May 12, 2025

May 12, 2025

The Minoan civilization disappeared around 1500 BC. Today we want to check out the reason. The most likely cause was one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history on the nearby island of Thira or Santorini. The resulting tsunami and volcanic debris must have killed thousands and weakened them for decades allowing Mycenean Greeks to overrun the island and take over their trading empire.

To get to Santorini we taxi to the commercial port of Heraklion, Crete and board the high-speed hydrofoil ferry. Surprisingly we have assigned seats. The two-hour ride is pretty smooth. I needn’t have taken Dramamine. The ship finishes the journey sailing inside the center of the C-shaped island.

This volcanic center of the island exploded leaving a steep caldera that filled with seawater. Santorini has to be the most geologically interesting island in the world. The eruption of the island may have given birth to the legend of Atlantis and the biblical plagues in Exodus. After disembarking, we found our rental car, loaded it and drove up the steep caldera cliff on a series of switchbacks.

At the crest we head to the southern tip of Santorini to visit the ancient site of Akrotiri. This is a Minoan settlement that was buried by the volcanic eruption. Discovered only in 1967, it is the Greek Pompeii. When I visited 41 years ago, it had barely been excavated. Now a dozen houses have been unearthed. Unlike Pompeii the residents must have had warning. No bodies have been found. Only large objects too cumbersome to escape with.

We walked in a circle around the site. The ruins are completely covered to protect the fragile remains. It looks like a little village with stone multi-story houses, and timber-framed doors and windows. Interestingly lots of wall frescoes were found on the upper floors. Wooden furniture and beds didn’t survive but the voids left have been filled with plaster to identify them.

After this quick tour, we drove to the main town of Fira and parked on the outskirts. We walked into town behind a sea of tourists. They must be from the two cruise ships we saw offshore.  Depressing! We ate a lunch of salad, cheese-stuffed peppers, and Pastitsio, a kind of Greek lasagna.

Afterwards we walked next-door to the Museum of Prehistoric Thira. It contains the artifacts found at Akrotiri, especially the wall paintings. I am happy to see that while still incomplete, they are more intact than those from Knossos. Besides being brightly colored they show nature scenes and common activities, like young boys fishing, or girls with large earrings and flounced skirts collecting Saffron from Crocus flowers.

There is also a plaster cast of an ornate carved wooden side table. One of the wall decorations is three-dimensional and purely ornamental and would fit in a typical 1950’s bathroom. All this looks shockingly modern for a 4000-year-old Bronze Age city.

Back in the car, we drive to the north tip to find our next home base in the town of Oia. We are frustrated by a garbage truck hogging our drop off point. After some frustration, we settle into our cave hotel room dug into the soft volcanic soil. Windowless cave homes once were peasant quarters; now they are luxury accommodations.

Aimee and I sit and relax on our cliff-side veranda for the rest of the afternoon. The view is beautiful and we are done with site-seeing. The temperature starts out surprisingly hot and sunny but then turns rainy and cool. 

In the evening we get dressed for dinner. All around us we see girls wearing Minoan-inspired flounced dresses posing for photos. Aimee has to get in on the action with her Santorini-blue dress.

For dinner we walk north along the white-washed cliff-side promenade toward the center of Oia. I get mixed up in a tour group heading toward the classic blue-domed viewpoint. I have to join them. Afterwards I find my group and join them for a sunset dinner. Our rooftop seating almost got rained out, but the weather thankfully cleared for us.