Santorini Boat Trip day.

Today has been a great day, to visit Santorini as a geologist... well to put it simply, this place is geological porn. We sorted tickets with the reception of the hotel we are staying at (best way to do it), for a "boat trip with hot spring visit", and quickly made our way to the Gondola to get down to the Old Fira Port to board our boat for the day. The scenery from the Gondola alone was unreal. Once onboard we were informed of our days itinerary, Pierre and I were clearly too excited when we were booked our tickets, and we missed the fact there would be doing a hike to the top of the active volcano of Nea Kameni on this day trip. Luckily Pierre has gained some hobbit feet since being in NZ and we managed to get to the top in Jandals =). The photos from the top of this Island don't really do it justice, but the rugged terrain is made up of multiple Basaltic eruptions that have occurred in the last two millennia. Several sulphur vents puffed away at the top, and it is all very dry, very red/black, and very hot!! About 27 degrees today!!

The boat trip continued to the hot springs on Palia Kameni, and then onto Manolas on the Island of Thirisia (all apart of the Giant Caldera once called Strongoli). We stopped here for a couple of hours to eat and cool down in the water. Last stop was Oia, at the Northern end of Santorini (Caldera side). This place is famed for its sunsets and is on the list to do over the next couple of days.

Dinner tonight was the best so far. We have been well and truly embracing Greek food here since we have arrived. Tonight we ate at Ampelos. EAT HERE. This rooftop restaurant had a spectacular view of the entire Caldera, and we could do a full panorama of the East and West coasts of the main Santorini Island. This was one of the highest points in Fira and was well worth the extra few Euros in food price. Oh and the food, everything looked delicious on the menu, but we ordered a chicken a la crème and Moussaka. The perfect mixes of the right cheeses, and spices made these both at the top of the list. To top off a perfect day we had the best seats in the house to watch the sun set.