After a leisurely morning of coffee, toast and lying in the sun we prepared ourselves for a trip to Akrotiri.
Our accommodation organises a trip to the ancient village. I previously stuffed up the dates of the eruption-they should be about 2400 years BC (ie over 4000 years ago) when the big eruption took place.this was when this village was covered in a pyrocrastic flow.
Our driver took us south and stopped briefly at a lookout to explain the different islands-main island of Thira (where everyone stays and most refer to as Santorini-FYI-Santorini refers to the whole group of islands), Thirissa which has 250 residents, Amronisi-which is privately owned and tiny, Nea Kameni-a 600 year old volcano which last erupted in the 1950s and finally Palea Kameni which is kind of part of the volcano had has hot springs.
The trip to Akrotiri went via Red Beach, a red sand beach similar to what Hawaii has. The red makes a stunning colour contrast to the blue of the sea.
Akrotiri only reopened to the public this year. The ruins are only partly excavated and are housed indoors. There was a rush in early 2000 for the ruins to be opened. Unfortunately they rushed the construction and in or about 2005 part of the building collapsed killing a tourist and destroying part of the ruins. They were closed from this point until their sudden reopening this year, apparantly unexpectedly. I was very pleased they had reopened as it was a highlight of my ancient history degree studying the wall frescos many many years ago. Its definately nice to walk around an archeological site which is sheltered. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable. Given that they have recently excavated a sewer system and proof of plumbing (which technology was subsequently lost for years) there are murmerings of Atlantis found (ie technologically advanced civilisation, sea faring people etc). There was certainly a lot of wealth evident in the ruins. Who knows what further excavations will reveal. They estimate it will take another 100 years to complete the excavations, now probably more as funding is hard to come by in the current economic climate.
We left our journey into the past and travelled back to the present by stopping off at one of the wineries overlooking the caldera 'Santos Wineries'. It is always essential to try the local vintage. The first couple of whites were good although nothing standout about them. The final dessert wine however was beautiful. It was reminiscient if a good muscat-syrupy, raisony and delightfully warming. Heaven in a glass.
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