Holidays in Santorini without visiting Akrotiri is like a trip to Athens without visiting Parthenon, it simply cannot be skipped! We offer you a comfortable and elegant ride to one of the oldest and most important archaeological sites in the Aegean, known as the “Greek Pompeii”. The prehistoric settlement, which by the end of third millennium BC became a wealthy and important harbour, was destroyed around 1600 BC by one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human history. There is a popular belief that the Minoan Bronze Age settlement of Akrotiri was the inspiration for Plato’s story of Atlantis, one of the unanswered mysteries of mankind.
Akrotiri has been preserved down the centuries thanks to the volcanic ash that buried the prehistoric settlement. Extensive modern excavations that started in 1967 revealed the full value of the site with its stone paved streets, two- and three-story houses, frescoes depicting people and animals, wooden furniture and pottery telling a lot about the Ancient Greek societies. It looks like the citizens managed to escape their city before the final eruption and that is why no human remains were find on the site. Everything what was left behind told the scientists the story of highly developed community governed by democratic principles and intellectual ideas pertaining to social relationships. The inhabitants kept sheep and goats, planted wheat and barley, produced olive oil and wine, many of them were traders, mariners, farmers, craftsmen or artisans. The prehistoric Therans managed to establish the trade relations with Crete, mainland Greece, Cyprus, Syria and Egypt, while having themselves more time for pleasurable activities like art of good eating.
As you walk through a maze of pathways the story of the great prehistoric civilisation unfolds in front of your eyes. It is a paradigm of a civilisation at its peak and its sad ending.
