Santorini used to be a complete circle in shape, because of a massive eruption three thousand six hundred years ago, water flooded into the centre creating the group of islands that is known as Santorini, the largest, Thira island, resembles a crescent moon shape. The island of Thiraisa is still visible, near the top of the main island of Thira, with the volcano in the middle of the space between Thirsasia and Thira. The volcano last erupted in 1950 and has since laid dormant.
Our day trip started on a traditional style boat with a whole load of other people. First stop – the volcano. There were so many people on board that the tour leader did her speech in Greek, English and German. Entrance into the volcano area is two euros. We were given about an hour and half to wonder around the sight. Flip-flops are not the best foot wear to trample around a volcano island. The path was basically made of large black gravel; off the path were large black boulders and various sizes.
Next stop were the hot springs, which was more like a hot inlet, the boat couldn’t go right inside it. If you wanted to see the hot spring, you had to swim out. Smelled of sulphur and the water was really warm compared to the sea water right by the boat.
Lunch on Thirasia by the water in a large, open plan windmill place. Ordered the usual suspects, Greek salad, taziki and this time tomato balls that were so good with the salad and dip.
Back on the boat and towards Oia where we were dropped off with a whole load of other people who had opted for the Oia sunset tour. I took the donkey taxi up the steps to the town, an experience to say the least. The donkeys and mules are herded up the steps with passengers aboard and sent back down again to collect the next round. It’s a bumpy ride and you just sit there, the donkeys and mules know where they are going. There were a group of younger travelers in front of me, one of the girls cried the whole way up the steps, I’m not sure why she was so upset, the donkey was so docile and she was being lead by the herder. It just must be too much for some people.
With a few hours until sunset we had a time to chill out and wonder around the streets. We went right to the end and found a bar with a pool, and a view out into the caldera, the perfect place to relax in the sunshine. At over ten euros for a chocolate milkshake it wasn’t the cheapest of places, but we stayed there all afternoon and I used the pool as much as I wanted.
As the sun sank closer to the horizon, we left the pool bar and headed back towards the town. Choosing a rooftop to watch the remainder of the sunset with an ice cream. Looking back towards the buildings, people were sat, perched, stood anywhere they could to watch the sunset. After the event, it felt like a concert, as everyone was moving in the same direction, towards their return journey tour bus.
 |
| Volcano Day Trip |
No comments:
Post a Comment