Today is another beautiful day in Santorini. It said it was only supposed to have a high of 70 F today, but I thing it was a lot hotter. I would say it may even have gotten up to 80 F. After breakfast, this morning, I wanted to go to Akrotira. It is a prehistoric settlement on the southern tip of Santorini. In prehistoric times, it was a well connected Minoan port. It was connected to mainland Greece as well as Egypt and Syria. In 16th century BC, the town was covered in ash by a volcanic eruption. This preserved the site. Today, it is covered by a bioclimatic roof and walkways are suspended above the remains.
The city had an elaborate drainage system and had multistory buildings, Between 1620 and 1530 BC, the inhabitants were forced to leave due to several severe earthquakes. This caused a volcanic eruption and ash completely covered the town and the island. In 1867, they started excavating the site. Modern excavations began in 1967 and the work continues today with exciting discoveries still being made.
We took the bus from Fira to Akrotira. It cost 12 Euro to enter the site. Jay got in for free because he has a disablilty. If you are over 65 and from one of the European Nation countries, then you get in for half price. We spent some time walking around the site. Then we got back on the bus to go back to Fira.
Once we were back in Fira, Jay decided he wanted to go to Oia. We found the bus to take there, but it was standing room only. Jay and I both had to stand for the 25 minute bus ride. There were times, I thought I might just fall down. Once in Oia, we walked around. It is a lot of walking up and down steps. We stoppe at a restaurant and had lunch. I have been eating a lot of fish lately. I got tired of eating Chicken Souvlaki or Kebobs. After lunch we walked around some more and then went back to the bus station to catch the bus back to Fira. There was a very long line and we did not get on the first bus. There were still a lot of people in front of us and I was afraid we would have to stand up again on the ride back and was afraid I would not be able to. I saw some taxis and asked a driver how much to take us back to our hotel in Fira. It was only 30 Euros, so I motioned for Jay to get out of the line and come and get in the taxi. It was a very good decision. He dropped us off right in front of the hotel, so we did not have to walk up the steep hill to the hotel.
We then took a little rest before venturing out for dinner. This time I had linguine with shrimp. It was pretty good. We then had to walk back up the steep hill to our hotel. Once again, we got there in time to watch the sunset.
