Santorini in winter must be boring, a few people around, nothing to do, how can you stand it?
We are very far from (my) reality. Every day I have something to do, to visit and in a couple of months, we will start the season again!
After a few days of strong winds and grey clouds, on the first day of sun, I immediately decided to go for a little adventure and I went to Kamari, to visit the Ancient Thera.
The Ancient Thera of Santorini is an antique city on the top of a hill called Messavouno (360mt.) in Kamari.
You can actually get there either from Kamari (by foot or car) or from Perissa (by foot).
As I am not well trained right now, I decided to go by car. You reach the end of the village of Kamari and you start going up, up, up, many many curves. Not the ideal for those of you afraid of heights! I was alone so I had to drive carefully and not be astounded by the breathtaking view.
The Ancient Thera ruins are an open-air museum you should put on your list of things to do when in Santorini.
If you are into history and art, the Ancient Thera will be a little gem for your eyes.
It was inhabited from the 9BC until 725AD. Its name comes after the mythical ruler of the island, Theras.
A curiosity about the name, Thira is still the official name of the island, while Santorini is the name which is commonly known for.
It’s a large settlement quite well preserved. I was really amazed by the theatre and stood there a long time imagining what it would have been like to attend a play in such a landscape: I have to say that even empty, it looks excellent Whenever I visit an archaeological site I always try to imagine the life at that time: walking the regular street grids, surrounded by the ruins of the buildings, I tried to think about the daily life of the people who were living here. There are private houses, a gym, a theatre, religious and commercial buildings, it must have been a life full of social life!
I was all alone for the whole duration of my visit. I regretted not to have with me a small pic-nic/snack, because I would have stayed there on a bench for many hours.
From one side of the hill, you can see Kamari while on the other one Perissa. I bumped into this remarkable picture by Robert McCabe taken in the ’50-’60: you can compare the coast of Perissa at that time and now! Quite impressive (scaring?)!
The Ancient Thera entrance fee is 3 euro and the opening times in winter goes from 8am to 3pm. The pictures you can see below were taken a few days ago, so this is among the things to do in winter in Santorini!
I was quite (sadly) surprised to learn that only 45k people on 2milions who visited Santorini in 2018, enjoyed this place and its unique view. It’s not easily accessible, if there is a bit of wind downtown, up there it can be quite dangerous. We, locals, do not go very often. It’s quite ‘far’, that’s why it was built up there, to be unreachable!
I promised myself to go next time on foot from Perissa, the stunning views are worth it.
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©Nicoletta Barbata/One Quarter Greek
