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what to see in Santorini

Rockin' Robin

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WooKeef

WooKeef

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My husband & I will be on the 7 Seas Navigator' date=' Oct.14, Athens to Rome. None of the organized ship tours include a visit to Akrotiri. We love ancient sites but don't know if this is worth seeing. Anyone been there? Anyone taken private tours on Santorini?[/quote']

Akrotiri is fantastic and well worth it if the site is open. I haven't looked lately, but I know it was closed due to an accident involving some British Tourist. Not sure if it is but you can rent a car and have them meet you at the top of the funicular when you get there. The black sand beaches are nice with a nice walk way and alwo Ancient Thira is a cool site if you are interested in archeology, it would be boring if you aren't but the view is fantastic from there. Santorini is fantastic and if you are there during a sunset you must see it from the town of Iia.

Enjoy your trip!

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Susan-M

Susan-M

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We wanted to visit Akrotiri last Sept, but it was closed for repairs, and I think it might still be - esp. if the ship's tours are not including it.

 

We rented a car and spent the day exploring the island - thoroughly enjoyed it!

 

Here's how we spent our day there:

Tendered ashore at 7:45 and caught the cable car up to the town of Fira . We had not planned to spend any time in Fira so headed to Tony’s Rent-a-Car for our reserved car. Ancient Akrotiri is closed on Monday but we decided to head in that direction to see the Red Beach. We parked at the end of the road in Akrotiri and then hiked to the beach (made up of red volcanic pebbles and seems to be only accessible on foot or by water) and then to the top of the hill for some spectacular views. Back in the car, we headed to the town of Faros for more spectacular views of the Caldera. On to Emporio for a lunch stop, then Pyrgos (the highest and oldest village on the island)...wonderful views after walking to the top of the village! On to Kamari Beach (black volcanic pebbles) for a swim here and again amazed by how clear the water is.

From Kamari, headed north, back through Fira, towards Oia, but first stopping in Imerovigli for more great views, then down into Ammoudi ....an old fishing village, with buildings made out of red volcanic stones. Ate at Katina’s Taverna and had a delicious Greek seafood dinner , then walked the path along the shore. Back in the car and up to Oia (our plan was to do Oia late in the day once the tour buses had cleared out and this worked well as it was not very busy at 6 p.m.) Parked the car in Oia and found a nice spot to wait to see Oia’s famous sunset. There was still 45 minutes to wait, but people were lining up already. The sunset was a lackluster one but seeing all the people lined up to watch it was a sight in itself. Arrived back in Fira to drop the car off at 7:45 and walked down the 600 steps, dodging donkey droppings along the way (hard to see at times, because it was dark, and the lights didn’t cover the whole stairway.) We actually saw a few people walking up which seemed like quite a feat! It took about 20 minutes to walk down. http://www.frommers.com/destinations/santorini/1647010001.html

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Susan-M

Susan-M

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Hi Robin,

 

Click on the names of those places on the link attached: http://www.frommers.com/destinations/santorini/1647_indattr.html

 

I used this site for all of our travel info for our day on Santorini and the map on this site http://www.frommers.com/images/destinations/maps/jpg-2006/1647_santorini.jpg is good for getting an idea of where everything is located.

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GACRUISER456

GACRUISER456

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We were there last month and rented a car from Eurodollar (on the Santorini website). They met us at the top of the cable car and within 10 mintues, we were off. Drove to Oia, parked and wandered through the amazingly beautiful town (the best pictures of the trip!). Then we headed down the east side of the island and visited a couple of the black sand beaches. When you get to Kamari, it gets a little confusing, but if you look up, you will see a very winding road going up the side of the mountain. It is very adventurous, but well worth it once you are at the top. That is where you will find the ruins of Ancient Thira. Beware, in August, they closed at 2:30 which I think is a fixed time year round. It was just fantastic up there. From there, we went to a winery and then back to Fira for a little shopping. Akritori was still closed last month and no one seems to know when it will open, but Ancient Thira was very good if you are looking for the history on the island.

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Bruin Steve

Bruin Steve

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We were at Ancient Thira in July while on the Oceania Nautica...did it on our own, of course, with rental car...Akrotiri was "Closed" (as it was when we were there in 2003)...

 

There are no guides for hire at the site...Find a good guide book or internet site with explanations you can print out...

 

It is an interesting drive up...pretty much straight up the mountain ONE LANE numerous hairpin turns...You need to take it slow...the road widens out at each hairpin, so you need to be alert...if there's a car coming the other way, you need to stay at the hairpin and wait (luckily, there's not a lot of traffic)...

 

When you get to the top of the road, there's still a considerable climb on foot...

 

First thing you reach is an old church...but continue...the site itself (on the mountaintop) is fairly massive...and the views are incredible...You literally get an aerial view of the black sand beaches--the shots I got with my camera (10x optical zoom) were unreal...

 

Good luck...

