I was the first one awake (as usual) and killed time by listening to my iPod, drawing and looking at the lovely view. Once Ash had woken up, I made her and me a hot chocolate, which we drank in bed. She then had a bath and I worked on my blog. I was feeling much better and was even looking forward to breakfast. We ate it in their sunny dining room. It was a continental breakfast, with fruit, pastries and bread. Yum!
After breakfast we quickly got ready and then got a transfer from our hotel to Thera (or Fira) town. We were dropped right outside a pharmacist and took that opportunity to pop in and buy some more medicine for dad and me. Then we found a shady spot with a good view and sat there a while.
We walked around and saw the donkey station, where you can get a donkey ride to or from the port at the bottom of the cliff. To get down you could also walk to same path that the donkey takes, but there are about 580 steps! The final option for getting to the port is to take the cable car that runs every 20 minutes- that sounds the most pleasant!
We each bought something to drink and went and had it back in our shady spot. Then we walked to where the cable car station is and had lunch at a restaurant near there. I ate a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.
When we had finished we bought a ticket to the cable car and went down to the port. From there we got on a boat for a tour of the volcanic island, Nea Kameni. I was very excited to see an actual volcano. It is considered dormant and the last time it erupted was in 1950. As we arrived at the island we were amazed at the colour of the water: it is bright green! This is because of the sulfur that is emitted from the volcano.
We got off the boat and walked around on the designated pathways. The landscape of the volcano is amazing. It mostly consists of black rocks and growing among the rocks are these beautiful red plants. You can't believe that anything could actually survive there, but it does! We walked to 3 different craters. When I pictured the craters I thought red lava bubbling and smoke spewing, but it was a lot less exciting than that. The craters were actually just large holes. I was sort of disappointed, but as mom pointed out, we actually wouldn't want it more exciting than that!
The best part for me was when, in the last crater, we saw fumaroles. These are hot gas vents with temperatures from 75 to 95 degrees. We could see wisps of smoke coming from the rocks and smell the gas. That reminded us that we were really on a volcano!
We got back to the boat at 3:30 and then cruised to Palaia Kameni, which neighbors Nea Kameni. There are hot springs there, which we were going to swim in. We got into our costumes when they announced that we were coming closer to the island. They told us that the temperature of the water at the springs is about 27 degrees. The problem was that you had to swim 20 meters through the sea to get there and the temperature of the sea is 15 degrees! Brrrrr.
We debated whether to jump in or climb down the ladder but Ash bravely jumped in and so mom and I followed (dad didn't come- he just took pictures) As we swam closer to the springs the water got warmer. The water at the springs is brown because of something that is released from the vents and there are little trails of bubbles streaming to the surface. We found some rocks floating on the water and kept a few as souvenirs. After 15 minutes we decided to go back- that was difficult because we were swimming against the waves. We managed to get to the boat eventually and sat in the sun to get warm.
When we arrived back at the port we sat at a little cafe and I had a choc-vanilla ice cream. We got a taxi back to our hotel and relaxed in our rooms. Then we got ready for dinner and took a transfer back to Thera town. We had dinner at a place called Tavern Naoussa. Dad, Ash and I had moussaka- it was the best I've ever tasted!
I read on Mom's facebook about the swim. And I wondered, how many people were on the boat that were as brave as the three of you, jumping into water of 15 degrees!!! Good for you Ashlyn, but what can you expect, you are a water baby.
ReplyDeleteVery nice pictures again, we are enjoying the blog and I've told a couple of people about it.
Oma and Opa
Lets start at the top of you post - I LOVE the sea view from the dining room. Imagine seeing that each day! Then the white houses they built on the cliffs look amazing. Hey i also would have taken the cable car, as i would have been petrified that the donkey would loose his footing. Had to laugh at your moms comment that you really wouldn't want a more exciting volcano view, but I think it is amazing that u could see smoke and smell gas anyway. How long must a volcano not have errupted for it to be considered dormant? I would have thought 1950 is pretty recent? Finally - think you were so brave to go swimming in the sea. That will be a very special memory I think!
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