Santorini, Greece

Santorini has an interesting part in history. Prior to 1500 BC the island was round - it's ancient name is Thira, which is supposed to mean "round" in whatever language was in use at the time. It obviously ISN'T round any more - that's because in this year a volcano erupted and blew out the middle of the island.

At that time Mediterranean culture was dominated by Crete, an island to the south of Santorini, and this explosion virtually wiped them off the map. You may have heard of the Palace of Knossos and King Minos (ever read about the Minotaur?) - that's Crete. Gone in a flash, along with the middle section of Santorini.


	I'm sure this wasn't a pleasant experience in 1500 BC, but what it left behind was some of the most beautiful and dramatic scenery in the Greek Islands.




	Thira




	Overlooking the caldera


	The largest town on the island, also called Thira, is built on a cliff about a thousand feet above the water - overlooking the actual caldera of that volcano. It makes for some spectacular views... and a lot of vertical feet to hike!




	Cyclades Islands


	But, we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves... First we've got to get there! The Greek ferry system did us well here. We caught the ferry early in the morning in Mykonos and had a great ride to Santorini. Took most of the day, with a brief stop at most of the islands in between (including Naxos and Ios, some of the more common tourist destinations.) We arrived there having spent the day reading our travel books and having decided we'd stay in Oia (pronounced "ee-ya", on the northern end of the island and renowned for it's sunsets.





			Sunset from Oia


	Here, the hotel vulture system failed us... There were plenty of them there, we talked to a bunch of them, but I don't think there is any such thing as a cheap place to stay in Oia. It's known as a honeymoon retreat for Greeks and other Europeans, and I think it's just got enough of a reputation to stay pricey. Perhaps cheap places are there and we didn't see them, let us know if you find one!




	Black beach at Piressa


	Meanwhile, we did meet a guy named Tony (of "Tony's Apartments" fame...) who offered us a place four blocks from the famed Black Beach of Piressa ("I guarantee five minutes walk to beach or you no pay!") for the equivalent of $12/night. We took it!.


	Tony was absolutely truthful, the beach (remnants of the volcanic explosion) was beautiful, the room was clean and perfectly adequate, but after a day of scootering around the island (we rented one in Piressa for a few days) we decided we had to find a place on the cliff overlooking the caldera

We spent a morning walking through the cliffside area of Thira, stopping at every place that had a "for rent" sign and checking out the places to stay. Of course Todd was immediately floored by the photographic possibilities and wanted to rent every place we saw. Patty had an intuition, however, that turned out 100% correct. We ended up renting a room from a nice elderly Greek woman (who spoke no English, the negotiating was done by drawing pictures of moons and numbers on paper...) for $44/night. A real steal.




		Room in Santorini


	The view from the balcony was incredible - it's the at the top of the page on the right labeled "overlooking the caldera." It was an absolutely wonderful place to spend some time drinking retsina or Ouzo, eating olives, bread, and cheese, and watching the cruise ships or the sunset. Here's a few other samples of pictures from our balcony




			Todd and Patty on the balcony in Santorini




			Sunset over the Caldera


	Lightning storm over Nea Kameni

While we were there we spent some time exploring the island on our scooter, laying in the sand and snorkeling at the beach in Piressa, and took a day trip to the volcanic islands in the caldera.

The islands of Nea and Palea Kameni were a result of eruptions in the caldera in the 1700's - relatively recent phenomena. Interesting in a barren kind of way - you can get there via a day trip from any number of tour operators in Thira.


		Getting down the cliff is half the fun - there are two ways to do it (three, if you're a masochist and want to walk it!), one is by donkey and the other is by cable car. Try both!


	Looking down the path from Thira


I'm sure we didn't exhaust the possibilities of Santorini, there's plenty more to do, but we had to move on. Before we do that, here's a last sampling of pictures from around the island...

			Patty and the donkey driver

Getting off the island was a bit of an adventure! The ferry schedules change in Greece on October 1st. We were trying to get off the island on October 1st. NO one could tell us on September 30th what the schedule would BE on October 1st - even the official Port Authority. We just needed to show up and wait around on that morning, I guess....

After seeing the two tourist Meccas of the Cyclades, we decided to get a bit off the beaten path for our last few days in Greece. Scouring the books and matching up the ferry schedules (what we had, at least) lead us to the island of Folegandros. They normally got two ferries a week from Santorini, and - if both were running after the 1st - they worked for our schedule.

If you'd like to find out a bit more about the island, here's a link to the Tourist Guide of Greece's Santorini page.

Let's go to Folegandros!