Background info and pictures from Santorini

-The central mound of volcanic ash

Around 1600-1500 BC the volcano erupted causing the center of the island to collapse into the , splitting the land into three separate islands, and creating a central mound of volcanic ash in the middle of the ring of islands. This eruption caused a tsunami that wiped out the Minoan civilization on Crete. The most recent eruption was in the 1950's, and the volcano is still considered active.

- Akrotiri is an archaelogical wonder that can be found here on Santorini. However, due to a collapse in the roof i 2005 the site is currently closed and we were unable to visit is. The town was destroyed by a volcano eruption, but was miraculously preserved under layers of lava.

- Ancient Thira is the ruins of a city that trived during Greek, Roman, and Byzantine times. It is situated atop a high promontory, overlooking a black lava beach. this is located on the same end of the island as akrotiri and requires a bus ride from Fira ( where we were staying). We had inten ded to hike up to Ancient THira on the morning of our full day in Santorini but rainy/cool weather kept us from venturing out. when the weather cleared we had already started out walk to Skaros from which we continued on to Oia.

- Skaros is a point where the administrative palace for the island was located until an earthquake in the 19th century caused the destuction of the palace.

Me with one of the many churches on the island - supposedly you can build a bigger house if you build a church on your land....the result is LOTS of churches!

A summary of our walk....from the white atop the mountain to where I stand.

White washed houses.