Santoríni, Volcanic Cliff

The SS City of Rhodes sailed from the Island of Rhodes to Herakleion, located at about the middle of the north side of the Island of Crete. After a short visit to King Minos’ Palace of Knossós, which had been destroyed by a Volacanic eruption, we sailed for the island of Santoríni.

Santoríni is what remains from the volcano explosion and resulting tidal wave that destroyed Knossós, around 1500 B.C. The original island, called Stroggili, almost disappeared and what remains, Théra, is composed of the earth and lava that were pushed up from inside the earth. The island is shaped like the edge of your right hand, with the thumb and finger curved. The harbor is 1300 feet deep, so they can’t drop anchor, the dock is so small the ship had to be tied to shore with long cables. We rode small boats to port.

There are three ways to scale the cliff from the dock to the town of Thíra. Walk up the 587 steps zigzaging up the side of the cliff, ride one of the donkeys or horses that carry passengers up those same steps, or ride the cable car. Easy decision, and the cable car took us right into town.

However, on our return Emmy decided to walk down the hundreds of steps. After stepping in millions of donkey donuts, she almost gave up and hired a donkey half-way down, but then insisted on completing the journey by foot.