Page 35 of Not My Greek Wedding

As the bus rumbles along the road away from Perissa, we take in the grapevines and rugged volcanic scenery once more, before we finally pull into Fira. The road is lined with several coaches, carefully inching their way towards a car park, the area around bustling with pedestrians.

Alighting from the bus, the first thing we do is grab some bottled water from a nearby kiosk.

‘That was an experience,’ Lulu says, laughing and straightening her sunhat. ‘The bloke standing in the aisle was practically sitting on my knee it was so crowded.’

‘At least he was good-looking though,’ I say, as once again an image of Christos pops into my head.

‘True enough.’ She laughs.

We head to the harbour, and watch a huge cruise ship making its way across the water. No doubt the empty restaurants, their tables set with cutlery, will soon have an influx of tourists descending on them.

‘Fancy a beer before we do our shopping?’ I ask Lulu. The bus was very hot, and the bottled water barely touched the sides.

‘Sure, why not?’

We take a seat at a table with a blue-and-white checked tablecloth and a waiter hands us a drinks menu.

Sitting with our ice-cold beers and a gratis bowl of olives, we both peer out across the water to the caldera.

‘You can take a boat trip out there,’ says Lulu, popping an olive into her mouth as she glances at the island in the middle of the sparkling sea.

‘What’s there?’ I ask.

‘Not much really. It’s the crater of the volcano, which although dormant still has volcanic activity below the surface. It hasn’t actually erupted since nineteen fifty though,’ she informs me. ‘I read all about it.’

‘I’m impressed with your knowledge, but you wouldn’t catch me there, if there’s a chance it could still explode.’ I pull a face.

‘Erupt,’ she corrects me. ‘Although I guess it’s the same thing when you think about it.’

‘Well, I prefer to admire it from a distance,’ I say, before grabbing a selfie of us with the huge cruise ship in the background. ‘It looks pretty though.’

‘It really does. Do you fancy taking the cable car to the upper level when we finish our drinks?’ Lulu asks. ‘I mean, I don’t mind walking up, but it might be fun. I’ve never been on a cable car before.’

A footpath can also be taken up to the main tourist area that has all the shops and restaurants, as well as some pretty churches.

‘Although there is always the option of taking a donkey ride up,’ I suggest, gesturing to some forlorn-looking donkeys at the foot of a path that heads upwards. ‘Then again, no, that’s a little cruel.’ I quickly reconsider the idea.

We begin our ascent, walking for a few minutes, stopping to admire the view, and passing an abandoned white building with a blue wooden door hanging off its hinges. The walls are covered in graffiti of the evil eye, a Greek symbol said to protect people. As I stand staring at the house, wondering who might have once lived there, a lizard darts across my path and has me almost stumbling down the steps.

‘You do know there are almost six hundred steps to the top?’ says Lulu as the heat begins to pick up.

‘Never!’ I gasp.

‘Yep, although I suppose it is a pretty good workout.’

‘Maybe not in this weather though. Shall we go up in the cable car after all?’ I suggest, thinking that maybe now is the time to cure my fear of heights. I might then fulfil my ambition of taking a trip on the London Eye to take in the views of the city.

‘Sure.’ She smiles. ‘And you’re right, that sun is pretty hot already.’

We make our way to the cable car departure point and join a queue, where I suddenly feel a little nervous. Maybe now isn’tthe time to be brave after all. Perhaps we ought to have just taken the steps very slowly. Too late now though, as the queue moves quickly and we are suddenly next in line.

As the cable car chugs along slowly, I close my eyes, when I feel it swing and we are momentarily suspended mid-air. Now is definitely not the time to tell Lulu that I am afraid of heights. She is chattering on about the sight of the caldera, and the rocky mountains either side that I imagine crashing into as I keep my eyes firmly closed. I barely have time to worry though, as in no time at all we have stopped.

‘That was fun, and the views were stunning as we climbed, weren’t they?’ she says cheerfully.

‘If you say so,’ I tell her as we climb out of the car, before making our way towards the exit. I can feel my heart racing a little, although I am proud that I did it.

Stepping out of the cable car station into the dazzling sunshine, we eye the restaurants and the blue dome of a church with pretty stained-glass windows.

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