Santorini - The Lost Atlantis?

Santorini was nothing short of spectacular.  It was one of the absolutely best views we have experienced in the Greek islands. 

We were torn on whether or not to sail our boat or take the ferry, and after the weather report and not a whole lot of wiggle room in the schedule, we decided to take the ferry over.  The Highspeed 5 that threatened to run us over on the way into Ios, ended up being our chariot to the crescent shaped island featuring picturesque towns and a breathtaking view of what remains of the volcano that erupted in 1600 BC.

Once the ferry approached the island, we realized it would’ve been pretty awesome to have sailed the Pipedream through the flooded remains of a still active volcano.  The 1100ft cliffs that encircle the caldera, the volcanic crater, make even the biggest ferry or cruise ship seem like a tiny fishing boat.  At night the sunsets would’ve been like a painting and the books say you can still see smoke rising from the caldera with little spits of lava still erupting.

Our initial plan once we reached the island was to go see the Ancient Akrotiri.  Dad and I wanted to see the ruins that suggest to historians that Santorini is the lost Atlantis.  The site is known as the “Greek Pompeii”.  In the 1860’s people were quarrying the volcanic ash for the Suez Canal and discovered an ancient town that is said to have been frozen by the volcanic eruption 3600 years ago, pre-Pomeii.  Most of the frescos are showcased in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, but the buildings that are intact on the site still are supposed to be pretty impressive.  Chuck and Judy wanted to see more of the towns so Dad and I got into a taxi and told the driver to take us to the ruins, in which he responded, “Why do you want to go there?  It’s been closed for 4 years”… oh.  So instead we went to Plan B which was to go to the other side of the island to the town of Ia or Oia… there are two different spellings.  Since we didn’t have much time to spend exploring the entire island due to the ferry times, we spent our time in Santorini in this one city, and it was well worth the trip there. 

The ferry left Ios at 11:00am.  We arrived at Santorini at around 12:20pm and couldn’t actually get off the boat until around 12:45 because of docking issues.  At that point we got into a cab and took the 30 minute cab ride to the other side of the island where we were dropped off and the driver showed us the bus station to get back to the ferry which would be achieved by going through the main town of Fira.  Our ferry was pulling out to go back to Ios at 5:00pm which meant we had to catch the 4:00pm (it was actually 4:15… but Dad and I thought 4:00) bus from Fira to the dock so we would have to leave Oia at around 3:30pm to get to Fira.  Make sense?  Bottom line is we had about 3 hours to explore… if that and in that 3 hours between Dad and I 154 photos were taken.  The rest is better left to those photos.

When the taxi driver dropped us off we saw a stand with pistachios and Dad wanted to get a bag.  The lady there also gave us a taste of “Traditional Roasted Peanuts” which are dry roasted peanuts covered in a crunchy honey and then covered in sesame seeds.  We got a bag of those too and Dad ended up eating half of it right away.  This is him showing us the nut, which I know is small, but it’s also the church and cool mosaic where the walkway through Oia begins.

This is what the caldera of a volcano looks like!  You can see the outline of the islands and how they encircle the dark mass in the center which is the actual caldera and supposedly smokes at night.

The main street along the water at the level we were at is all sorts of shops.  In Fira they are apparently more touristy shops which in Oia they are mostly artistic and funky things. 

Modern art in Santorini.  It reminded me of where Zack, Glo, and I had lunch in New York with the metal men hiding everywhere.

Dad and I in Santorini!  We were having a really good time.

The next group of photos speak for themselves.  Welcome to paradise.

We decided to take a beer break with a view.  Mythos is Greece’s beer.  It’s a little light, but hoppy… not bad.  We sat at the bar and ate our bag of pistachios for lunch while taking in the view.  It was wonderfully pleasant.

This is a view of Oia from the ferry on our way out.

This is not the ferry we took to Santorini, but I would’ve liked to.  I mean who wouldn’t want to rid in a ferry with pink dolphins?