Santorini: Off-season is building season

When the days get noticeably shorter in November, daytime temperatures drop below 20 degrees and strong, cooler winds blow, then the off-season begins in Santorini too. Instead of up to five cruise ships daily, only one or two arrive. The winter ferry schedule and flight plan are significantly thinned out, and hardly any international flights land. All of this results in fewer day-trippers and overnight guests. Many shops, bars and restaurants have therefore already closed their doors and shutters in autumn.

Now was the time for renovation and rebuilding. Instead of tourists, mules and donkeys now carried sacks of building rubble or materials through the narrow alleys and up many stairs to the edge of the cliff. Wider paths or roads lead up to there, accessible by larger vehicles for further transport. This approach seems to be more efficient than workers with sack trucks, or the use of cranes or hoists.

Many tasks on and around the construction sites remain heavy manual labour, because no construction machinery can be brought in, the construction sites on the properties on the steep slopes are often very small-scale, and the access to the buildings is narrow and winding.

Many hotel owners, holiday apartment and house landlords, and restaurateurs have winterised their properties. The terraces are empty: plants moved to winter quarters. Terracotta vases and sun loungers, tables and chairs have been put away, awnings, tarps and parasols removed. This freed up the view of the architecture again, revealing clear lines and forms.

On many houses, colourful plastic shines: fittings on facades, such as lamps, handles and railings made of glass and metal, are wrapped in plastic film or sealed until the start of the new season to prevent corrosion and dirt.

While craftsmen or construction workers now come to the island, seasonal workers from gastronomy or hotels leave the island. The bartender in the still-open bar “Hassapiko” in Oia was also looking forward to the end of the season in mid-November and his imminent return “home” to the mainland, as he told us in a conversation.

The party is over: Empty drinks crate and flowerpot, an old paint bucket, and a sign on the floor in front of a hotel. The sign refers to the wedding of the Italian couple Silvia and her husband, whose name we can’t quite see, on the past 30th of June.