Friday, February 1
What do you do when you’re staying on an island that’s actually an active volcano? You take a boat ride! In season there are many options for tourists but this time of year we could only find two: a catamaran tour of the Western parts of the island and a trip to the island in the center of the volcano and the nearby hot springs. We went to the volcano.
The tour starts at 11:00 am but, because of weather and sea conditions, doesn’t run everyday. The procedure is to check with Pelican Travel each morning (even other travel agencies referred us to them for this trip) and find out whether the trip is on. If you get the green light you pay your €20.00 / $23.00 per person and walk down to the old port to meet the boat. Give yourself some time because the walk is down a long steep set of 600 switchback steps. Walking down doesn’t seem like much of a challenge but it was harder than it looked. In season there is cable car you can take but it was down for maintenance now. The other option is to make the trip via donkey for €5.00. We decided to walk.
(Public Transportation: Donkeys)
About 20 people showed up for the tour and we left on time. Our first destination was the Island of Nea Kameni. It’s a small uninhabited island in the center of the caldera. The entire island is a park. There is a booth that is supposed to collect €2.50 in cash per person for entering the park but no one was there to take our money. We had 1.5 hours to roam about and see what there was to see. There are trails and even picnic tables throughout but we went straight to the top so we could enjoy the best views.
The trails are somewhat rustic and much of the footing is stone and gravel. Along the way we found some interesting things. There were a couple of small craters from previous seismic events and even a couple of vents where hot sulfur scented gasses were escaping. After 35 minutes or so we were standing on the highest peak enjoying a view of the entire caldera, the volcano rim where the towns were built and some nearby islands. After a few days of rain the day was warm, fine and clear. It was a great experience.
Back on the boat we headed to a passage between Nea Kameni and a small island called Palea Kameni. There is an inlet where the water is said to be much warmer than the surrounding ocean. It is heated by the volcano. During the warmer months people will jump off the boat, swim for the cove and enjoy 15-20 minutes of frolicking in the warm waters. It was way too cold for us and no one on the boat that day was quite that adventurous.
The cruise concluded by rounding the other side of Nea Kameni and heading back to the port. The entire cruise lasted about three hours and we had a great time. The next issue was: how were we going to get back up the hill? We thought about taking the donkeys but figured that we could handle the stairs. We knew from climbing so many bell towers in the past that 300 steps was a pretty strenuous workout but even though there were twice as many these steps were fairly low and were spread out. We figured it wouldn’t be so bad. We were wrong!
We started off at a quick pace but soon had to slow down. It was arduous and the sun was hot. About a quarter of the way up the first wave of donkeys sped by us. It was amazing to see how quickly they climbed. Soon after we were regretting our decision. By the time we were almost to the halfway point the riderless donkeys were coming back down to pick up some more passengers. We thought seriously about taking one but were too stubborn to give up. In all about 75% of the passengers took the donkeys. We walked and we were the last ones to reach the top.
In the late afternoon we drove to the northern most town on the island called Oia. We had come equipped with a recommendation for dinner but found the restaurant to be closed for the season. We walked up to the top of the hill and saw a hillside filled with white houses, white hotels and white restaurants. It was the quintessential picture of Santorini – just like you see in all of the advertisements. We found a pizza restaurant called Skiza Cafe with a magnificent view of the caldera and settled in for dinner. The restaurant boasts that it makes its own dough and all of its own pastries in-house.
(Town of Oia, Santorini)
We ordered a large Greek pizza. It was very good and the crust was quite tasty. We also had a recommendation for dessert at a cafe that was supposed to serve the best baklava on the island. We weren’t sure it would be open so we ordered a piece of banana cream caramel torte and decided that if we found the baklava place, and it was open, we would buy some to take home. The torte was really quite delicious. It turned out to be a great decision.
(Banana Cream Caramel Torte)
We continued walking around the town. We were looking for the ruins of Oia castle. It is reputed to be one of the best places to watch the sunset on the entire island. Along the way we found the baklava place. The sign outside said that each piece was priced at €9.00 / $10.35. We didn’t care how good it was. This was one set of tourists that weren’t going to be taken advantage of.
We got to the castle about an hour before the sunset. There were a number of people there and as time went on more and more came. By the time the sun was low in the sky there must have been 150 people crowded into a pretty small space. Everyone had their camera at the ready. We all watched as the sun got lower and lower. When the last rays crossed the horizon a bunch of people waved and shouted, “Good Bye” and everyone left.
Distance walked: 7.4 miles and 114 flights (that’s DEFINITELY a record!)
