Santorini is the fairy tale island that you always see in the posters for Greece – white washed buildings with bright blue roofs clinging to the cliffs. Santorini is actually a volcano and the cliffs are the rim of the caldera.
Originally (and still officially) called Thera (or Thira), the island erupted in about 1600 – 1500 BC at the height of the Minoan civilization. It was one of the greatest volcanic explosions known in history. Its massive eruption was thought to have likely been a direct cause of the end of the Minoan civilization and is considered to possibly be what was behind Plato’s story of Atlantis.
Although currently classified as a dormant volcano, Thera has had a certain amount of activity happening under water. It has also pushed up a volcanic island in the middle of the caldera (which broke the surface in the 1700s). This island, Nea Kameni, has erupted three times in the 20th century – the last time in 1950 – and Santorini experienced a nasty earthquake in 1956. The current active crater on Nea Kameni gives off steam and carbon dioxide. In 2012, Nea Kameni pushed itself up even further, giving off a few tremors as it did so.
As for Atlantis, there has long been two main candidates – Knossos on Crete and Akrotiri on Santorini. Both were Minoan. While Crete experienced an enormous tsunami, Akrotiri was buried under volcanic ash, much like Pompeii.
Akrotiri can be traced as far back as the fifth millennium BC. By the third millennium BC, it had grown enormously into an important trade route. The streets were paved and included an extensive drainage system. They had hot and cold running water, high quality pottery and jewelry. Other arts and crafts also flourished. They were considered to be quite sophisticated. All of this ended with the eruption of Thera.
Many scientific studies of Akrotiri’s seismological, volcanic and archaeological evidence has led more and more people to believe that it could match Plato’s description. Since I am fascinated by ancient civilizations, I was very interested in seeing Akrotiri. An excursion was offered, but not enough people wanted to go. So it was canceled and those of us that were interested were left with seeing some of the items from the excavation in a museum in the town of Fira.
The port at Santorini was much too small for even a smaller cruise ship like ours. So our ship parked itself next to Nea Kameni and we went down to the 2nd deck to climb onboard a tender to take to the harbor at Ormos Anthinios. There we met a bus that zig-zagged its way up the side of the caldera and drove past Fira on its way to Oia.
Oia is the town on all of the posters and postcards. It is quite beautiful as well as somewhat disturbing for someone who is not a fan of heights. You can see what I mean when you look at the photos.
Although it was in existence prior to Venetian rule (starting in 1207), there doesn’t seem to be much known about Oia prior to that date. It has always clung to the cliffs of the rim of the caldera. For a time, it was a fishing village. The 1956 earthquake heavily damaged several of the buildings and the population fell to slightly over 300 people. But, with the rise in tourism, it has since risen to roughly 1,500.
After taking a look at the lovely Church of Panagia on the town square, we walked all the way to the end of the island to the remains of the fort. Then we sauntered back at our own pace, taking tons of photos along the way. It was a very hot day, so I stopped for ice cream part of the way back, sitting in the air conditioning by a window inside of the café and watching other tourists go by.
There really isn’t much there other than the village itself and how photogenic it is. It truly is a photographer’s paradise. It is tough to take a bad picture. There is also just the one main pedestrian only street, so if you don’t venture too far from it, it is also difficult to get lost.
From Oia, we traveled back to Fira where he had free time to do what we wanted and get back to the ship on our own, making sure that we knew when the last tender was leaving. I started my time at the museum that contained some of the items excavated from Akrotiri – the Museum of Prehistoric Thera. They had some frescoes transported along with their walls, plus pottery, and such items as incense burners.
Once I had finished with the museum, I climbed back up to the town square and sat down, looking out at the beautiful water, to contemplate what I wanted to do next. Did I want to try to join some of the others from our group for a large and leisurely lunch there, or return to the ship and have a free (already included in the price of the cruise) and equally leisurely lunch there.
Some of the other members of group came by and asked me what I planned to do. Some of them were feeling cheap (or should I say “frugal”) too, so we climbed to the top of Fira to get the cable car down to the old harbor at Skala Fira. Then we took the tender back to the ship and had lunch on the outside terrace on Deck #5. After lunch, we continued to sit in the shade on that terrace and stare at Santorini while the other folks from our ship sat on a terrace at Fira, staring down at our ship.
Next time – Crete, the Minoans, the Labyrinth and the Minotaur.
Church of Panagia in Oia 
Oia 
More of Oia 
View from fort at Oia 
Another view from the fort 
On the return walk 
The harbor at Oia 
Some more homes 
Even more homes 
A small church at Oia 
Museum at Fira 
A large urn in the museum 
Town square at Fira 
Our ship as seen from Fira 
A tender seen from my cabin 
Santorini as seen from rear deck of ship