Thirasia is a beautiful and touristically unspoilt island conveniently
close to Santorini that you can reach in 15 minutes using a boat from Ia. Thirasia
belongs to the Municipality
of Santorini
St. John St. John
During your visit at the volcano you will be able to walk all over it and around its craters and learn about it's history and activity. The experience of walking over an active volcano and one of the most famous over the world, is unique and something to remember. Santorini's volcano is a standalone volcanic island in the center of the Santorini's caldera, which began to be created in 1570. Volcano island today is340 hectares and its
highest point is 127
meters above the sea level. At the volcano island exist
two berths, the "Taxiarhis" bay at it's south side, and
"Erinia" bay at the north.
1570 A volcanic eruption creates a small island at the northeast of
"Palaia Kameni" which was named "Small Kameni". The word
"kameni" in Greek means the "burned" island.
Visiting Thirasia is a wonderful and unique experience even if you
decide to do it for some hours on a daily trip. Thirasia’s uniqueness is
intensified by its wide difference and contrast compared to Santorini, as
Thirasia is significantly less touristically developed and changed by the
passing of the time. Thirasia is keeping its traditional figure and lifestyle
of its inhabitants and offers the visitors the possibility to visit an almost
virgin touristically island and enjoy the beautiful natural scenery, the
authentic architecture of its buildings and the warmth its people. Environmentally,
architecturally and humanly seeing, Thirasia keeps almost all of the elements
of the past. Many people, even Santorini’s residents, consider Thirasia as
“Santorini’s miniature without being touched by tourism”, looking like it has
stuck in the middle 1970's. However, the above does not mean a visitor won't
find nice small rooms to accommodate or spend some days on the island enjoying
its beauty and its tastes.
At Thirasia you will enjoy peaceful and relaxing holidays, for families
or couples, on a small size peaceful island of a unique geological environment,
with a limited touristic development, far away from crowds with the nightlife
meaning the luxury of relaxing by the seaside...
Regarding the morphological characteristics, Thirasia is not much
different from Santorini since the Minoan eruption of the prehistoric times
that created the caldera,
after the destroying and sunk of Strongili (the prehistoric round island
part of witch were Santorini and Thirasia) created both of the remaining
islands. Santorini and Thirasia as they are today, as well as the Volcano and
the smaller islands around it.
Thirasia is being inhabited by 270 people of all ages all year long who
love and care for their land with the relationships between them being solid
and close as a result of living on a sparsely populated and difficultly
accessible during the winter months small island.
Thirasia has a very impressive landscape, which varies depending on the
part of the day and the time of year that one observes it. Thirasia, being the
"miniature island" compared to Santorini, has the same basic
morphological features but in a smaller expansion. In contrast to Santorini's caldera which is
on the west side of the island, Thirasia's caldera is "looking" to
the east, and is equally impressive. "Wild", black stoned and
imposing. With its black cliffs and red rock formations that seem to have
emerged from the sea, rising to a height of 350 meters from the sea
surface. At this altitude and climbed up on the edge of the cliffs of the
caldera, looking opposite Santorini, are built most of the houses at Thirasia. The
island's main village is Manolas and the close settlement named Potamos. Another
settlement named Agrilia is located in a 10 min. distance from Manolas village.
Manolas is the capital of the island, where the the elementary school,
the middle school and the high school are located. However the number of the
students is small, Thirasia's schools cover the needs of the students with a
large number of specialized teachers. At Manolas exists small grocery stores to
cover the daily needs of the residents. On the island there are no shops,
doctors, pharmacy, post office or bank branch, and the needs of the inhabitants
are covered by reaching Santorini.
During the winter time there are 3 daily routes from Oia's port to
Thirasia for the service of the small island's residents, with the distance
being covered in 20 minutes.
According to a legend, the name Thirasia, belonged to the beautiful
daughter of King Thiras, who reigned in Santorini and named the island in the
name of his
beautiful daughter.
Therasia has lived periods of prosperity with its population reaching
the 1000 residents by the early 1900 when the shipping and the agricultural
sector were booming.
The earthquake that struck Santorini in 1956, also struck Thirasia,
destroying many homes and causing a decline in the economy of the island. That
was the reason that that led most of the island's residents to leave their land
in search of a better future in Athens
Approaching Thirasia historicaly, we could say that the island is now
experiencing a quiet period, increasing gradually its population with local
people enjoying on their land the years of retirement, as well as some young
who decided to take a break from the cities fast living.
