Santorini - A busy itinerary

Santorini - officially known as Thira - lives up to all its clichéd descriptions: magical, breathtaking, romantic, etc.  

Santorini, together with the surrounding five smaller islands, were formed after one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history about 3,600 years ago. Geographically, the islands form a circular volcanic caldera in the middle of the vast Aegean Sea.  (A caldera is formed when a volcano erupts and the middle part collapses under the sea, leaving the outer ring around it)  Some quarters believe that Santorini is the lost city of Atlantis, which sunk in the sea because they incurred the wrath of the gods. 

View of caldera from the walking path joining the two main villages of the island, Oia in the north & Fira in the south.  Here we are somewhere in the middle between the two, near Imerovigli village.  The cliffs you see are what's left of the exploded volcano.

A nice glamorous shot...and then you see my kids squatting in the corner

We had four whole days in Santorini, and I was a little worried that we would be bored out of our wits.  You probably notice by now that we are not R&R (rest & relax) people.  Put us on a beach resort, and we would just be miserable, anxious campers.

Even if the resort looked like this...

Or had this pool with that view...

But in fact, Santorini has lots up its sleeves.  Of course you know all about the sunsets and the inimitable precipitous villages on the caldera.  We explored the twists and turns, salivated at the hotels that I thought only exists in travel magazines, and snapped innumerable pictures.

Imerovigli village

Oia village

Small chapel

We also visited Nea Kameni, a live volcanic islet of black lava about 2km in diameter, located right in the center of the archipelago of islands.  This is what's visible above sea level of the volcano crater that erupted 3,600 years ago which formed Santorini that we know today.

A 45-minute boat ride from Fira port to the island

On Nea Kameni, full of solidified black lava.  Sophie does not look pleased because she was paranoid about the volcano exploding while we were there.  It took some persuasion to get her to go on this trip

One of several craters on the island.  It takes about half an hour to walk from the boat.  You can see Santorini island on the background.   

Looking at the sulphur gases seeping out of the holes in the ground.  The island is actively monitored by scientists for volcanic activity in the area.  Our guide said that there has been an increase of activities on one of the beaches.

Another popular activity for tourists returning from the Nea Kameni tour is to go on a donkey ride for EUR 5 from Fira port to the village center.  Otherwise it is a 600-step hike up.  

Everyone enjoyed the donkey ride.  Soph & I panicked when ours decided to take his break by the side of the path where it was nice and shady, and refused to move no matter what we did.  YL & Ju watched us helplessly as they went past in their donkey who seemed to be on a roll.  Five minutes later the owners came along and gave our donkey a good whack, and off we went...

Then naturally, we went to the beaches.  Most beach-side restaurants rent out beach chairs for about EUR 7, but we were there in low season, so they offered us the use without charge. 

At the Perissa Beach (Black Beach):  The kids are very motivated to finish their lunch because the beach beckons...

The sand in the Black Beach is, well, black

He is obviously enjoying himself

Next, there's the Red Beach.  The beach that I did not go.  The beach where my family abandoned me.  You see, the walk from the car park to the beach is a 10-minute walk, but the terrain is treacherous because of the loose rocks and extremely steep climb.  I was carrying...let's see...two big bags of clothes, snacks, towels, beach toys, and one swim float.  When we arrived at this spot you see in the picture below, we were daunted by the path, what with two young children in slippers and no clue if we were on the right track.  So I stopped to survey the area around me for ONE minute.  That minute over, my entire family had disappeared.  I panicked, and tried several paths to locate them, but they were no where to be found.  And then I slipped, fell, and scraped my legs.  Now, blood streaming down my knees and calves, and with wounds stinging from the sand, I notice a cute little contingent of three marching happily in the distance, on the coveted beach.

And this is where I stayed for the next 20 minutes, until my family had their fill of fun yonder, and decided to come back to rescue me.  Yes, my family loves me very much...they only made me wait 20 minutes

Greece is full of history, and Santorini is no exception.  Akrotiri is the site of a Minoan Bronze Age settlement, excavated in the 1960's, that gave rise to the theory that Santorini was once perhaps Atlantis.  The city was buried under thick lava after an eruption in the second millennium BC, and was remarkably well-preserved, like Pompeii in Italy.  Advanced drainage systems, three-storey buildings, frescoes, furniture and potteries were found, but no human remains, leading to the theory that an orderly evacuation was performed prior to the eruption.  

The entire excavation site is sheltered, but in 2005, the roof collapsed, killing one tourist.  It reopened 7 years later, just a few months before our trip, but visitor numbers are still low.

After all is said and done, this is still the highlight of the trip.  This view:

Fira village

There's more to see!  We will return!