Akrotiri - the Greek Pompeii

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Around 1600 BC the quiet little island of Thira blew up. The volcanic explosion threw huge amounts of rock and ash into the air, which buried everything on the island to a depth of tens of metres. The town of Akrotiri was covered over and preserved. 3600 years later it's coming back into the light - and what a marvel it is. Many buildings have walls three storeys high, built of precisely cut stone. Beautiful wall paintings were preserved by the ash. Unlike at Pompeii, no bodies have been found inside the town - probably because there had been an earthquake not long before the eruption, and the people of the town had evacuated.

After a really good look around the site with our new guide, Vangelis - who is a real character - we went to see Oia "because the first thing your friends will ask you when you tell them you've been to Santorini is how you liked Oia". Very picturesque, very full of tourists!

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