calling from some city...

Today was the last day in Santorini. Scott made the point that this was the first place we’ve been that he is not ready to leave. I definitely agree- I could spend weeks here, just driving around on ATVs, sitting on the beach, and eating dinner watching the beautiful sunset. Santorini is definitely a place I need to return to one day.

As for today, we got up early to go on a tour of the nearby volanco and hot springs. I was eager to learn a lot about Santorini and the volcano because I find the history of the island extremely ineresting. Once upon a time, Santorini was just one island until a volcano erupted from the center and gave it its shape today. The eurption was one of the largest in history and occured about 3,600 years ago. In the twentieth century, there were 3 small eruptions, and its highly likely the volcano will erupt again someday- though scientists cannot saw when (we did learn that they will be able to tell when the eruption is about a month away). One popular theory is that the volcanic eruption is the legend of the lost Atlantis. The volcano also explains whey there are different colors of sand beaches in Santorini- it depends on what geologic layer is exposed.

Anyways, we took a bus down to the port and got on a boat to take us to the volcano, which didnt take too long to get there. At first glance, the volcano was kind of disappointing. The view of Santorini from the water was beautiful, but the volanco itself just looked like a bunch of rocks. We got out of the boat and started climbing. It was a pretty steep hike to the top- about a half hour, and the sun was absolutely baking us as we walked uphill. I was glad I brought a huge water because I definitely needed to. We managed to reach the top while the guide explained some more information about the volcano. Again, there wasnt much to see except a lot of rocks and a couple of craters. We saw places where rocks were steaming because again, this volcano is still active. The volcano did offer pretty incredible views of the entire island, however.

We walked down and got back on the boat to head to the hot springs. We dived off the boat and swam to where the springs were supposed to be. Here I was more disappointed because the water really wasn’t warm at all. I’ve been to natural hot baths/springs in Viterbo, Italy, and they were much hotter. Here, you couldn’t really tell the difference between the springs and just the regular water. So we just swam back to the boat and headed back on the bus.

Sara decided to go back to the villa to avoid getting any sunburns, and Scott and I headed to the beach at Kamari. He went for a long swim while I read and suntanned. It was a beautiful, sunny day out and just the perfect way to spend our last afternoon in Santorini.

After showering in the villa, we headed by bus to Oia, the other main town in Santorini thats about 25 minutes away from Fira. We hadnt been to Oia yet because its known as being a honeymooners destination, but we definitely wanted to catch one sunset at Oia because it is famous for being spectacular. It was a crowded bus ride, but we got there and found a restaurant with a rooftop terrace that offered views of the sunset. We ate a delicious meal while watching the amazing sunset. It was a perfect end to a great trip to Santorini.

We returned to the villa to pack up and get ready for a very early flight to ROME!