We had a lazy morning eating breakfast on the balcony and enjoying the view before catching the 10:20 bus into the main city on Santorini, Fira. We wandered the shops and took in the views - of both the 'Caldera' and the numerous white buildings and blue topped churches. We then took off on the 9km, 3 hour walk from Fira to Oia. The first half hour or so was reasonably easy along a concrete pathway through Fira and a nearby village, Imerovigli. The final 6kms were along a mixture of gravel and dirt paths over hills and down dale's. We finally made Oia after about 2 1/2 hours of 34 degrees. We were fairly stuffed and needed a beer and the toilet, but first we had a quick look around to scout viewing sites for sunset. We would be back tomorrow as part of a tour and sunset is meant to be amazing. The bus back to our accommodation was far easier than walking.
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| Fira |
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| Fira |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
The next day we were picked up at 9:40 for a boat cruise of the 'Caldera'. We first visited Nea Kameni, a volcanic island just off Fira. This island has two volcanoes on it, one is inactive, the other active. There is some steam coming from a couple of vents but no signs of any imminent eruption - though scientists expect it to go eventually. The island of Santorini was originally called Strongili (round in Greek), before an earthquake and volcanic eruption caused part of the island to sink and leave three islands behind. The two volcanic islands in the middle were formed sometime later, Nea Kameni only about 5-600 years ago. We walked to the top of the island and stayed for about 1 1/2 hours. Next stop were some 'thermal springs', an area between the two volcanic islands that was meant to be heated. We did hear however that the water was around 19 degrees and weren't sure if we misheard. There was about a 70 metre swim from where the boat stopped to where heated water was and with the thought that it may not be very warm Trace stayed on the boat. Probably the right move as the water was initially quite cool and didn't improve much when you got to the heated area. You could tell the difference, but it barely rates as heated.. Still it was refreshing as the air temperature was again in the low 30's.
Lunch stop was on the second biggest island Tharassia. You had the choice of a 30 minute walk up hundreds of steps, or a restaurant on the waters edge. We chose the edge and enjoyed a lovely fresh seafood lunch. The last stop for the day was Oia where we had about 3 hours to kill before sunset. Having been here the day before we had a quick look down some streets we missed yesterday then headed to our chosen spot - about 3 hours before sunset. It was a long wait and the crowd got bigger and pushier as the night wore on. We were glad we had 'our' spot, but as the sun went down there was not a lot of colour happening and overall it was pretty disappointing.
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| Our boat in the foreground |
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| 'Thermal springs |
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The inactive volcano
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