Wow! We loved Santorini! We have just returned from six days in Santorini - almost a week. What an incredible place. After a week of busy, busy travel with the Rick Steve’s Italy tour, Mike and I were pretty tired. Santorini was just the place to relax and recharge our batteries. Just look at this place!
If Santorini is new to you... here’s the 30 word summary. Santorini is an island that experienced a major volcanic eruption somewhere around 1500 - 1550 BC. At that time there was a prehistoric community on the Island of at least 30,000, who apparently had adequate warning and escaped. (More about that later.) Back to the eruption. The volcano threw huge amounts of lava and volcanic ash on to the island - so much so that the center of Island collapsed under the weight of it and sank beneath the sea leaving only the outer rim of the Island with huge cliffs on the interior side of the rim. The outer rim included a large island and a smaller one with the sea in the middle called the “Caldera.”
Two other eruptions have happened since the major eruption in 1500 resulting in two smaller Islands being created in the middle of the Caldera. Palea Kameni was created in 197 BC and nine eruptions have been recorded since this island first broke the surface of the water. The last eruption was in 1950. Nea Kameni emerged from the Caldera in 1707 and the volcanic action has continued since with three eruptions in the 20th century. The last one was in 1950 although scientists detected a swell of molten rock in 2011-12 which caused the Island to rise out of the water by another 8-14 centimeters. (Hmm... I think that was more than a 30 word description. Sorry about that.)
Today Santorini is considered to be one of the most beautiful Greek islands and is certainly among the most interesting places to visit because of it’s unusual geological history. While we were there, the Island was inundated with tourists from 3-5 cruise ships each day. We learned very quickly when not to walk through the local shopping district!
We stayed in the little town of Oia (pronounced Ee-ah.). The O is silent and the “I” has a long e sound to it. We stayed at the far end of town which put us in a terrific place to watch the sunsets. Our hotel was called “Golden Sunset Villas” and consisted of several small cave rooms built into the cliffs. They were charming and very unusual! Alternatively, one of the rooms was at the top of an ancient windmill - also quite cool. There were two windmills in Oia. One belonged to our hotel.
We had a couple of cool adventures while on the Island. The first was a catamaran trip around the island, or at least part of it. The crew was a small group of young Greek men in their 30s and the trip attracted a young crowd. Mike and I were among the few people over 50 on the boat. We headed first for hot springs at Nea Kameni - the active volcano. The hots springs are at the edge of the water
and turn the water a muddy brown color. The catamaran pulled as close as was possible and told us that if we wanted to swim in the hot springs we could dive in and swim the rest of the way. They warned us, however, we would probably smell like sulfur and our swim suits might turn brown or orange. They also offered to provide life jackets for those who didn’t know how to swim. That’s when people started jumping off the boat and swimming for the hot springs. Mike and I looked at each other in amazement. There was no liability contract to sign. No one was asked to take a swimming test. No one counted how many people swam away from the boat, or took names, or created a buddy system. Mike and I did not go. After a while, when it seemed everyone was back on
the boat, the crew just started up the engines and sailed away. From there we went to the far side of the main island to see the Red beach and the White sand beach created by the volcanic activity. There is also a Black beach which we did not see. Near the white beach, they offered snorkeling equipment to anyone who wanted to borrow it to look at the fish and sea bed below. Mike took advantage of this and was awestruck by the beauty of the sea life. The evening ended with an on board barbecue and a slow return to port at sunset. All tolled, it was about a five hour cruise.
The second adventure took place a couple of days later when we rented a car to drive around the island. We started with Akrotiri which is a little village on the south end of the island. Right next to the village is an archaeological dig into what is called Ancient Akrotiri.
Ancient Akrotiri is the remains of the village of 30,000 people who lived on Santorini in 1500 B.C. when the volcano struck the island, collapsed the core and reduced it only the rim of the original island. Like Pompeii the resulting lava acted as a natural preservative for the town, only the Akrotiri eruption happened 1500 1600 years earlier. Unlike Pompei, however, there are no human remains and the most valuable pieces are not present indicating the people had ample time to pack up their valuables and leave the Island. These people were the Ancient Minoans and the original community was on Crete, visible from Santorini on a very clear day. It’s likely they went there for safety. Unfortunately, the eruption created a huge tidal wave estimated to be 820 ft high moving at a speed of 217 miles per hour. It reached Crete in half an hour and many historians believe this is what destroyed the Minoan civilization.
Visiting the archeological site of this ancient community is a pretty awesome experience. First of all, the archeologists took the time to set up the dig correctly, building the necessary foundations and creating a roof over the dig to protect the site itself as well as the archeologists. A couple of years ago the roof was reconstructed with better technology and is a wonder in an of itself! It makes the place very comfortable for visitors.
I can hardly do justice to describing this place of ancient civilization. But let me say a few things about it. Their homes were surprisingly large with several rooms to a home. Many of them were two and three stories high with steps leading from one floor to another. They had running water, indoor lavatories and a city sewer system!
They had incredible art on the walls - most of which has been taken to the Archeological museum in Athens. Yes, it’s on our list to see when we visit Athens soon. Some historians have suggested that Akrotiri may be the ancient city of Atlantis that’s is thought to be mythological. The legend describes an ancient city of art and poetry and great happiness that sank into the sea. That sounds like Akrotiri. I just kept thinking about how often we assume we modern people are so much smarter than the ancient undeveloped people of the past. Akrotiri sure takes that idea to task! What a privilege to see this amazing place!
I can hardly do justice to describing this place of ancient civilization. But let me say a few things about it. Their homes were surprisingly large with several rooms to a home. Many of them were two and three stories high with steps leading from one floor to another. They had running water, indoor lavatories and a city sewer system! 
They had incredible art on the walls - most of which has been taken to the Archeological museum in Athens. Yes, it’s on our list to see when we visit Athens soon. Some historians have suggested that Akrotiri may be the ancient city of Atlantis that’s is thought to be mythological. The legend describes an ancient city of art and poetry and great happiness that sank into the sea. That sounds like Akrotiri. I just kept thinking about how often we assume we modern people are so much smarter than the ancient undeveloped people of the past. Akrotiri sure takes that idea to task! What a privilege to see this amazing place!