Deciding to stay overnight or more at Thirasia, you can accommodate at
rooms for rent located at Manolas village and the nearby Potamos as you can
taste the local plates at restaurants at Manolas village as well as Riva and
Korfos ports. Finding a place to stay at Thirasia is easy, even during the
summer months.
Visiting for some hours or staying at Thirasia for some days, we would
suggest you to walk through the narrow streets of Manolass along the caldera
and admire the architecture of old houses, combined with beautiful views of the
volcanic landscape. Walking that streets you will be able to see different
architectural rhythm churches in different colors build close to one another,
traditional houses renovated under the style of their owners, beautiful gardens
with flowers built on the caldera, as well as some small grocery stores looking
like the time has stuck in 1960's. During your walk mind to your camera with
you not to miss the amazing landscape.
Besides the caldera landscape Thirasia has beautiful beaches and waters
to swim. The most popular beaches are the ones located at the two small ports
at Riva and Korfos. At Riva you can find a large beach with fine white sand and
clear waters that are not particularly deep, despite the fact that the beach is
at caldera's side.
At Korfos you can find a smaller beach in a spectacular setting, as the
black and red caldera cliffs are overlooking the beach. Korfos beach setting is
amazing and the waters very clear however really deep just a few meters from
the shore. You can reach Korfos beach either by boat or riding donkeys from the
village of Manolas
Besides the caldera beaches Thirasia also has very beautiful beaches
lengthwise its western coasts that you can reach by car or motorbike. Exploring
this side of the island is an experience to remember, while you will have the
opportunity to see the unspoiled landscape and the real beauty of Thirasia’s
nature and natural environment. The western side of the island is practically
isolated, full of beautiful valleys, farms, cultivated areas, hand made stone
walls glens and beautiful beaches and bays.
For nature and hiking lovers Thirasia is an ideal place to visit. A good
idea is to walk Thirasia where there are dozens of nature trails with rich and
rare vegetation in a very quiet setting, which is very worth discovering or
taking pictures of.
At a time when the term trekking has become naturalized in most Western
countries, the island's visitor deserves to enjoy this valuable opportunity. Easy
walking or trekking at Thirasia, a visitor will enjoy the pure nature, the
scents of wild oregano and thyme and see abundant quantities of wild capers
growing between handmade stone walls.
Thirasia produces almost all products produced in Santorini, like wine,
cherry tomatoes, fava, cucumbers, white eggplants, capers, oregano etc.
As almost all island population is dealing with farming and agricultural
cultivation, large quantities of all the above products are produced on the
island.
Much of the products are available and consumed in the local market by
the residents and the visitors who have the opportunity to taste them in the
local taverns. Besides tasting them, visitors can buy local products from the
small shops existing on the island or even ask the locals in case they can sell
them some of their family production.
Thirasia has large areas with vineyards consisting of the oldest
varieties of grapes over the Aegean Sea . Much
of the local production is vinified, bottled and served on the island however
big quantities of grapes are transported for winemaking at Santo Wines Winery,
at Santorini, contributing to the production of the island's quality wines.
Thirasia's vineyard is dominated by the white grape varieties Assyrtiko,
Athiri and Aidani which produce the famous Santorini white wines as well as the
eclectic tasting sun-dried "vinsanto".
As well as in Santorini, locals and villagers of Thirasia build stone
walls inside and at the edge of their fields in order to increase the areas of
their farmlands.
These stone walls are of the main elements of Thirasia's landscape.
The island also has a remarkable livestock as most of the local families
have their own farms with chickens, goats, donkeys and even pigs. As a result
of the systematic farming at Thirasia is produced the famous in Greece cheese
called "hloro" which is a white, soft, sweet and unsalted cheese you
can taste at local taverns.
Thirasia has been the backdrop for many remarkable productions of
commercials that have been broadcasted in various countries as well as the
background of many photography productions for their advertising campaigns.
Of the most popular locations chosen by the advertisers are the narrow
streets of Manolas village and old traditional houses decorated in various
colors, viewing caldera.
Apart from the advertisers, Thirasia’s landscape has recently become a
favourite filmmaker’s destination as many scenes of many European and not only
films being shot on the island. According to many directors and scouters
Thirasia’s landscape is what exactly they wanted as the background for their
films.
