Santorini in 1981

In 1981 I was pleased to reach Santorini after a cramped boat ride from Paros. The island is the remnant of an extinct volcano and the main town of Thira is built on the rim of the volcano. There was then no cable car, the only way from the old harbour to the top was up the 600 odd steps on foot or by donkey taxi. The ferry landed at the new port of Athinios where two buses waited. Hundreds of passengers and rucksacks clambered on board. We saw a spactacular sunset as we wound up to Thira. Where would we all sleep? No need to have worried.
　Back in 1981 the cable car had not been built and I walked up and down the steps to the old harbour a time or two, resisting the temptation to buy a ride on one of the now probably retired donkeys. The new harbour a mile or two round the coast had been built by 1981. The new harbour was not and is not a place to stay, and if there are rooms they would only be used by people waiting for or landing from a boat. There is usually a fleet of buses and hotel owned mini buses to meet the ferries, and I usually sail out of Santorini to the site of a positive convoy of these vehicles snaking their way up the hairpin road leading from the harbour. Are they so assiduous in returning you to the harbour, I always wonder. I say there are usually a large number of buses. Coming back from Anaphi there were only five passengers and a crate or two of fish on board the Express Santorini. I noticed that the ferry was not met. If anyone had been getting off at Santotini there could have been a long wait in port until the next bus appeared. Another ferry (presumably from more populated ferries) had just left port, the buses were snaking up hill, but not single one had waited to meet the ferry from Anaphi. Luckily no one (human or fish) got off.

　
In 1981 I stayed at the Hotel Kavalari. I see that the hotel is now listed in various hotel guides and must have gone upmarket since my visit. I remember the novelty of having the reception on the top floor and the rooms on the floors beneath. My room was in the volcanic crater, windowless, dug out of the rock. Apart from a cave hotel I stayed in at Matamata in Tunisia, this was the only time I have ever slept in a cave. This room was reached down a tunnel and had no window, just a ventilator onto the tunnel; the cave room in Tunisia gave onto an outside platform. The Tunisian hotel was on the tourist trail; the door was only made of palm leaves and had no lock. One morning I was lounging in bed, not that late, perhaps about eight, when I heard some voices.. A tour group was exploring the hotel. I rapidly made some noises and put my head out of the door so that thay could see the room was occupied. I had no such problems at the Kavalari for although the room was in a cave it had a locking door.

I heard one couple complaining that their room was damp. To me a damp room in that heat would have been a blessing. I have different expectations when I am in Greece to when I am in England, and maybe these two had not adjusted their expectations. In England I expect a hotel room to have a fitted carpet, yet in Greece I am more than happy with a marble tiled floor and a rug or two. I have been in hotel rooms in Athens with carpets, but the carpets look tatty.