2012 Greece and France

On my first full day on Santorini, I headed out after breakfast to do some serious walking. We were only a modest distance from the main town on the island, so that is where I headed first.

Looking at to the caldera, I could see that there were already two huge passenger ships moored there. The daily arrival of these ships was to be a feature of each day on the island. They would arrive early in the morning, then they would transfer thousands of tourists to the island to flood the cafes and tourist shops.

Once they were exhausted, they we be ferried back to their waiting boats, presumably to have a sleep before dinner. Late in the afternoon, the ships would weigh anchor, and sail to their next port of call. Each day the process repeated. I watched in amazement at the endless line of passengers shuffling off their launches, and wondered how anyone could possibly enjoy this. It certainly wasn't what travel should be all about.

The pier sits at the base of a steep cliff. Almost everyone takes the cable car up to the town, but a few choose to take a donkey ride instead (presumably so that they can get a few more selfies along the way). Neither option appealed to me, so I did it the hard way - I walked the steep zig zag path down to the water, and then walked back up again.

I spent some time watching the sad spectacle of the tourists buying bag fulls of tacky souvenirs and overpriced jewelry from the line of shops then explored the walkway along the top of the cliffs.

By mid afternoon, I was hot, tired and thirsty. While walking I noticed a cliffop cafe, with the name Katrin Gallery. It certainly had a spectacular view down over the caldera and out to the sea. It looked like a likely spot to enjoy a cold drink. It turned out to be a fatal mistake.

After taking my seat, the pushy waiter tried to talk me into buying a "cactus juice". He explained that it was the specialty of the house, and that I really HAD to have a glass. I replied, that I was not interested in his cactus juice. I really just wanted something simple, like a nice cold milk shake. How hard could that be ?

He was not impressed, and made it clearly evident that he wanted to boost the cafe's turnover with some on selling. A few minutes later, the milk shake arrived. It was tiny and pretty ordinary, but at least I could sit and enjoy the view while I drank slowly and cooled off a little.

It was only when the waiter brought the bill that I could see that I had been well and truly fleeced. I had never expected to be charged 25 Euro for a tiny milkshake. I suppose I should have been relieved that I did not order the juice. Goodness only knows how much that would have cost.

I stormed up to the waiter and disputed the exorbitant charge. No wonder there were no prices on the menu. While I was there I also heard a couple of other customers arguing over the price they had been fleeced for their terrible meal. It was evident that this establishment was one of "those" places that should be avoided at all costs.

Later in the day I look up trip advisor to see if anyone had had the same bad experience at the Katrin Gallery. It turned out that hundreds of one-star reviews showed that this cafe is just a front for outright theft. It makes a huge amount of money by blatantly overcharging unsuspecting tourists as they climb from the passenger ships. I should have been grateful that I only lost 25 Euro, others had been charged hundreds of Euros for a simple fish dinner for two. I guess I will put it down to being a little older and wiser after the experience. It did serve to give me a bad impression of Santorini, as I could not understand how the authorities could allow this sort of price gouging to give the place a bad name.

Fortunately, I discovered that other cafes on the island were mostly honest, and provided good meals at a modest charge.Read more