Holiday Tales Part 6 – Volcanic Islands

I love it when the Thursday Challenge is about something I wanted to write about. Two birds, one stone thingy, you know. Today’s challenge is (“HARD” (Rock, Ice, Brick, Steel, Cement,…).

Volcanic Rocks..boulders of lava…

Santorini, is what remains after a violent volcanic explosion, a long time ago.The island is the remnant of an volcanic cone, which had been blown off during one of the explosions in history. Apparently the island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history. One of the popular theories claim that one of the eruptions here is the source of the legend of Atlantis.

The beaches of Santorini are all black in colour because of the volanic eruptions in the past.

The islands of Nea Kameni and Palea Kameni are the remnants of the most recent explosions in this area. See the islands in the pic below. The two islands in the middle are the two kamenis. Apparently this is one of the most recent landmass formation in the Aegean Sea.

The day we got hold of our rental car( Do check out Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 in case you missed them), we also figured out that there was a cruise to The volcano and the Hot springs.

The next day, we set off, to get on the cruise to the volcanic crater in Nea Kameni. Look how gorgeous the Caldera looks in the morning. This is the view from Fira.

Our cruise was from the Port of Fira. The cruise would take us to the volcanic crater, and then to the Hot Springs and return. We would be able to climb all the way to the top of the crater and have a swim in the Hot Springs. Husband was most delighted by the thought of the swim.

The port of Fira was a long trek down. There were donkeys taking tourists up and down.

We used these cable cars to go down(and up) to the port.

See the volcanic rock in the main Island of Santorini.

And look at the way they have built on top of it..

Finally the port..

The boat that we set sail in.

As we sailed away, we got to see wonderful views of the island. Look at these caves, and the cave houses, etched into the landscape…

And finally at the volcanic islands.

On our way up the crater.

As I upload pictures here, I realize that most of the best pictures have us in the frane! The view of Santorini from the island. I think this was Oia in the picture.

It is uninhabited island. The only people there are the tourists. Daughter refused to walk beyond a point. It was hot, sweltering hot, and walking up did seem difficult. So Husband went ahead.

Look at these rocks! Something majestic about them. Beats man made things, doesn’t it?

The view again..

Husband went ahead and this is what he saw. Look how the terrain changes…

Sulphur patches with a strong smell of sulphur- according to Husband. Later we got to know that Santorini does have a lot of sulphur in it’s environment due to volcano. These are actually called Sulphur vents.

Some of the equipment that is constantly measuring the volcanic activity here. The last time the volcano erupted was in 1950.

Husband said that the top of the crater was full of rocks stacked one upon the other.. Something may be the tourists did?

The crater..

While husband was away capturing pictures of sulphur vents, craters and rocks, daughter and I relaxed under an umbrella, and watched other tourists who had aborted their journey and stayed back.. I wish I could say I over heard their conversation, but their conversation was all in Chinese 😦

Once husband got back, we got back into the boat and set off for the Hot Springs. That was a bit of a disappointment, because, apparently it was not all that hot 🙂 Some people on our boat did jump in, and swam about, but most of us stayed put.

I am sure whoever reached this far, must be fed up of seeing only rocks, let me leave you with this…

and this.. Our last glimpse of the volcanic islands.. At least from this angle. We shifted to Oia, the next day, from where we got to see a whole different view..