Our excursion to Santorini was much more difficult than we
expected. We took the “Discover Ancient Akrotiri” tour of the ancient excavations on the island. This tour is recommended for people who can
walk a short distance. It was a Level 2 tour with a picture of two people walking if you are familiar with the system on HAL excursions. This was a mistake. Walking is not our strong point and Bill uses a walker. I am so glad we took this tour but we really should have taken the panoramic tour.
It was fantastic. The site was
discovered in 1967. The guide reported that donkeys broke through a shallow crust
to a lower level. The only other clue was pottery shards on the ground. An
archeologist put the clues together and decided to dig. Fortunately, he started
digging where the site was closest to the surface of the earth.
Our guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable. We first
boarded a bus and stopped twice to take pictures of the caldera. There have
been twelve calderas formed in the same spot. The island is in the shape of a
crescent and the center of the crescent is actually a very deep caldera. The
deep blue water and the blue and white houses perched on steep cliffs are
famous the world over.
The ship could not dock or drop anchor because the caldera
is so deep, so we had to take a tender to the shore. We were worried about that
part but it was fine. The ship has an elevator from Deck A to Deck B on the ship where
the tender is located. We got on with no problems. The ride on the tender was
only about ten minutes.
If you look closely at the picture, you can see the tram that runs up and down the hill.
We were very impressed with the actual dig. It has been
closed for seven years while walkways were added. They also covered the site
with a custom cover that opens and closes as needed. There was air
conditioning, too. It was beautiful and easy to navigate. There were two sets
of stairs—one down into the street level and one back up to the walkway. Bill
waited on the walkway and read all the signs while I went down the dig with the
guide but that was only for about ten minutes.
This site is well worth seeing. I thought it was a remnant
of the Minoan culture but the guide said no. Later, I looked it up and Santorini is now considered to be a colony of the Minoan culture on Crete. These people were excellent
sailors and obviously familiar with Egypt and other spots on the Mediterranean.
They had murals showing African animals such as blue monkeys that never lived
on the island.
This was a culture that worshiped goddesses. The murals show
well dressed, light skinned women with jewelry and other signs of wealth. The men are depicted as almost naked and tan
all over, presumably from sailing, farming and other outdoor work.
Akrotiri was a small village with four story homes and
public buildings. There is a big square
lined with shops. There were murals in all the buildings. These were in
excellent shape but have been removed for their protection and stored in
climate controlled conditions. There is a museum where you can see copies.
Some buildings had toilets connected to sewers. The sewers ran under the streets. They had
stone buildings with windows and a roof for sleeping outside in the cool air.
They had window systems and thick walls to keep their buildings cool. They had tables
carved of wood. They had items made of gold. Remember, this site was destroyed
about 3500 years ago. Only one item of gold was discovered so far which probably means the people gathered all their moveable goods when they left.
Akrotiri was destroyed by a volcanic eruption but, unlike
Pompeii, there was no one left in the city when the eruption covered the town
with many feet of ash. There was a major earthquake before the eruption. They took the hint and left. They apparently took most of their furniture and personal items. There
were only a few beds and other personal items still on the site. No one knows where
they went.
Our real trial began after the tour when we left the bus to take the cable
car down the cliff to the ship. To reach the cable car you are forced to walk
up the “Street of Gold”. The street is narrow and not too steep. It’s lined
with souvenir, gelato and jewelry shops. It is the world’s longest, narrowest
gift shop. It was hot and humid but there was plenty of shade. Most people
would have no problem getting back this way. It was harder for us but we took our time and made it up the hill. We thought everything would be fine once we ran this gauntlet.
There was no wait at the cable car and we got right on.
There were nice broad steps to wait for the cable car and we managed that fine.
It is a three minute ride to the bottom. The problem was that the landing was too narrow and steep when we got off the cable car. We had to cross about 20 feet to the stairs.
The wheels on the walker are a little less than two feet apart. The steps were about 18 inches wide. We could not set up the walker.
There was no handrail. I had to both hold onto the walker and carry our backpack
while helping Bill out of the cable car. It wasn’t working. The cable car was blaring an automatic message to get off before it moved back to the top.
Thankfully, one of our fellow passengers stepped up to help.
She said she is a speech language pathologist and helps handicapped people all
the time. Someone else took the walker and the three of us slowly worked our
way the ten feet across the steps to the handrail.
I would not recommend this tour to anyone with a mobility handicap.
We saw two falls during the course of the day and those men did not appear to
have any mobility problems. Bill saw one man fall and said he would have been
okay if he hadn’t tried to protect his camera. When we got back for dinner, one
of our table mates said she fell in a women’s restroom on the island. She is a
little banged up. She said there was a small lip on the entrance to the
bathroom and she didn’t notice it.
