The Unsettling History of Santorini

During our volcano trip, we were informed of the unsettling history of Santorini. Thousands of years ago, Santorini had one of the biggest volcano eruptions in the world. I think it's the second biggest. It made the crater of the island sink in slowly, creating a caldera. Over the next thousands of years, after each eruption and earthquake, the crater continued to sink, and in flowed water, covering the land. In 1950, the island experienced it's final eruption to date (it's an active volcano) and destroyed much of the island. People fleed and came back only to find everything destroyed and covered in green ashes. No one wanted to live on Santorini, so the government decided to give land away for free. If you sit on it, it's yours. People who decided to take a risk, and were probably poor, decided to restart their life-- in one of the most beautiful and scenic places in the world. Tourism in Santorini only started 30 years ago. It's amazing to see what this island has become, but also how we've, as tourists and travelers, taken away some of its beauty by intruding on the hustle and bustle of their lives. It still warms my heart to see families and little kids running around on the island-- as if we haven't taken away everything from them yet. I wonder what the older generation will think, and if the newer generation will stay around to carry on the traditional Greek culture.

After we got back from our Volcano tour, we ended up heading on a bus to Oia, to explore the town and see the sunset again. The little town of Oia is exactly as I pictured it. Little houses floating down the edge of the caldera, cute little shops and winding streets. We ended up going to the Bay of Ammoudi, sat on some rocks and chilled out for a little bit-- staying out of the sweltering heat. We made the treacherous climb back to the top, with enough time to watch the sunset. The immense amount of people camping out to watch the sunset was a sight within itself! We ended up climbing on the top of someone's roof and camped out there until the sun finally set down into the horizon. I found it hard to balance taking photos and just simply watching the sunset. I wanted to capture it and remember it forever, but I only seemed to be seeing it through the lens of my camera. For a few moments, I put down the camera in order to savor the moment-- only to find myself grabbing the camera to capture the moment again. It's an addiction really.

We ended up heading back to Fira right after the sunset to get some food. We tried spanakopita (spinach pies) and I tried to say it. My goal is to learn 5 greek words. I can say Hello, Good morning, thank you... food items don't count. I butchered spanakopita. It was extremely delicious! At the end of our meal, we went to a bakery and got some baklava. A trip to Greece isn't complete without baklava. We had our desert out on our balcony... with every intent to go out that evening since it was our last night together. But they day tired us out, and we ended up heading to bed instead.

Christina and Brian would leave the next day on a ferry back to Athens to make the long journey back home.