Our second to last stop on our Road Scholar trip to Greece was at the island of Santorini.
Here's what our guide wrote about it after the fact:
"Later in the evening we sailed south towards Santorini and admired the stunning sea caldera, one of the longest in the world.
"We boarded the tender boat to reach the small port of Skala and took a fun ride with the cable car to the top of the town. The views were dazzling of the sea and nearby islands and volcano that once upon a time were part of the original round shape of the island.
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| Our ship in the harbor. |
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| Dan was so sea sick that when he got on the island he kissed the ground! |
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| Looking up to the top of the island where the town is. |
"We walked through the narrow alleys of the very quiet town of Fira and
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| Houses built into the hills. |
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| Graffiti on the cactus! |
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| Another view of our ship. |
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| Not our ship! |
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| Our ship! |
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| Lots of expensive shops and restaurants along these narrow walkways. |
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| Loved the patterns in this photo. |
"we boarded a bus and continued on a stunning drive along the coast to Akrotiri. We walked through the site of Akrotiri, the Pompeii of Greece, where frescos and artists had been found, a city of the 2nd millenium BC."
Akrotiri is compared to Pompeii because it too was buried in ash when the the volcano on Santorini exploded. Scholars believe that the tidal wave from this eruption was the cause of the destruction to the Minoan civilization to the south. This community here had lots in common with the Minoans either from trade or by settlers coming from Minoa.
Unlike Pompeii there have been no body cavity found. Lots of speculation on this including previous experience from eruptions meant the people left before the ash inundated the town.
There was a video on the walk around the site based upon the frescos found that showed how life was probably lived here. Many conveniences that you don't expect for 2000 BC. No frescoes for us to see. They have been moved else where.
There is also evidence that there is another city underneath this one! So this one was built over the destruction of the previous city from a volcanic eruption? Possibly.
Another view of the island community.
Houses appear to be teetering on the edge. An earthquake or another volcanic eruption would send them into the sea.
Our guide Anastasia on board the tender.
Good bye Santorini
From Santorini we went on to Melos passing this huge tortoise captured in rock.
I have no photos of the last island, Melos, the original home of Venus de Milo. I stayed on board that morning for the trip having had a bad reaction to possibly the mussels I had the night before. Dan said it was not the most interesting excursion and with no toilets on the busses and only a single seater for when they did make a bathroom stop, I made the right decision staying on board having Coke and crackers.
I was okay by evening for the last dinner we had together. From left to right, Steve & Alison of Boston area, me and Dan, and Terry and Bob of Fredricksburg, VA
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We have plans to see Steve and Alison again. They are coming here later this month. So my final evaluation of the Road Scholar trip: it was an adventure not a vacation. We were steeped in ancient history which was refreshing believe it not, because it places our times in perspective. We are just a minute dot in history right now. We also met some very nice people who we can count on as friends going forward. Would we do another one? Probably not. We enjoyed it, it checked an archaeology trip off my list, but we do like to have our own schedule which we didn't on this trip. I'd still recommend it to anyone interested in ancient Greece. The size of the group 37, divided into two groups was perfect. Look up Road Scholar to check it out. |
