Greece -- Santorini
The island of Santorini consists of a partially submerged volcanic caldera. A major eruption in the 17th century BC ended the Minoan bronze age civilization. The archaeologic site at Akrotiri was buried in volcanic ash, preserving the ruins, has been under excavation since 1967.
The edge of the crater has beautiful views of the sea and the cinder cone island. It is heavily built with hotels, restaurants, and shops catering to tourists. There are also a great many churches along the crater edge.
The main cathedral of Thira
This museum displays pottery, bronze and gold art objects, and wall paintings from the 17th century BC town of Akrotiri. The site is rather well preserved, being buried in volcanic ash and mud.
Wall froscoes
A class, from Georgia Tech, was having an on-site lecture
(For museum exhibits with all of the captions, use this link: Museum of Prehistoric Thera )
We rode the city bus (new, comfortable, air conditioned) to Akrotiri, to see the archeological site. This is a 17th century BC, bronze age city. The site was quite well preserved, having been buried in volcanic ash and mud from 17th century BC until 20th century AD. There are three story buildings. A sanitary sewer system connects to indoor toilets in individual houses (clay pipes). There are some smaller diameter clay pipes that may have been a spring-fed water supply system.
Watermelon ice cream pop. The 'seeds' are chocolate.
Everything a tourist might want is on the street at the top of the cliff
Cable car down to the Old Port of Thira
Duty free shop
Boat excursion to the cinder cone island at the center of the volcanic caldera.
Looking from a distance, I thought this was a statue, but zooming in ...
Back in Thira
