Santorini had been high on my list for years. The white villages hanging over the caldera, blue-domed churches and old windmills were scenes I had seen in magazines, travel books and advertisements forever, and they were exactly what I wanted to photograph. This was our first visit, arriving aboard MSC Lirica in October, with one day to see as much of the island as we could.
We could already see the enormous caldera cliffs from the ship that morning. The sky was clear, the water was deep blue and the weather couldn’t have been much better. By the time we boarded the tender, both of us were ready to get ashore.
I went into the day expecting Santorini to look like all those photographs that had put it on my list in the first place. It did. In person, it looked even better.
Day 1 — Santorini — Tendered ashore from MSC Lirica for an island excursion including Akrotiri and Anhydrous Winery, continued to Oia for several hours of exploring and photography, then spent the afternoon walking through Fira before taking the cable car to the Old Port and tendering back to the ship.
Tendering into Athinios had the usual cruise-excursion shuffle. Getting onto the tender was a little chaotic, then everyone had to find the right guide and wait for the group to come together once we reached the port. Laura and I were on an MSC excursion using a full-size bus, and once everyone was accounted for we headed across the dry volcanic landscape toward Akrotiri.
Akrotiri was the first real stop and one of the reasons I liked this excursion. Archaeology has always fascinated me. I grew up in the Indiana Jones era, so putting an ancient city buried by a volcanic eruption on the schedule didn’t require much convincing.
The scale of the excavation hit me as soon as we walked inside. I hadn’t realized the entire site would be protected beneath such a massive building. Stone walls, streets, rooms and pottery were exposed below us while the excavation continued beneath the roof. Some of the remains were in far better condition than I expected considering how long the settlement had been buried.
The ancient water and sewage systems were probably the detail that interested me most. Looking at plumbing incorporated into a settlement this old puts our idea of “modern” infrastructure into a different perspective. The guide led us through the site while I did what I usually do on tours and hung toward the back so I could stop for photographs without holding everyone up. Fortunately, the covered site was lit well enough that photography wasn’t difficult.
Our next stop was Anhydrous Winery near Fira. We sampled several Santorini wines with olives while the tour continued discussing the island, its volcanic history and the caldera. It wasn’t lunch—we hadn’t eaten since breakfast aboard MSC Lirica—but it was a nice stop before continuing north.
Then we reached Oia.
This was the Santorini I had been waiting to see.
Once the bus dropped us off and we started walking, there were whitewashed buildings, blue domes, bell towers and caldera views almost everywhere I looked. The village was busy without being miserable, and getting around was fairly easy. I had saved a couple of viewpoints from photographs I had seen before the trip and wanted to find them for myself, although once we started walking I quickly realized I wasn’t exactly going to have trouble finding things to photograph.
The famous blue-domed viewpoints were obviously popular. One had a pretty long line, and at a few others we waited for people to move before getting the photographs we wanted. Laura and I traded cameras or phones with other visitors so everyone could get pictures together. Those blue-dome photographs became some of my favorites from the entire Greece trip and several eventually made it into our photo books.
Once I had those shots, we mostly wandered. That works pretty well in Oia because the village keeps giving you something to look at. We walked through the shops, followed narrow lanes between the buildings and stopped whenever something caught my attention. A bright red doorway surrounded by plants stood out immediately against all the white and became one of those photographs I took simply because I liked the scene. Most of the churches we passed were closed, although we could still photograph the domes and bell towers throughout the village.
The windmills became another target once I spotted them. I knew Santorini for its windmills before the trip, but I hadn’t mapped out exactly where they were. We worked our way toward the western side of Oia around the castle area and found several good views across the village. One overlook also looked almost straight down toward Ammoudi Bay. We stayed above the harbor; getting down there wasn’t the problem, but getting down and back with the time we had certainly was.
We eventually worked our way back toward the center of Oia and Panagia Platsani. I remember waiting there for a while just to get a photograph of the church without a crowd standing in front of it. We probably had two or three hours on our own in Oia, and I easily could have stayed longer. There was no shortage of places left to explore or photographs left to take.
The excursion continued south to Fira, where the organized part of the day was basically finished. We were free to explore town and return to the ship on our own. The guide explained that we could walk down to the Old Port, ride a donkey or take the cable car. The cable car was already our choice.
Fira was busier and more commercial than Oia, but it was still a beautiful place to walk. We wandered without much of a plan, photographed the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral, stopped for the obligatory picture at the big I Love Santorini sign and kept following whatever streets looked interesting. I wasn’t tired of walking yet. There was still too much to see.
At some point we were ready for shade and something to drink. We stopped at Idol Restaurant Bar, found a spot overlooking Fira and sat for a while. I had a beer and Laura had water. We still hadn’t eaten lunch, but neither of us was interested in giving up sightseeing time for a full meal.
A church steeple later pulled us into Fira’s Catholic Quarter. I almost always stop when I see an interesting church while we’re traveling, and the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist was no different. We went inside briefly so I could look around and get a few photographs. We also passed the Catholic Church of St. Stylianos along the cliffside walk, although that wasn’t something we had specifically gone looking for.
