Alan: Calling Santorini "Mykonos 2" would be unfair, but it is busy, expensive and suffers from too many cruise ships. On the plus side the topography left by the volcano is nothing short of stunning. You can sit and eat your dinner overlooking the “caldera” while watching a magnificent sunset, just be careful where you choose to do this or take your credit card. The room we had chosen on bookings.com was well positioned (an easy walk on a traffic free route – the pavement-less roads around Thira are unpleasant and dangerous) and owned by a genuinely friendly and helpful family. The lady, Tula, sat up with us till 11.30 p.m. waiting to make sure the taxi she had booked arrived for our late night ferry to Kos. Meeting them was one of the highlights along with a fantastic (if hot!) walk to Oia – famed for its sunsets and the queues of people trying to photograph them and a visit to the ruins at Akrotiri – impressive but disappointing due to a complete lack of information. I did enjoy waiting for the bus back to Thira, the three way road junction had a never ending stream of people who didn't know which way to go and stopped in the middle of the road to think about it, under-powered quad-bikes driven by people who gave the impression they would struggle as pedestrians and a mix of scooter and motorbike riders ranging from the incompetent to the over-confident. My opinion of Greek drivers went up as they managed to avoid scenes that would not have been out of place on an Xbox without even hitting the horn!

It was good to drop in on Santorini, but a couple of days were enough as we aimed to finally hop across to the Dodecanese and return to the quieter way of (Greek) life.

Deb:Was sad to leave Amorgos which I loved – in spite of mixed weather (our photos do not do justice to the inclement weather! We only took photos when the sun came out for a bit!). Even as we left Amorgos, the weather was a bit rubbish,only for the sun to come out after about 15 mins on the ferry – and hence we had a very smooth and sunny passage (though slightly choppy). The approach into the harbour (“caldera”) is absolutely stunning and a great way to get a first look at it; can’t be beaten for the first look at it. Our rooms were a bit Spartan but the “landlady” was lovely; very genuine and keen to try out her English. She was really funny but also very earnest in wanting us to see the best of her island. Brilliant lady. The ferry again took it out of me and i just had a gyro in the evening (no wine!!!). Monday we did the walk (see alan’s comments). We reckon it was between 11 -12 km and was in boiling weather, on somewhat precipitous cliffs in parts and a bit up and down. Took us around 3 hours, which wasn’t bad going considering I stopped to take photos every five minutes. A hard walk but exhilarating. Oia was a bit touristy but lovely with a fantastic-looking church (is there a grotty looking one in Greece?). We didn’t do the sunset from there, as we had already walked a couple of miles in that direction the night before, only to turn a corner and see dozens of folk (mainly Japanese) so there was no “romantic” atmosphere. Fearing worse at Oia, to which they take bus loads of people, we didn’t bother, but will stick with the photos we took on Sunday. Talking of Japanese, they are strange sometimes (!). The men (mainly young) carry kilos of camera equipment and take photos of the most mundane and not-at-all-interesting/picturesque things. Their long suffering wives/girlfriends tag along, under sun parasols looking bored/morose but if they have their photo taken (which happens a lot as the men never stop clicking away), then they suddenly find the energy to drape languously over a wall, or pose with their hair swept to one side. Then they cover up completely again (they wear expensive clothes but then top it off with a tablecloth, scarf, tea towel or child’s sun parasol over their heads.Not a good look if you are wearing seriously expensive clothes! I think it must be a vanity thing (not health) as the men don’t bother and don’t always even wear a hat unlike the the outrageous “wedding” hats that the older ladies seem to think are de rigueur for sightseeing but wouldn’t be out of place at a Palace tea party or royal wedding! Low key NOT. They don’t even look at what they are photographing or take anything in just click away or yawn – at Aktoriki (which is a huge site), one huge group went round it in about 5 mins, clicking away ateverything including rubbish bins and steel girders.......!! WHY?!

Overall,Santorini is a stunning, unique place but it was too busy, overpriced and bit too full of cruise ship passengers roving around like packs of hounds, devouring everything in their wake! Far too frenetic. So off to Lipsi – couldn’t be quieter!