Last evening we arrived at Santorini just before sunset and entered the caldera formed by the several islands that make up the Santorini archipelago. The setting sun on the multi-colored cliffs of the crater walls provided a glorious scene as we sailed in. We anchored for the night and watched the full moon rise over the crater walls behind the city of Thira, which is perched just on the rim of the caldera. Today we spent the entire day on this, one of the most spectacular islands in the Cyclades. Today it is called Santorini, but before 1628 B.C. it was known as Thira and was a center of Minoan culture. The Minoan settlement was devastated when the volcano erupted in that year and filled the entire eastern Mediterranean with volcanic ash which can today be found from Libya, all the way around the coast to Turkey and Cyprus. The eruption must have been one of the most significant in human history, ranking with Tambora and Krakatoa in size and dwarfing the eruption of Mt. St. Helens by several orders of magnitude. The eruption has been liked in imagination to the legend of the lost city of Atlantis and in speculation to the exodus of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt.
We went ashore by local tender in the morning and drove to the beautiful village of Oia on the northern rim of the crater for a walk around the beautifully whitewashed buildings and narrow walkways which separate them. Later we drove south along the outer eastern coast of the island through beautiful vineyards to the town of Pirgos where we enjoyed a wonderful lunch of local mezedes. From Pirgos we went to the main town of Thira and visited the wonderful archeological museum to see their collection of Minoan and other Cycladian relics before taking the scenic cable car ride back down to the landing for our return to Sea Cloud, which had been patiently awaiting our arrival. One of the real joys of the entire day was looking down from the crater rim to see our beautiful sailing ship in the deep blue waters below. It was, altogether, a truly memorable night and day at this jewel of the Aegean Sea.
