Santorini

Santorini………..one of the most beautiful places that we have ever been. This amazing island (also known as Thira) owes its dramatic landscape to one of the most dramatic volcanic eruptions in recorded history. In approximately 1600 BCE, the volcano that made up this island erupted in a catastrophic explosion known as the Minoan eruption. What was once the island of Thira sank to the bottom of the caldera and the sea rushed into the abyss to create a large bay. This bay, once the high point of the island is 1300 feet deep in some places. This sunken portion of Santorini is widely believed to be the lost civilization of Atlantis.  The caldera measures 32 sq. miles and is 300 – 400 m deep. Along the caldera are cliffs rising 1100 feet with the white clusters of the towns of Fira and Oia perched along the top.

Unfortunately, the first thing that we had to do on arrival in the port from our tender was take a cable car ride up the side of the mountain to the town of Fira at the top. Ryan – do you remember the Dominican Republic????? Cable cars are not my favourite mode of transportation – they don’t even come close. On the way up, we shared our car with a lady who was even more terrified than I was. She was actually kind of funny – there is an alternate way to get up the mountain – donkey - and that is the way that her husband was getting to the top. Apparently though, this lady was more afraid of the donkeys than she was of the cable car.

We made 2 stops on this island – the first stop was at an ancient city called Akrotiri – also called the Minoan Pompeii. Akrotiri is at the very south of the island and was apparently discovered when workmen were cutting stone for use in the Suez Canal and they started to come across this amazing, very sophisticated village which existed for centuries before that catastrophic eruption. The village consisted of 2 and 3 storey homes city squares, shops and working areas, well laid out on identifiable streets. The village was covered by ash during several different volcanic eruptions and was finally completely buried by the massive Minoan eruption and is still being excavated. One of the most amazing things about this archeological site is that a biosphere has been built completely around it.

Our second stop on Santorini was the village of Oia at the northern end of the island – the most photographed village in the world. All of those pictures of the Greek Islands that feature the blue-domed church were all taken in Oia. This village is built into the side of the mountain. Many of the homes are actually cave homes with just the terraces visible from above. Everything is painted blinding white - the terraces, the stones, the walls, the rock. The 2 pedestrian streets are very picturesque – 1 is paved with marble, the other cobblestone.