Santorini in the Greek Islands - 14-16 September

On Monday morning I got up early with the two girls from my hostel who were also heading to Santorini and headed to the ferry. The ferry was 7 hours long but we sat outside and watched all the islands go past and it was quite nice. We also passed the time by doing some of Absane's colouring in book as she said the French did it to relax. When we arrived we headed to the hostel and checked in before heading out to explore the capital Fira. We walked the streets and ended up getting some lunch in a restaurant overlooking the caldera where I had a massive Greek salad with a huge chunk of feta. That night we also watched the sunset from the edge of the caldera and it was amazing. I can see why the Santorini sunset is so well known. That night I just chilled out and chatted to people in the hostel and was recommended to do this boat tour that went to the volcano and some hot springs and around the island so the next day I broached it to the girls and we decided to give it a go.

The first stop was the volcano which is in the middle of the caldera. Here you could walk up to the top of it and get a 360 degree view at the island and the caldera all around you. The volcano was also crazy as it was all cooled lava from the many eruptions over the past 1000 or so years (some as recent as 50 years ago) and which part of the island had been formed by it. The next stop was the hot springs which were not what I was expecting. They were in the sea in a little bay where the water was brown with a temperature of about 27 degrees so it was just balmy instead of hot. But it was crazy because the boat stopped outside of the bay and we jumped off and headed straight into the hot spring without leaving the sea. We then headed to Thirassia Island for lunch which is the only other inhabited island in the caldera but only has a population of 350.

The last stop on the itinerary was Oia (pronounced ee-ah) which has the most famous sunset and most famous Santorini view with the three blue spires. After exploring the village we managed to find the famous spot (see image above) and also watch the sunset which was awesome. Although it was like a scrum with the huge number of people crammed in to watch it.

The next day we jumped on the bus and headed to the opposite end of the island where the red beach and Akrotiri are. I got off the bus at the Akrotiri archaeological site while the others headed straight for the beach. Akrotiri is known as the Pompeii of the Aegean as it was buried by ash when the volcano on the island erupted, however it was more than a thousand years before Pompeii meaning that it has very different archaeological meaning. It gives us a great idea of how people lived in the Greek Islands more than 3000 years ago. It was awesome to see it in person after having studied the town last year, although all of the frescoes and other art has been taken out to be preserved in museums so there wasn't much to see apart from the shape of the ruins. When I had wandered around it all I headed out and walked around the coast to the red beach as well. It is called the red beach because it has a large red scoria cliff towering above it, and even some scoria along the stony beach as well. The water was crystal clear and so salty that you could easily float which was amazing. In the afternoon we headed back to Fira for lunch and then I left the others as I went and explored the pre-historic museum of Thera where some of the finds from Akrotiri were kept. I then headed off by myself to the black beach where I chilled out in the sun reading and swimming. While it was nice t chill out by this point I was feeling like I needed to do something so I walked up the big hill by the beach and up to the village of Ancient Thera on the hilltops. The actual village was shut for the day but I could see some of it through the fence before finding a massive stone where I could sit and look down at the beach. From here I then headed down the opposite side to Perissa beach (another black beach) where I had a final swim on the island before jumping on the bus back to the hostel. I then spent the last night on the island chatting, playing cards and having a few drinks with people from the hostel before we headed to the ferry at midnight to catch it overnight back to Athens. On the ferry we managed to score a couch each, on which I slept the whole trip and woke up as we were pulling into Athens. A good way to save on accomodation costs as well as time!!

I had had a great few days on the island chilling out and exploring the sights but I was also excited to now be heading to Meteora!!