Week 602 · Nea Kameni · Oia · Fira
On Santorini, we did a hike in the morning up to the top of the Nea Kameni volcano — it is active but no signs that it was a volcano except some hot rocks — and then a swim where the hot spring entered the ocean. Seemed odd to swim from crystal clear water with 20 feet visibility to rust-coloured water where you couldn't see your hand and was only a bit warmer.
The hike up the Nea Kameni volcano is a short, steep climb over black lava rock. The top is underwhelming from a visual perspective — you'd never guess it was volcanic — but the knowledge that it's active and relatively recent makes it more interesting. The swim in the thermal waters afterwards was the real experience: transitioning from clear Aegean blue to rust-brown hot spring water is genuinely disorienting.
Santorini also was heavily based on shopping, but the cliffside towns and overall architecture made it much more interesting. We went to both of the main towns on the island, Fira and Oia. Oia is the famous town with the blue domes while Fira is the primary port (with a cable car to get to the top).
"Santorini is spectacular — but imagine the pictures without the buildings. The Adriatic was much more scenic."
Overall, and this is probably heresy, the highlights of Mykonos and Santorini are the historic white towns but they are very stark with no greenery, dark brown coasts, and very few sand beaches (and therefore little turquoise water). The Adriatic Sea (Croatia and Montenegro) was much more scenic. Santorini is spectacular, but imagine the pictures attached without the buildings.