We stayed in Fira about as long as we reasonably could before heading to the cable car. Even with cruise passengers returning to their ships, the wait was only around fifteen minutes. We bought our tickets at the station and shared a car with other passengers for the ride down.
The view made the cable car worth doing even if we hadn’t been trying to save time. We could look down on the walking path and see people making their way along the switchbacks, including passengers riding donkeys toward the port. I had absolutely no interest in getting on one of the donkeys. Given enough time, I would have walked.
Back at the Old Port, we waited around twenty minutes for a tender. Once we were aboard, I found a spot where I could keep photographing the cliffs. Looking back toward Fira from sea level made the scale of the caldera much easier to appreciate. The town looked like a narrow white strip sitting along the top of an enormous wall of volcanic rock.
MSC Lirica was waiting in the caldera, and we were back outside on deck after returning aboard. Santorini was still sitting there across the water while the ship prepared to leave.
By then we were also starving. Breakfast had been a very long time ago.
Anhydrous Winery
Our excursion included a stop at Anhydrous Winery, where we sampled Santorini wines with olives. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so the olives didn’t exactly qualify as lunch, but the tasting was a nice break between Akrotiri and Oia. It was also our only real chance that day to try wine produced on Santorini.
Idol Restaurant Bar
Later in Fira, Laura and I stopped at Idol for some shade and a chance to sit down with the town spread out below us. I had a beer and Laura stuck with water. We didn’t order food because we were still trying to squeeze everything we could out of our remaining time ashore. By the time we were back aboard MSC Lirica, skipping lunch had definitely caught up with us.
In the Frame
The Faces Behind This Journey
Just Beyond: Agistri & Aegina
Trade Santorini’s cliffs and blue domes for a quieter island day of cycling, swimming, waterfront cafés and pistachios. This Feature Story follows our route across Agistri and Aegina, including the bike ride to Skala, a swim off Metopi and time exploring Aegina Town.
Explore the Agistri & Aegina Feature Story
Santorini was one of the destinations on this trip where photography was a big part of the reason I wanted to be there. I carried two Canon 5D Mark III bodies with the 24–70mm and 70–200mm lenses rather than hauling my entire bag ashore. I left the wide-angle lens and some of the other gear on the ship, and there was no reason to carry a tripod for the kind of shooting we were doing.
The bright white buildings could have been difficult under a clear midday sun, but they weren’t much of a problem. I watched the histogram and the highlight-warning blinkies on the Canons to make sure I wasn’t blowing out the white walls. The sky really was that blue. I had UV filters on the lenses but wasn’t using a polarizer.
Akrotiri was easier to photograph than I expected because the large protective structure eliminated the harsh direct sunlight. Oia was almost the opposite—bright sun, white buildings and deep blue sky—but compositions were everywhere. Even with other visitors around, I rarely had trouble finding an angle or waiting a little while for people to clear.
The blue-domed church photographs were the ones I wanted most and remain my favorites from the day. If I were picking a single hero image for Santorini, I’d use one of the wider blue-dome panoramas showing the church, Oia and the caldera together.
October worked well for us. The weather was excellent and Oia had plenty of visitors without reaching the point where the crowds ruined the experience. I’d gladly visit at the same time of year again.
Seeing Santorini properly requires a lot of walking. We dealt with cobblestones, stairs and uneven surfaces throughout the day, although neither of us found it particularly difficult. Comfortable shoes matter. Someone using a wheelchair or dealing with significant mobility limitations would have a much tougher time with parts of Oia and Fira.
I wouldn’t make a big issue out of the tender or cable-car process. We waited about fifteen minutes for the cable car and roughly twenty minutes for the tender back to MSC Lirica. We intentionally stayed in Fira as long as we reasonably could and never felt like we were in danger of missing the ship.
The excursion itself was a good use of a single cruise day. Akrotiri gave us something completely different from the villages, the winery fit nicely between stops, and we still had enough independent time in Oia and Fira to explore at our own pace. I wouldn’t change much if we did the same trip again.
We probably will. Santorini is already on the list for another cruise, and I’d happily spend another day walking around with a camera. If the timing ever works out for sunrise or sunset in Oia, even better.
The cable car ride from Fira down to the Old Port gave us one last look across the caldera before heading back to MSC Lirica. From the cabin we could see the steep walking path below, people making their way down on foot and by donkey, and just how far Fira sits above the water.
Sky to Sea | A Caldera Descent in Santorini
Riding the cable car from Fira down to Santorini’s Old Port, with views across the caldera and the walking path below.
Behind the Lens
I’m Steve—a retired Army vet who traded rucksacks for camera bags and never stopped exploring. What started with a simple 110 film camera grew into photographing all 50 states and 30+ countries, from quick business-trip detours to adventures with my wife Laura. Shutter Nomadica is where I share those travels through the photographs, stories, and moments that made each place memorable.
Just Beyond: Rhodes
Continue the Eastern Mediterranean journey to Rhodes, where the scenery shifts from whitewashed villages to medieval walls, stone streets and one of the most impressive old cities we visited on the cruise. This Feature Story follows our day from the harbor into the walled city and through the historic center.
Explore the Rhodes Feature Story