Fira or Akrotiri for Santorini "base of operations"?

Thanks to all for the info on October weather in Greece. I'm thinking
mid- to late-Sept might work out better; we're not hard-wired to the
October time frame. Now, my next question (I know, I know; always with
the questions): given what we want to do, would Fira or Akrotiri be a
better home base? Our must-do items:

visit the ruins

visit Santo Wines

a good beach for sunbathing, with a good view of the caldera etc.

We will not have a car, so access to these things via public
transportation is a must. Thoughts? Thanks as always.

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 16:42:20 +0100, Steve G wrote
(in article <1177429340.571722.11240@o40g2000prh.. com>):

> Thanks to all for the info on October weather in Greece. I'm thinking
> mid- to late-Sept might work out better; we're not hard-wired to the
> October time frame. Now, my next question (I know, I know; always with
> the questions): given what we want to do, would Fira or Akrotiri be a
> better home base? Our must-do items:
>
> visit the ruins
>
> visit Santo Wines
>

In my experience on Greek islands it's usually better to stay in the main
town (Fira in the case of Santorini). All buses will radiate from the main
town, so you will find it far easier to travel around the island.

I haven't seen it for a few years, but I remember Akrotiri as a rather
dusty little village with not much going on at all. It's a more 'traditional'
Greek village than Fira but if that's what you're really looking for, then
I'd say you're going to the wrong island.

> a good beach for sunbathing, with a good view of the caldera etc.

If by 'good beach' you mean large and covered with golden sand, then you can
forget it on Santorini. Like many volcanic islands the beaches tend to be
strewn with black pebbles and pumice. There are beaches on the south-east
coast covered with black sand which is not particularly attractive in my
view, and gets painfully hot in the sun. (It also makes sun-bathers look
somewhat like Frankfurter sausages on a Teflon pan). As before, if it's
beaches you're after, I'd say you 'd do better on a different island.

--
Mike Lane (UK North Yorkshire)
To contact me replace invalid with mike underscore lane

On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:08:26 GMT, carolea7@ (Carole Allen) wrote:

>On 24 Apr 2007 08:42:20 -0700, Steve G <jeng_steveg@m>
>wrote:
>
>>Thanks to all for the info on October weather in Greece. I'm thinking
>>mid- to late-Sept might work out better; we're not hard-wired to the
>>October time frame. Now, my next question (I know, I know; always with
>>the questions): given what we want to do, would Fira or Akrotiri be a
>>better home base? Our must-do items:
>>
>>visit the ruins
>>
>>visit Santo Wines
>>
>>a good beach for sunbathing, with a good view of the caldera etc.
>>
>>We will not have a car, so access to these things via public
>>transportation is a must. Thoughts? Thanks as always.
>
>Fira is more central.

Maybe time to say that the island isn't huge.

>There are public busses to Akrotiri - there are
>also tour buses which take you to Akrotiri (tour included), Santo
>Winery (tasting), a monastery, a few other places on a loop.
>
>If you want nice beaches,

West coast of the Peloponnese.

>you want Naxos....the Ilona is a nice hotel
>close to Georges Beach. The old town (Castro) is lovely walking, rent
>a car or motorbike and trip around the island - lots of neat little
>villages and sights.

There are nice black beaches on Santorini.
--

Martin

On Apr 24, 5:42 pm, Steve G <jeng_ste...@m> wrote:
> Thanks to all for the info on October weather in Greece. I'm thinking
> mid- to late-Sept might work out better; we're not hard-wired to the
> October time frame. Now, my next question (I know, I know; always with
> the questions): given what we want to do, would Fira or Akrotiri be a
> better home base? Our must-do items:
>
> visit the ruins
>
> visit Santo Wines
>
> a good beach for sunbathing, with a good view of the caldera etc.
>
> We will not have a car, so access to these things via public
> transportation is a must. Thoughts? Thanks as always.

It's been a long time since our family spent a week on Santorini. We
stayed in Fira, and it's hard imagining anywhere else because the
other places are so small, including Akrotiri which I think you would
feel stranded in. If you want to get around, just rent a car or jeep-
like vehicle for a day or two which you can do in Fira as needed and
need not be that expensive. The boat trip to the new volcano island
and the other larger island to the west is another thing to do.
Others have mentiond the lack of good beaches which tend to be on the
east side of the island as the west side is cliffs.

After spending a horrid first night in one of the "better" hotels with
rooms almost the same size as the beds, we rented an apartment built
into the cliff just below the road leading from the cable car station
to the sea below. It was much nicer than the original hotel, much
cheaper, we had a kitchen, and the views from the terrace magnificent
with the cruise ships anchored almost immediately below. The
restaurant by the cable car station also had the best and worst
sausages I have ever eaten, on two consecutive days! What a
disappointment the second lunch was!!!!

The later you visit, the rooms will probably be cheaper.

George

On Apr 25, 4:36 pm, retsu...@xinap.moc (Mike S.) wrote:
> In article <1177429340.571722.11...@o40g2000prh.. com>,
> Steve G <jeng_ste...@m> wrote:
>
> >Thanks to all for the info on October weather in Greece. I'm thinking
> >mid- to late-Sept might work out better; we're not hard-wired to the
> >October time frame. Now, my next question (I know, I know; always with
> >the questions): given what we want to do, would Fira or Akrotiri be a
> >better home base? Our must-do items:
>
> >visit the ruins
>
> AFAIK the Akrotiri ruins are still closed, probably until 2008, after the
> scaffolding collapse that killed a British tourist. There is a full-scale
> photographic exhibit of the wall paintings in the Nomikos Conference
> Center in Fira.

That won't be a problem, we are looking at 2009 for our next jaunt to
Europe.
On the same subject, what does everyone think of Oia? the map
indicates it
has a beach, and some nice hotels, but beyond that ... ?