Santorini - Beauty of Caldera

Santorini was our next destination. Santorini or Thira is an island located at the southermost end of Cyclade islands in Aegean Sea. Santorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island, and leading to the creation of the current geological caldera. Luckily I was teaching Sanya about tectonic plates and volcanoes before we left so I was one of the few who knew what Caldera actually meant. From what I read in the book, a caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption. As most of caldera is submerged under sea, we could just see the visible parts of islands and the volcano.
A high speed catamaran got us from Mykonos to santorini. Due to the speed of the boat, we were not allowed on the deck. As catamaran was for passengers (and not vehicles), it was smaller than the bluestar ferry but moved at double the speed. The Hellenic seaways, the Company which operates these catamarans charged us Euro 40 per passenger.Tickets had been booked by us on the net more than a month before our visit. We got to Santorini in 3 hours. Once again the cubic white houses on the cliff-tops glistened in the bright sunshine. These houses were nestled up on the cliff which was almost 400 meters above the sea level. At night they look as if they are suspended in the air. The vehicle taking us to the hotel took us on a steep gradient and it took us 30 minutes to get to our hotel ‘The Blue Suites.’ We had a stunning sea view from our room balcony. The suite consisited of 2 rooms and I was wondering how we got this lovely homely hotel for just 100 Euros and that too in the town of Fira which was the capital of Santorini. The hotel was located wonderfully, had a swimming pool and looked tranquil and peaceful. Well, it was tranquil and peacefull till our 3 kids took over the swimming pool.
We soon got an answer to the low price of our hotel. While we had a great view of the sea, it was not the Caldera view, we were told. People who visited Santorini paid a huge amount for Caldera view. While we were staying in the town of Fira (capital of Santorini), many honeymooners find quiet and serenity at village Oia. Fira was lively and bustling so it was ideal for us.
For the Caldera view, one had to walk for 15 minutes from our hotel. From our hotel we take a climb up till we reach the market. The market then carries on further up and once again we get into the cobbled lanes and bylanes of attractive shops and restaurants, and soon we have the stunning volcano view.
The crowds start collecting here after 8 PM for the sunset. Many tourists, who were at the cruise ships, come up by cable car from Fira port. The restaurants start doing good business while shopkeepers wait for the sunset, after which only the tourists would start roaming around the alleys. Some restaurants even have plunge pools so that you could rleax in water , sipping your drink while watching the sun go down behind the volcano. You see cameras of all makes, sizes and shapes. The digital technology allows for you to take as many snaps as you can without any additional cost. Between Kunal and me, we snapped around 60 pictures in 20 minutes.

We chose a restaurant right on the top to watch the sunset. You could see volcano on one side and the town just below us on the left. As the sun started going down, we ordered Chivas on the rocks, a few cokes, some sheesh kababs, salads, food for kids and then for next 20 minutes kept clicking the camera. The changing colour of the horizon as well as the changing colour of the town with each passing minute was something for which it was worth travelling thousands of miles and sitting on top of a volcano island, watching the sunset & clicking pictures. It ws all so perfect and beautiful. The sunset was amazing;the drinks were heady and the market was colourful and buzzing. All this would have remained perfect but in that moment of weakness we decided to climb the Volcano the next day !

We took the cable car (other option was to walk down 600 steps !) to the Fira port, sat on a lovely looking traditional boat and went to the Volcano. ‘Nea kameni’ being a part of caldera is not like a traditional volcano so it does not have a classic peak. Last eruption here took place in 1950 and before that in august 1925 so there are several craters on the volcano and you could see the spread out lava rocks which are now black and solid and have poured out of these craters towards the sea and later solidified. As we climbed up, the sun started beating down so it was a tough climb till the top of the volcano.

There was this smell of sulphur and a lot of dust with so many people walking up. In a few places you could see some steam hissing out of the rocks giving a real feel of being on top of pressure points. The craters were well marked and well protected. We would have stopped mid-way but the kids had taken the lead and all Kunal & I could do was follow. The ladies had sensibly decided to stay behind in the town. Just as well, Kunal commented when we sat down to take a breather. 'Had they come, it would have been a sure recipe for divorce !' We huffed and puffed and cursed the moment we had decided to climb this bloody structure in mid afternoon. We did reach the top after crossing several craters. From the top of the volcano you could see the brilliant blue sea and all you wanted to do in this heat was jump into the sea.
Well, this is exactly what we did. The next stop was the hot springs so we were asked to jump into water (temp of water 17 deg C) and swim towards the hot springs. The kids were allowed after we assured the tour operators that they were good swimmers. So as we swam towards the hot springs (formed due to gases from the volcano), water started getting slightly warm. There was a lot of muck on the floor of the sea so the tourists from other parts of Europe had fun playing with it just as holi is played with keechar in places like Kanpur and Ghaziabad. The boat-ride back was nice and relaxing. It always relaxes Kunal and me to see pretty girls shedding their clothes and drying themselves on the deck of the boat.
The Volcano trip was tiring but jumping into the cold sea was exhilirating.
All the heat and discomfort was forgotten when the kids very excitedly described the entire experience as their highlight of the trip to their respective mothers. They stopped smiling when I told them that they had to make a project about their Santorini visit when they reached home. I am still waiting for the project to happen.