 |
| |
 |
|
 |
|
|
| |
These were the words that
the Nobel Prize winner Odysseas Elytis used in his "Ode
to Santorini" to pay tribute to the Santorini volcano.
They
provide a wonderful description of the magnificent image of the erup-tion
that gave the island its present form. Volcanologists have much to say
about this phenomenon, but its true magic can only be appreciated through
the senses.
So, take a walk on Palia and Nea Kameni, touch the
solidified lava, swim in the warm green waters at Palia Kameni, see the
smoke coming out of the crater, smell the sulphur in the air. However,
before you get on to the boat for a trip to the Kameni islands, take a
look at the history of the volcano.
|
|
|
|
| |
MINOAN ERUPTION
Once upon a time, over 4.000 years
ago, there was a round island in the southern Aegean, called Strongyli. It
had been cre-ated piece by piece from solidified lava produced by the
volcano.
On
Strongyli, at the town of Akrotiri, prospered one of the most significant
prehistoric civilisations of the Mediterranean.
Nevertheless, some
time between 1625 and 1635 BC, the volcano erupted. Known as "the Minoan
eruption", it caused a big part of Strongyli to sink and created a huge
crater that filled with sea-water - and this is how what is now called the
Caldera was formulated.
The civilisation at Akrotiri was buried
beneath the lava and only three pieces were left of Strongyli: Santorini,
Thirassia and Aspronissi. Much later, the volcano gave birth to two more
islands, Palia and Nea Kameni, which people now refer to as "the volcano".
Palia Kameni was the result of a series of erup-tions from 46 BC to 726
AD, while Nea Kameni was "built" by six successive erup-tions between 1570
and 1950.
KAMENI
ISLAND
A trip to the Kameni islands Even before the boat
arrives at Erinia bay, from where the tour of Nea Kameni begins, the
enormous black lava blocks of Daphne, the volcano's largest crater, come
into view. Once on the island, ask one of your guides to silow you the
strange "domes" (magma "That froze in mid air), whose crdfka will remind
you of bread crusts. Also impressive are the crystalline rocks in a
variety of colours, white, dark green, and honey-coloured, that interrupt
the black back-ground of the volcano.
|
|
|
|
Home
- History of island - Photo Gallery - Public services -
Museums | |