Saturday, February 2
This morning we visited Akrotiri. 3,500 years ago this town was home to a thriving late bronze age civilization based on Minoan culture. The population abandoned their town just before the volcano erupted and buried their city in ash and mud. Extensive excavations started in the late 1960s and in 2005 the entire site was enclosed in a modern temperature controlled building. Excavations are ongoing. Very little of the site has been fully explored but what little work has been done has revealed some interesting information. Like Pompei, the town is very well preserved. Cost of entry was €6.00 / $6.90 per person. Cash only.
The lack of bodies and personal effects, like jewelry, lead researchers to conclude that the town was abandoned in an orderly fashion before the eruption. The town was well organized and included storage areas, workshops and even a sewer system. Many of the buildings were three stories high.
Walking around it was apparent that no work has been done at the site for some time. There is a nice elevated path that takes visitors through the site and most structures can be seen from multiple angles. Bracing can be seen in many of the buildings and concrete had been used to reinforce some areas but most of the site is just a ruin. There were few informational signs.
Very few buildings have been extensively explored. One, the so called West House, was where the remains of several large frescos were found. In front of it there was a nice video that talked about the life of the village and showed a reconstruction of the house. It was very informative.
After leaving the site we decided to go exploring. The famous Red Beach was nearby and we wanted to see it. We had been told that it was closed but we were going to try just the same.
We followed the signs and found a small beach with large reddish stones. Near the road was the white church that is featured in all photos of the area. To the side was a sign that pointed to a trail that led to the beach proper. We followed it up a small hill and were treated to a view of a large cove and a rocky beach. The beach was short and behind it was a tall sheer cliff made of red stones. It was a very pretty sight.
(The Red Beach)
Our next stop was to the highest hill on the island that was topped with The Monastery of the Prophet Elijah. As expected the drive was up a steep, narrow mountainous road with many switchbacks. When we finally got to the top we found a place to park and tried to enter the monastery. It was closed. The sign said that it was open from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm every day but those must be in season hours. One of the other tourists we met there said that it was only open for a short while at 8:00 am during this time of year. We weren’t too disappointed because we were even more interested in the view. From the top of the hill there was a grand 360 degree panorama of the island, the caldera, the ocean and the islands beyond.
For dinner we tried out a new restaurant that was a few blocks away from the town center. We’d eaten at the souvlaki place near our apartment several times now and wanted to try someplace new. We ordered a Greek pizza and a pork gyro. The pizza came remarkably quickly but we waited a long time for the souvlaki. Eventually a scooter arrived with a delivery and with it came the gyro. It seems that they get their gyros from the souvlaki place in the center of town. So much for wanting to try a new restaurant. That’s a first for us.
Distance walked: 2.9 miles
Sunday, February 3
We went to Coffee Lab for breakfast. Their coffee, which is pretty good, only costs €1.60. Our breakfast consisted of a small meat pizza and a strawberry donut. We’re really missing not having a kitchen.
Close by there was an Internet cafe that advertised printing services. We went in and printed the boarding passes for our trip to Paris. The store had a bar from which you could order drinks and several long rows of computers. Just about every workstation was busy with gamers equipped with headsets. It’s not the kind of thing we expected to see. Then we headed over to the Museum of Prehistoric Thera.
We hadn’t intended to see this museum. The prehistoric period is not too interesting to us but someone on the boat trip told us that it had artifacts from Akrotiri. We were confused. Akrotiri was late Bronze Age, not Prehistoric, but apparently that is the name that they use to describe that time period on this island.
It turned out that the museum was free because it was the first Sunday of the month. There was a nice writeup about the history of the island, the eruption 3,500 years ago and a nice collection of pottery.
One of the most interesting exhibits was a cast of a wooden table. The wood had long ago decayed but it left a void in the ash and mud that modern day archeologists were able to fill with plaster as was done in Pompei. The resulting details show a beautifully and intricately carved table that was produced over 3,500 years ago. We love that kind of stuff!
(Cast of 17th Century BC Wooden Table)
The real stars of the museum, however, were the frescos that had been found in Akrotiri in the West House and the House of the Ladies. The largest frescos were fragments. The missing pieces had been drawn in by hand. From a distance it was hard to tell what was original and what had been added but they were still quite beautiful. The most impressive was a complete fresco that has been nicknamed The Fisherman. Representations can be found all over the island and on many tourist wares. It was something to see. Other frescos from Akrotiri can be found in the Archeological Museum of Athens (we already saw them!)
(The Fisherman, Fresco from 17th Century BC)
Distance walked: 2.3 miles