I go to Atlantis? Day 29

Toast both sides. A red letter day for Europe. At this rate, Greece will advance economically.

A pretty relaxed start to the day. We do feel permanently in kickback made. I’m so laid back I’m nearly stopped. We take a phone call from our Melb office. All seems good with the exception of a possibility of a pet revolution. A bit of animal behaviour recalibration required upon our return. A bit of a challenge.

What do we do today? I’d really like to see the prehistoric ruins at Akrotiri. 10 mins down the road. Sue is not fussed. I head up to concierge and organise a taxi to take me down to Akrotiri. While I’m at it I book a 4- 5 hour sailing adventure for Thursday, starting at the red beach, and taking us around the island of Santorini and to a volcano with hot springs. Great stuff. Never been in a volcano. This whole area is a massive volcanic scene man. Volcanic traces and reminders everywhere. Even the retailers are selling volcanic rock up in Fira. I bet I can get a volcanic drink somewhere! Back to our room. Lunch in our digs.

Taxi arrives and I’m off to Akrotiri. No talkie talkie with the taxi driver. No worries I’ll talk to myself as I walk around the ruins. Effectively the ruins and the resultant excavations are housed or covered in an elaborate framework. It wasn’t always like this. Not long back the place was falling apart. As a result, all of the Frescoes from the walls were relocated to major museums in places like Athens. I’m disappointed by this. I consider a tour of the ruins from a funky female character passing herself off as a tour person. How much for a tour/ explanation of all of this? 60 euros. Um, no thanks. She looks more like an entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest. In I go. What a strange concept. Do the excavations and then cover it all up and keep excavating in the same spot. Finding it hard to make sense of all of this. A lot of rooms. A lot of corridors. And yes, check out those massive storage vessels. Hard to believe this was all happening in the 4th millennium BC. And of course there is the lost city of Atlantis angle on all of this. Apparently for quite some time scientists felt that that Atlantis was under water in this area. Contemporary thinking about Atlantis has scientists looking above ground in and around the prehistoric ruins of places like Akrotiri where I was today. Whilst waiting for the taxi I walk down to the end of the road to view the beach. No sand man. A young boy spruiks boat trips to the various beaches. Black beach, Red beach and White beach. Mmm.

Back at our hotel I opt for a swim and a beer before dinner, as well as a bit more research on Akrotiri. Pretty amazing. Was I at the remains of Atlantis today?