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Bruin Steve

Bruin Steve

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Hi Steve' date='

 

I see you live in Calabasas. We live in Bell Canyon!! Do you have any kids that go to Calabasas High School? Small World!! [/quote']

Hi, Robin...

Yeah, we're neighbors...I live in Calabasas Park Estates (by the top of the golf course)...

I have two daughters who both graduated from Calabasas High School...But, wer're a little beyond that now...Our older daughter, Heather, graduated from Calabasas in 2002 and went on to UC San Diego from where she graduated this past June...She's now in a Masters program in Higher Education Administration at Columbia...Our Younger daughter, Hayley, graduated from CHS in 2004 and is now in her Junior year at UC Davis...

Steve

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Rockin' Robin

Rockin' Robin

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Hi Steve,

 

As I mentioned, my husband & I live in Bell Canyon. My husband is a physician & works at Kaiser, Woodland Hills. We have a daughter, Allison. who gratuated from CHS in 2004 & is currently at UCSB. Our son, Aaron, is a senior at CHS & is on the varsity basketball team. What does your wife do? Looks like you've taken quite a few cruises.

 

Nice to meet a new neighbor :o

 

Robin

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Bruin Steve

Bruin Steve

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Robin,

Sounds like Allison was in Hayley's class at CHS (Ask if she knows Hayley Doshay)...

UCSB is great...I have a niece and nephew going there now...

 

I, too, work for Kaiser...I'm an attorney at Walnut Center...

My wife, Beth, is a school psychologist for the LAUSD...

 

Yeah, we've taken a few cruises...I guess I'm sort of into it...

I just booked another today (for January 3-8)...

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Susan-M

Susan-M

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Thanks Susan!!

Have you been to Sicily? I'm having the same problem with ship tours there. They don't provide tours to the Valley of the Temples or any other ancient sites. :(

 

Hi Robin - no, Sicily is still on my wish list. But if you post a new thread there should be lots of help.

 

Good luck with your planning - and have a wonderful cruise!!

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Rockin' Robin

Rockin' Robin

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Steve,

 

I just spoke to Allison & she does remember Hayley. Does Hayley remember Allison Singer? My husbands name is Adam & he is the chief of Urology at Woodland Hills. I know he goes out to Walnut Center all the time. Do you know him?

 

What cruise did you just book?

 

Robin

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GACRUISER456

GACRUISER456

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Rockin'

Here is the site for the car rentals. I just emailed several off here to get rates. Eurodollar was very responsive via email. We had an appointment at 10a and sure enough, they were at the exit to the cable car with a sign for us.

 

http://www.santorini.com/rentals/

 

The maps they gave us were pretty basic. You can tell where you are by the gas station symbol on the map! None of the roads have names or hwy numbers, but 98% of our day was very easy. There is one main road from Fira to Oia and 1 road down the east coast to the black sand beaches. In the town of Kamari, we had to ask directions to get up the hill to Ancient Thira, but we had no idea what we really were looking for at the time. We never did make it to the south part of the island. From Ancient Thira, we cut across the middle stopping at a winery and then back to Fira. I would highly recommend this mode of exploration.

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GACRUISER456

GACRUISER456

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We just used their map. I think it is the basic map of Santorini. Any map I saw was just about as descriptive ;) It was fine to get us around. As I mentioned, there weren't many road choices anyway. The hardest was around Kamari and cutting through the middle of the island, but even there, we knew the general direction to head, so it made it easier.

 

In Ancient Thira, there were some signs at various locations and there seemed to be some employees lurking around that you could ask questions. We got there so late not realizing it closed at 2:30 that we really just had time to walk, look and take a few pictures. There seemed to be a lot more deeper in that we missed though. If you can find some information on it before hand, I'm sure that will help. I couldn't locate much, but my husband is a history nut, so he knew quit a bit about the civilization already.

 

It was one of our best days and we just really enjoyed the drive around and the beautiful scenery.

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GACRUISER456

GACRUISER456

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We paid 40E for a Fiat Punto (4 seater, stick shift w/ air conditioning). That was at the beginning of Aug which I'm sure is high season. I booked it maybe 2 -3 months in advance. There are many car rental companies there in Fira (some are on the dock when you get off the tender and others are up in the town). I have heard it is not really a problem to find a car the day you arrive and maybe you would be able to get a better deal when you are there (especially if September starts the declining tourist season). We wanted everything planned out, so we booked in advance.

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Susan-M

Susan-M

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I am curious as to how much you paid for your rental, what kind of car is was and how far in advance you booked the reservation. We are planning on going Sept of '07.

 

We paid 55E for rental, insurance and gas - for a compact, A/C, standard (can't remember the model-but it was a new car).

 

I would check the cruise calendar a few months prior to your cruise - if there are several ships scheduled in port that day, reservations would probably be a good idea. http://www.cruisecal.com/dnn/default.aspx

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