Santorini - Sept 25

Our plan for today was to take the bus down to the ancient ruins and then to head back into town and to go to the old port below Fira. After breakfast we made our way to the bus station and took the bus to the bus station in Fira where we changed to the bus for Akrotiri, location of the Minoan period ruins. Apparently, the Minoans had enough time to evacuate the town before the volcano erupted in 1640 BC. When we arrived in Akrotiri we asked the bus driver where to find the ruins and he told us that the ruins were closed for the season. This was disappointing and we stayed on the bus to head back to Fira.

After returning to Fira, we walked to the edge of the caldera and then started the walk down to the port. There are three ways to reach the port; 1) walk down the switchbacked walkway, 2) ride a donkey down the same walkway or 3) take the tram down. At the top of the walkway, the donkeys where wait for trips down and the walkway was littered with their waste. It was a little dangerous as groups of people were being assembled and started heading down, while at the same time the walkway was congested with waiting donkeys. Once we got past the top, it became easier as there was less congestion. At the bottom, we encountered similar congestion as at the top.

The old port was very active with Tavernas as well as people coming and going from the many cruise ships docked just off-shore.

We decided that we would walk back up also. It was pretty warm out and it is a pretty long walk (582 steps) and we were both pretty sweaty when we go to the top and we each got a Gyro and walked to the bus station and took the bus back to Oia (ee-ah) where our hotel was.

That evening the sunset was not that nice as it was pretty cloudy and we went to a restaurant where the food was not so good, probably the worst we had during our stay in Greece.