A donkey, decked out in colorful beads and an evil-eye amulet, awaits the day’s passengers on the stairs leading up to the village of Fira, on the island of Santorini.
When visitors arrive to Santorini’s Old Port via cruise ship or boat, they have three ways to make it up to the town of Fira: climb the (almost) 600 stairs, ride a donkey (€5 one way), or ride the cable car (€4 one way).
Riding a donkey is controversial – animal rights organizations and some visitors say it is cruel, whereas the local government assures visitors, via signs posted at the port, that the animals are well-cared-for by veterinarians and offered regular periods of rest.
If you choose to tackle the path with your own feet or ascend via cable car (we did both, but chose not to ride a donkey) beware of donkey droppings and hoof encounters with the first option, and potential vertigo spells with the second one. We saw one tourist whose foot was accidentally stepped upon by a donkey’s hoof, and the woman exclaimed how painful that was.
We found the walk to be great exercise. The cable car ride, on the other hand, offered a beautiful view of the caldera and cliff, albeit quite quick!
Where in the World?
Photography & text © Tricia A. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
Travels With Tricia 
LOVE!
Their accessories are fun to look at, aren’t they, Ali? I usually purchase one silver charm whenever I travel to a new place, and I chose a tiny donkey for my charm bracelet. :)
That is a lovely idea! A travel charm bracelet… love it.
Given their diminutive size, the charms are the perfect souvenir. I’ve now graduated onto my second bracelet.
The backlighting makes for a great photo! I like the “where in the world” graphic.
Thank you, Kat. The graphic is easy to embed via Google maps (just copying & pasting the html code). Perhaps it’s a flashback to geography class? :)
This trip uphill via donkey sounds challenging. My favorite mode would be to hike, if there was a path. Love your photograph, Tricia!
Elisa, it was a challenge we didn’t take on as we felt we needed exercise more than the donkeys did. :) If you head to Santorini someday, you’ll be pleased to see there is a path with about 600 stairs. We climbed down it, then rode the cable car up on the way back, following a long day’s excursion to the nearby volcano.
Cutest donkey. Smart and intelligent but patient.
Vera, and strong too. I’m amazed that they can not only carry so many agricultural goods, but also heavy humans.
Kudos to you for not riding the donkeys, Tricia. I can’t imagine what they endure every day; the photos on the petition site you linked to were awful. :( I rented an apartment in Crete when I visited there. The couple who run the place volunteer with donkey rescue groups in Greece. Apparently donkey abuse is a widespread problem there.
Ruth, it felt like the right decision for us not to ride one. When I was doing research for this post, I was happy to see that attention was being drawn to the issue, and that some philanthropists had started nonprofits, and potentially that there was another cable car’s construction in the works.
How long were you on Crete? After spending some time in Santorini, we turned into history nerds, learning about the Minoan civilization. Did you see Knossos? I bet it’s fascinating!
I would definitely take the cable car up and the stairs down. Much easier that way.
To be candid, Carol, we sort of cheated because we walked down, then rode the cable car up. Although having once lived in an apartment with 87 stairs and no elevator, I think I could’ve managed the 600. :)
Gorgeous photo!
Many thanks, Kathryn.