October 12: Megalochori–ferry port
We spent this day somewhat at loose ends. We had to be out of the apartment by noon, but our ferry didn’t leave until 4 pm. The hotel said we could hang out at the pool until it was time to leave for the port.
That left the morning. But what to do? The bronze age site Akrotiri was fairly close, but it was too far to walk and we didn’t have a good way of getting to it. Likewise Ancient Thira. We didn’t have a good way of getting anywhere.
Chris wanted to work on his computer while we still had the apartment.
Megalochori morning
I spent our last couple of hours wandering around Megalochori to make sure I hadn’t missed any of its attractions.
Here’s what you can do in Megalochori: You can visit the Gavalas winery. You can shop for souvenirs. You can stroll, or you can terrorize strollers by driving through on a four-wheeler tour. There’s a little more:
If you’re actually staying in Megalochori, you can sit in your hot tub. I got the feeling that the tourists wandering Megalochori didn’t know what to do themselves. There are only so many souvenirs one can buy or meals one can eat.
Grand View Hotel
The hotel sent a driver to pick us up at noon. We installed ourselves at a table by the pool.
Chris got back to work on the ongoing backing-up of images and video, which was proving immensely time-consuming. I walked around the hotel to a sun-baked promontory that provided some of the best views of the island yet.
Lots of couples come out to this outcropping to take romantic photos. I went and got Chris because the area was screaming for drone shots.
Back at the hotel, we were joined at the pool by the members of a wedding party who’d flown in from Washington state for a wedding that evening. They were nice enough, but they were also getting their drink on pretty seriously. When they moved on to the third pitcher of strawberry daiquiris at 3 p.m., Chris and I decided to head down to the port, where we hoped to find something resembling a Greek taverna.
Ferry port and voyage to Rethymno
And that’s where we ended our whirlwind visit to Santorini. The driver told us that this port is an absolute madhouse in the summer, which would be a serious disincentive to rent a car with the intention of returning it here.
There was indeed a Greek taverna that offered up the homey fare we’d become accustomed to, complete with the usual menu of items that weren’t actually available. Chris bought shaving cream from the “impulse-buy” rack by the register.
Our ferry was late. When it finally arrived, we were herded on as fast as possible, with the intention of checking us in after we’d already set sail.
This SeaJets ferry was much bigger than the one we’d ridden to Santorini two days earlier. There were multiple rows of seats across it. It was delightfully uncrowded.
We arrived in Rethymno an hour late. Our driver Kyriakis was waiting there to drive us on to Chania and the start of our Cretan adventure!
