Our first visit to this iconic island in Greece with its blue domed roofs and white coloured buildings. It’s a pity the weather didn’t help with our photos, it was very overcast on the day and we even had a spot of rain.

We had decided to take a tour of the Akrotiri ruins, these were originally discovered in 1867 but the latest extensive excavations were started in 1967 and the area currently undercover represents only 3% of the site! The ruins date back to 5,000BC when it was a small fishing village that later became an important trading port within the islands. It was latterly inhabited by Minoans, managed by women in a matriarchecal society. Lots of the buildings show evidence of elements of design to prevent destruction in an earthquake. Lots of vases have been found and reconstructed, many frescoes (considered to be the best found), bed frames and even a toilet which would have had running water and drainage! The houses were 3 storeys high and laid out as apartments rather than houses. It is believed that Plato thought the Island was the lost city of Atlantis.

Unfortunately the town was completely destroyed by an earthquake in the 16th century, along with much of the Island, when Thera erupted. A caldera formed (volcano crater) which gave the Island its current crescent shape. It is estimated that 30m of volcanic debris was deposited on the island and can be seen in the layers of the mountains.

We were then dropped off in the main town of Fira to make our way back down via the cable car down to the dock, to get the ship’s tender. There were 4 ships in the bay that day and there were warnings about queues for the cable car, but we were lucky and got on straight away. You can walk up or down a path (very steep) next to the cable car. They also have donkeys who will take you up, but we did not consider this and actually thought these had been banned due to cruelty.