Nea Kameni – Santorini Volcano

For our first day in Santorini we took a day cruise out to Nea Kameni, the most active volcano on Santorini Island. It was created in the 18^th century, with its most recent explosion less than 100 years ago. The island itself has had a very active past—one of the largest volcanic explosions in the history of the planet created the beautiful cliffs (known as the caldera) around 1650 BC. Ash from the explosion was found in South America, and would have been heard on the Western coast of France. It is believed that this explosion is what wiped out the great Minoan culture on Crete. Since then, earthquakes and other volcanic explosions have created the beautiful views on the island.

We took a wooden sail boat which looked like a pirate ship out to the volcano, and then climbed up to the peak, which had ridiculous views of the island. Afterwards we took the boat out to Palia Kameni to swim in the hot springs that spew into the Aegean sea. Then we had lunch in Thirasia, which was separated from the main island in 236 BC. That evening we watched the sunset from Akrotiri, and then drove the rental car (a tiny red Peugot) to have dinner and drinks with our friends we met in Mykonos.

Justin at Nea Kameni Port with the Caldera in the background

View of Hotel Mathios from our balcony

The pirate ship we took to the volcano

Sunset from Akrotiri