Santorini is a beautiful and impressive island known all over the world for its active volcano. Its last eruption took place in 1950 but more than 100 eruptions have taken place during the last 40 centuries. The most disastrous one occurred 3.5 thousand years ago and lead to the burial of a flourished civilization under tonnes of lava. The eruptions followed by lava spreading have lead to the creation of two small islands in the centre of the caldera area of Santorini, named as Palea Kameni (Old Burnt island) and Nea Kameni (New Burnt island). The first one is 2,000 years old consisting of a thin fertile soil level where locals cultivated animal feed, in the past. Nowadays, one can see wild animals like rabbits or goats that try to survive there. The second island, Nea Kameni, is much bigger that Palea Kameni and is composed of lava rocks with a few plants and rabbits as well as a lot of lizards living there.

The two small volcanic islands are surrounded by the Santorini complex which consists of Thira (the half moon shaped island), Thirasia (on the north west side of Thira) and Aspronisi (south Thirasia) which are the earth parts that stayed above sea level after the volcano eruption, 3,500 ago, that created the caldera of Santorini.
The eruptions were always preceded by warnings such as water warming, water subsiding, earthquakes.
The Santorini volcano has been sleeping for the last 60 years while hot springs on the coasts of Palea and Nea Kameni and gas emissions remind people of its being alive. However, scientists have installed an equipment network in order to get notified of any pre-eruption phenomenon so as to keep save both locals’ and visitors’ lives.
Guided tours are organized to the volcano area so everybody can visit it, swim in the medicinal baths of the hot springs and see the rocks or the soil that have been created by the lava.

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If you open any Santorini travel guide, you will read that Santorini is an amazing island, of sublime beauty, with unique natural scenery. This is absolutely true. They also mention the wonderful sunset and the romantic atmosphere. This is absolutely true as well. Santorini, however, offers many more options and this makes it ideal not only for couples but also for solo travelers. Being a solo traveler myself, I always want to find activities that will give me the opportunity to explore and discover new things. As I was staying at Kamari, I decided to do a hiking from there to Ancient Thera.

I started rather early in the morning in order to avoid the sun and the heat. I took the paved, winding road that goes uphill. It was not very easy, but I had the chance to see parts of the ancient cemetery and a panoramic view of Kamari. The pine trees at the side of the road provided me with a few shady places where I could catch my breath. Plus, I was not the only one following this route and this gave me more courage! As I was not in a hurry, I did a detour and went to the chapel of Zoodochos Pigi, too, where I relaxed for a while on its cemented benches, as the shade of the huge tree keeps the place cool. Right next to the chapel, there is a small cave, but you will need extra light if you want to see it. After that, I returned to the main path and headed towards the archaeological site of ancient Thera, the main settlement of the island from the 12th century BC until the first centuries AD. It did not take me a long time to see it all, but it was one of the most interesting places on Santorini.

Totally, it took me about 2.5 hours and I admit it was tiring at some points, however I think it was one of the most interesting and original things I did while being on Santorini. I enjoyed the open, panoramic view of Kamari and the Aegean Sea -a totally different sight from the caldera but equally beautiful- and though I did not walk on volcanic ground, the thought that I was walking on the oldest part of the island charmed me. I recommend this route to everyone and I hope you will find it as interesting as I did.

I found all the info I needed at this site:
www.santorini-hotels.info/things-to-do/

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