.: Greece: Santorini

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Greece: Santorini

Santorini- the postcard picture of Greece

We took a sail boat out to the volcano, and got to hike up it.

Beautiful view from the top

We got to stop in Thirasia for lunch. It's this tiny little island with barely anyone on it. They only got electricity 30 years ago, and it was so cute.

All of these islands around Santorini used to be the edges of volcanos, and so their cliffs are incredibly steep. To get up to the villages on the top you either have to hike up something like 200 stairs, or….Ride A Donkey!

And who doesn't want to ride a donkey!

I just loved all the blue doors everywhere.

View from the top

Nice place to have lunch!

After lunch we took a swim in the amazing water- so clear and just amazing.

My favorite adventure of the whole trip? We got to jump off the sailboat into the volcanic hot springs in the middle of the ocean.

Then we spent the rest of the evening in Oia

More long stairs!

Oia seriously has the corner of sunsets. We waited for over an hour to have a good spot to watch it?! The town was p-a-c-k-e-d.

How people built villages on the tops of these cliffs is amazing to me.

Akrotiri!

Live archeological dig that you can walk through- so amazing.

The city dates back to 3000 BC?!

They had windows, paintings, and indoor plumbing.

It just blew my mind about pre-history.

The people who lived here were as ancient to the Romans as they are to us.

The site is so perfectly preserved because it was covered by a mud/lava flow.

But there were no human remains because the citizens were aware enough to know when the eruption was coming (also amazing!)

So most left their stuff assuming they'd come back, but the explosion was bigger than anticipated and they never came back.

It's theorized that they drowned in the subsequent tsunami, and this may be where some of the myth of Atlantis comes from.

Some of the original pots made in the city.

Original murals- detailed about monkeys. Meaning the painter had to have seen monkeys somewhere.

Because Santorini is volcanic, the different types of lavas have made different colored beaches.

Here's Red Beach- very literal name.

Can you see the door in the cliff?

Poor fishermen still live in these cave-houses in the cliffs. They are cool in the summer and warm in the winter, and are still everywhere. So interesting.