Santorini Island, Greece, spring 2019: impressions from Vothonas
Before going to Fira for our caldera hike to Oia during our geologic walking tours, we decided to make an additional stop in the traditional village of Vothonas, one of the most scenic and still largely untouched-by-tourism on the island. It is located at the feet of the northern slopes of the Pirgos hill. It had developed from cave-house settlements in the area where several of the large characteristic pumice canyons meet to a form a broad valley. Besides an excellent place to study the traditional cave-house architecture, it offers excellent outcrops of the massive pumice layer from the 1600 BC eruption.
View towards the lower part of the village valley from one of the entrances from the main road. (Pho... [info]
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View towards the central and upper part of the village with Pirgos in the background. (Photo: Tom Pf... [info]
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On the way to the village center inside the main valley. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Abandoned old cave houses. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Village street (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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An old, once grand multi-story cave house's facade. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Following the main valley uphill, the pumice walls become visible. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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In this area, the pumice fallout layer from the first hours of the eruption is near its maximum thic... [info]
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Examining the pumice layer. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Typical small chapel with blue dome. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Spring time covers the valley with meadows of daisies. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Close-up view of the blue dome. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Two valleys merge in this area, leaving a sculpture of a pumice tower. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Walking back towards the village. The group gives a scale to see how massive the pumice layer is at ... [info]
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Small chapel built as a cave with a proud bell tower. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Abandoned cave house (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Details of the old stairway leading to the upper stories. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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Chimney and arrangements of surfaces illustrating the peculiar esthetics that had developed in Santo... [info]
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Playing with colors in harmony. (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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View back to Vothonas,- time to proceed to Fira! (Photo: Tom Pfeiffer) [info]
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