Therasia, Greece
Santorini is a serious volcanic hotspot, site of a caldera
that could erupt catastrophically at any time. Even physically it looks like a
flooded version of Crater Lake, Oregon which we visited last year. During the
Bronze Age in the 16th century B.C., the so-called Minoan eruption,
considered one of the largest on earth in the last 5,000 years, caused
civilizational destruction around the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean seas and
wiped out Akrotiri and other settlements on Santorini. They say it could blow again anytime and is
thus very carefully monitored for activity. Lesser volcanic eruptions have
taken place since, the most recent of which was in 1950. Volcanic activity is
centered in the middle of the caldera on the island of Nea Kameni.
A top activity on Santorini is boat rides from the Old Port to
three islands in the caldera – Nea Kameni, Palea Kameni, and Thirassia. The seven-hour
long trips with stops at all three seemed like a quite good deal for our last
day on Santorini so we booked at out hotel.
That also gave us an excuse to walk down the donkey path to the Old Port
and take the cable car back.
The first stop on the cruise was Nea Kameni at the center of
the caldera. A guided walking tour was offered to the craters and lava flows
from various eruptions over recent centuries, including those of 1950, 1939-41,
1925-28, 1866-70, and 1707-1711. With
the good map they gave us, we chose to go exploring on our own. The volcanic
landscapes on the island and views back to the mainland of Santorini are almost
surreal.
Next stop was for some swimming at a hot spot along the
shore of Palea Kameni. Smaller Palea
Kameni island was created by earlier eruptions in 726 and 46-47 A.D. The appeal of the spot is hot vents of water
from cracks in the earth’s surface discharge into a sheltered cove, creating a
spot of much warmer water than the still chilly Aegean Sea in late May. It’s
kind of like a small hot spring with salt water.
Our last stop was on Tharassia, the other island that makes
up part of Santorini’s caldera rim. Tharassia has a small village, situated
like Fira on its heights, with a shorter but steeper path to the top than the
one at Fira. I was tempted to climb for the view, but we didn’t get very far
because of the heat, settling instead for lunch at a seaside taverna near the
port. This relatively quiet place is
what Santorini most have been like 50 years ago before the cruise ships and
tourist hordes arrived. It was really
quite pleasant.
The trip continued with a pass below Oia and along the base
of the caldera cliffs below where Rodrigo and I had hiked on the ridge two days
before all the way back to Fira’s old port. It seemed like we should be he-men
about things and walk back up the donkey trail, but we wimped out in favor of
the cable car, surprisingly reasonably priced.
2025-05-23