Santorini
We started the day started bright and early by taking the local tender to the new port of Athinios in Santorini, at the very bottom of the caldera and its 1300-foot-high cliffs. The caldera (Italian for cauldron) is essentially the area of the crater of this active volcanic island, just filled with seawater! The landscape was majestic, a peaceful calm sea with no megaships in sight. We landed, boarded our two buses and drove up a narrow, winding road to the top of the steep cliffs, enjoying the spectacular views of several islands in the immediate area: Thirasia, across the caldera and the second largest island, another remnant of the ‘rim’ of the crater/cauldron; Asrponissi (white island), tiny and uninhabited with the same typical white ‘icing’ at its top, a thick layer of pumice stone; and last, the two pitch-black islands in the center of the caldera, Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni, or the Old Burnt and the New Burnt islands, which are the result of the continuous emission of magma from the guts of earth that are building up and forming new landmasses.
After a scenic drive close to the edge of the caldera, we reached our first destination, the candid, beautiful, breath-taking traditional town of Oia at the northernmost part of the island. One upon a time the capital of Santorini, nowadays it is one of the most desired and expensive real estate properties in Greece, with the old captain’s houses, its man-made cave houses (hyposcafa) dug out of the pumice stone in the ground, the countless steps and front yards, and its numerous blue-domed churches. It is the iconic Cycladic town and took our group’s breath away! We enjoyed our free time laboring in the local cafes and shops and taking about a million photographs, before getting back to our buses and driving to lunch.
Our drive through the villages, wildflower fields, vineyards, pistachio trees, fava bean and tomato fields took us to the south part of the island and the highest mountain of the island, Profitis Ilias, where we enjoyed some fantastic bird-eye views. On to our taverna in Pyrgos town, where we enjoyed another great Greek lunch before driving to the capital of Fira. There, we made our cultural pilgrimage for the day to the Museum of Prehistoric Thira with the famous artifacts and frescoes from Akrotiri. This is a prehistoric city that was buried under a massive volcanic eruption 3.600 years ago – a ‘prehistoric Pompeii’ as it is called – and preserved therefore many of the frescoes that decorated the houses of its sophisticated wealthy sea merchants.
After that we had free time in Fira and two important choices in life to make: to go down to the old port of Fira by cable car or donkeys!! There were several fearless members of our group who rode the donkeys – in reality mules – while the rest of us watched, full of admiration, and took the cable car! The day culminated in a wonderful swim from the stern of the Panorama in the 1200-foot-deep waters between the two Kameni islands in the caldera! And so this day went down in history as not only the day we saw one of the most dramatic landscapes on earth and walked on the edge of the crater of one of the most violent volcanoes on the globe, but also as the day we happily swam in its crater, and in the company of some salps!!
Finally, the day happily concluded with drinks in the lounge, a great dinner with a selection of grilled octopus and other Greek delicacies and a wonderful serenade on the piano by Don!
