I know, I know. I sound jaded; I sound spoiled. But I’m not alone in this — in the elevator at the end of the day, one of the other cruise guests asked how we would rate our day in Santorini out of 10, and I said: a 2, and others in the elevator agreed. (We were taking the elevator instead of the stairs because I was in heels, just to be clear.)
Santorini is BEE-YOO-TEE-FULL. And I bet if our tour hadn’t taken us to the two busiest, most crowded villages on the island, I might have actually liked it. But I’m 5′ tall, and elbow-to-elbow crowds make me edgy (I can’t see over the heads). The parking lot for the tour buses was a nightmare — and yet, somehow, bus drivers were able to negotiate their way in and out of the carpark, without any damages (or fatalities).
Greece has definitely changed since the 80’s – the shops are very upmarket, the locals are tres chic, and tourism has taken over. I would like to go back to Greece – everyone is so friendly, so nice – but if I go to the Aegean islands again, I’ll pick a small one, or a big island (Corfu, Crete) and go to a small town.
11 October 2023