Kalameri! (good morning in Greek)

Today was a fun day exploring the volcano of Santorini (Nea Kameni). Our journey began with us driving the 4-wheeler into Fira, taking the cable car down to the Old Port of Fira, and boarding a boat for a quick ride to Nea Kameni, the volcano of Santorini.

Santorini is essentially what has been left from an enormous volcanic explosion which destroyed the settlements and led to the creation of the current geological caldera. Its spectacular natural beauty making Santorini one of Europe's top tourist hot spots.

A giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular and measuring about 12 km by 7 km (8 mi by 4 mi), is surrounded by 300 m (984 ft) high, steep cliffs on three sides. The island slopes downward from the cliffs to the surrounding Mediterranean sea. On the fourth side, the lagoon is separated from the Mediterranean by another much smaller island called Therasia. The lagoon merges with the sea in two places, in the northwest and southwest. The water in the center of the lagoon is nearly 400 m (1,300 ft) deep, thus being a safe harbor for all kinds of ships. The island's harbors are all in the lagoon and there are no ports on the outer perimeter of the island. The island's capital, Fira, clings to the top of the cliff looking down on the lagoon.

It is the most active volcanic center in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, though what remains today is largely a water-filled caldera. The island is the site of the "Minoan eruption", one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recent pre-history when it erupted some 3,500 years ago, at the height of the Minoan civilization. According to a theory, the volcanic eruption may have indirectly led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete due to a gigantic tsunami.

In 1707 an undersea volcano breached the sea surface forming the current center of activity at Nea Kameni, and eruptions centered on it continue — three times in the twentieth century, the last being in 1950. Santorini was also struck by a devastating earthquake in 1956. At some time in the future, it will almost certainly erupt violently again. Although the volcano rests at the present time, at the current active crater [there are several former craters on Nea Kameni] steam and sulfur are given off.

The brochure we had read about this trip said we would take a boat to the volcano, another side trip to the hot springs where we could swim in the 100 degree water which was quite deep and the last stop was to a small island that was created as a result of the eruption. Well, this trip was not as "sweet" as the brochure made it sound. We were in for quite a trek.

The boat dropped us at the bottom of the volcano entry. Joy was our tour guide for the day and she said that we were going to be walking UP to the highest point of the volcano (the part above water of course), and pointed straight up this HUGE mountain. The day was already very hot at 11am and at this point there was no choice in the matter, we had to follow orders, or as Joy put it "Pommei" (meaning "let's go"). The group of us climbed up and UP a steep lava path, stopping at various points of the trek to hear about the volcanic eruption and see the steam rising from the active volcano.

At one point Joy told us that her son walked up the volcano, as we had done today, and went into the crater where he was not supposed to be and breathed a bit too much of the gases (sulfur and other gases from the volcano opening) and was sick as a dog for several days! He was in trouble from momma, who stopped counting her ascents when she hit 1000! This hike was 2 miles round trip and we were fortunate to take barely enough water along with us, as the brochure did not say anything about a hike!

The higher we got the hotter it got and then we started feeling the HEAT beneath our feet! The lava was very hot as we were standing on an ACTIVE VOLCANO and we could really feel the heat and the energy from the crater. We wandered around for a bit enjoying the 360 degree view of Santorini and the surrounding islands. The hike down the lava bed was a lot easier but once we got to the bottom the heat was intense as we waited for our next boat to take us to the hot springs - yeah, more heat!

We transferred onto a traditional Greek sailing vessel, St. Nikolas, for the 20 minute ride to the hot springs. Nea Kameni has several hot springs mostly located around the volcanic shores. Geologists are of the opinion that the hot springs of Nea Kameni have concentrated iron and manganese and it is believed that the hot springs are good for the body and have curative properties. The reality is that the so-called “Hot Springs” are not all that hot. Lukewarm is the right word to describe the springs. We chose not to take a bath with the other 100 tourists on our boat as the stop was only for 30 minutes and the stories about the mud staining all your clothes was not too appealing....we enjoyed watching the people frolic in the water and coat themselves with the clay-like "mud" and then sit around in their stinky sulfur wet bathing suits for the next few hours. We were dry and cool!

The St. Nikolas continued to the island of Therasia, an old fishing village, where we had lunch and wandered the 10 minutes of the village. Ryan was thrilled with our lunch spot as it was a restaurant built on stilts overlooking the clear blue Aegean Sea. Ryan fed the fishies A LOT of bread and we enthusiastically watched the fish fight for the chunks of bread, green pepper, tomato and french fries (a huge hit with the big fishes!). We entertained ourselves for awhile and enjoyed the fish frenzy - chumming at its finest!

We wandered around the "village" but chose not to ride the donkey's up the 150 stairs to the top of the town, but watched the tourists sunbathe on the ROCKS, surrounded by the anchors and ropes and stinky dead fish heads. It is amazing what one will do for a little sun time!

The boat returned us to the Port of Fira where we rode the cable car back up to the town WAY above the water (we chose NOT to take the donkey ride up the 589 stairs)! Thank goodness Ryan was not interested in these stairs! WHEW! We had a good climb up the volcano so the stairs would have put us over the edge!

Our tour ended at 4:30pm and we 4-wheeled home and rested for a short while before heading to a local restaurant in Karterados for dinner.

Tomorrow we will head into Oia again, do a little shopping and take in the famous sunset.

Today's walk: 10 miles
Total for the journey (281 miles, 54 days)

Love,
Laurie and Ryan