Originally Posted by
Pausanias
Quite possibly. Santorini is often cited as one of the most over-touristed places in Europe. The principal reason is the totally unregulated visits by cruise ships. I have chosen one single date in August - the 13th, which would have been Alfred Hitchcock's 120th birthday. On this day next month Santorini will have five cruise ships in port - the Costa Luminosa, Pullmantur Horizon, MSC Sinfonia, Norwegian Jade and Seabourn Odyssey. The total passenger capacity of these ships is approximately 9350. The log-jams at the foot and at the top of the cliff are legendary, as is the appalling suffering of the donkeys. This happens every day, from 8am to 8pm, from early April to late October. Even if you are in the seclusion of a hotel perched on the cliff with luxury measured by the square centimetre, I wouldn't enjoy the experience at all.
There are moves afoot to limit cruise passengers in Santorini to 5000 per day - similar schemes are being considered in Dubrovnik, Venice, Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre and elsewhere. I doubt if things will improve. It's in our human nature to destroy everything that is beautiful and precious.
Oh Dear...that doesn't sound wonderful. Thankfully it's only a few nights and we're mostly planning to just relax, tan and have nice meals. I assume the cruise ship passengers are gone by evening? Part of the fun is finding NEW places of course. Trying several new Greek Islands this summer, and just discovered a new part of Italy (also in the vicinity of Naples) in May that didn't have all the tourist hordes.
Originally Posted by
Cheetah_SA
A similar thing in Mykonos where we overnighted before our flight out. Two ships in harbour including one truly gigantic monstrosity which actually ruined the view from town! So many people it was actually difficult to walk in the narrow streets. Until they all went back on board for their dinner...
Mykonos has gotten out of control lately. I used to really enjoy it during summer, but I feel in the last handful of years the amount of people going has EXPLODED, like it is all I see in my social media feeds now, literally EVERYONE spends part of the summer there. Too many people, too much hassle. Trying other parts of Greece this summer.