[NHRedSoxFan]

I upload them to photobucket dot com.

Then I select the url address and use "copy" or ctrl+c.

Then when I post the reply on this site, I use the icon from the reply toolbar for "insert image".

Then I use ctrl+v (paste),

then post the message.

 

photobucket will automatically resize the picture to an acceptible format/size when you submit it to your website.

[mountainmare]

Great pictures!!! They look more like mules than donkeys and it looks like at least you get a saddle. I am so excited to ride the donkeys up, we're going to watch the sunset so we'll have to either cable car or walk down. If you look at my name you'll see that I'm used to equine poop so that's not a problem, we would try to walk down in the twilight before it is pitch dark.

[NHRedSoxFan]

[Host Karen]

The photo are terrific, although they have really messed up the format of my webpage. Anyway, you can ride the donkeys up or down. DH and a friend rode them up while we women took the cable car. I'd say the time was about the same, since we had to wait for everyone to load onto the cable car, ride up, and then unload. If you arrived just as the cable car was ready to leave, it would be quicker than the donkeys. The cost is the same.

 

I wish I could share the video DH took of his trip up. He and our friend are laughing all the way. The donkeys looked fine and neither of the men smelled donkey-like after the ride. I wouldn't think that a 5-year-old would be able to ride alone, though, for safety issues if nothing else. It is a steep trip and the video is bouncing all over the place. Perhaps they would let a child and adult ride together.

[HLester3]

Thank you so much for all of the information and pitures. One last question. How often do they whip the donkeys. Am I going to feel guilty? Are they look generally well treated?

 

Thanks.

[Andym]

Cool, now I can add pictures, Thanks for that LADCAD.

Here is the cable car

 

[Host Karen]

Not to worry, they didn't whip the donkeys. I think the pack has gone up and down so many times that they simply follow the lead donkey.

 

Karen

[GeorgiaPeach]

Are there also donkeys in Sorrento? I friend of mine that is extremely well travelled keeps telling me that we can take the donkeys up the hill to Sorrento after we come there from Naples by boat. I'm wondering if she is confusing Sorrento with Santorini.

[Seabee]

They don't whip them but they make a terrific glue :eek:

 

Seriously, I'm sure they are taken well care of; they are someone's livlihood.

[JLC@SD]

Not to worry, they didn't whip the donkeys. I think the pack has gone up and down so many times that they simply follow the lead donkey.

 

Karen

 

The guy in Post # 4 rides up with the pack and he will prod (not whip) any of the donkeys that are stalled.

 

Another tip, they collect the fee when you get to the top. If you don't give them the exact change, I think it was 3 1/2 euros each, and I gave him a 10 euro for 2 people, he will keep your change until you make a big deal to get it. Try to have the exact cost plus whatever tip you plan or you may give a bigger tip than you had planned.

 

It is a great time and we highly recommend it.....:)