Apart from the film and advertising industry, there is an also upcoming
interest for Thirasia as a wedding destination, as the island has almost the
same caldera scenery as Santorini. Many marriages of Greeks and foreigners have
taken place on the island the last years and the interest seems to be growing. For
any information on the opportunity, the ones who are interested can find all
needed information on the internet, as almost all local wedding organisers
offer the possibility of a Thirasia wedding scenery with all related services
included!
Thirasia has more than 20 Orthodox churches (chapels) of a different
size and architecture each, which testify the deep faith of the locals to their
Orthodox Saints.
The two bigger churches of the island are the St. Constantine at Manolas
built on 1874 and the St. Demetrius at Potamos build at about 1920. Both are
richly illustrated and have important and precious icons and decoration
as well as high technical merit old wooden temples. An also worth to visit church is the
"Virgin Mary" close to Potamos settlement, built on 1887. The church
has rich iconography and decoration.
During the summer time most of the churches are open to visit.
The religious feasts taking place all year long on the island are very
popular among the locals as also to the people living on Santorini who found a
very good reason to visit the neighbouring island. At the end of almost all
religious festivals locals organise in places next to the churches feasts
sharing food and wine for free for all participants.
The most important religious festivals taking place at Thirasia are:
St. Charalambos church, at Manolas on February 10th
Santa Irini church at Riva port on May 5th
Saints Constantine and Helen church at Manolas on May 21st
Ascension of the Lord
church
St. Kyriaki church , on July 7th
Prophet Elias church on July 20th
St. Irene Chrysovalantou church at Manolas on July 28th
Metamorphosis of the Lord
church
Panagia (The Virgin Mary) Tripiti church (The Assumption) on August 15th
Panagia (The Virgin Mary) Giatrisa, at Potamos on October 26th
Presentation of the Virgin Mary at Agrilia on November 21st
St. Nicholas church, at Riva port on December 6th
St. Spiridon at Potamos on December 12th
Thirasia is an island to visit all year long as it’s beautiful during
all seasons, however the winter time the ferries and the boats connecting the
island to Santorini are limited and depending on the weather conditions. Despite
any difficulties Thirasia is an excellent and
necessary selection -we would dare to say- to make in combination with
your visit to Santorini. We welcome and invite you to visit Thirasia and enjoy
what it has to offer you!
Volcano or "Nea Kameni" is for sure a very worth visiting geological monument of a great value. Santorini's volcano is also scientifically characterized as a natural geological park, of a great importance.
Volcano or "Nea Kameni" is for sure a very worth visiting geological monument of a great value. Santorini's volcano is also scientifically characterized as a natural geological park, of a great importance.
The access to the volcano is very easy by large wooden excursion boats
that leave from Santorini's main port or Fira town port, reaching the volcano
in 10 - 15 minutes. If you decide to visit the volcano it is better to choose
an organized guided excursion so you can learn about the monument's history,
and its past and present activity and condition.
Santorini's volcano is an active one, as you can recognize by the
temperature of the craters, however it's been more than 50 years since it gave
it's last visible signs of activity such
as smoke or small amounts of lava getting out of the crater.
The volcano is characterized by the international scientific community
as active and this is the reason for being constantly monitored with latest
technology equipment, to ensure the safety of Santorini residents and visitors,
besides the great scientific interest of the researchers.
Research, concerning the activity of the volcano in the past as well as
its present situation, have been made and continue to be carried out from
Universities of Greece as well as abroad ones.
During your visit at the volcano you will be able to walk all over it and around its craters and learn about it's history and activity. The experience of walking over an active volcano and one of the most famous over the world, is unique and something to remember. Santorini's volcano is a standalone volcanic island in the center of the Santorini's caldera, which began to be created in 1570. Volcano island today is
The Volcano and the smaller volcanic islands around it are included in
the European network of protected areas "NATURA 2000".
Santorini's volcano has been "silent" for about 50 years, up
to January 2011, when certain phenomena were observed, such as increase in the
craters temperature, however scientist have no reason to concern, as they
claim.
In the background of the volcano the following are its most remarkable
activities.
Ancient activity - volcano, the creator of Santorini
There are historic evidences about a cataclysmic eruption early in the
Late Bronze Age (1645 BC) which, scientist say, led to the destruction of the
Minoan civilization on Crete. However, others believe that the Minoan
civilization fall 200 years after the eruption in 1450 BC.
The excavations at Akrotiri and the fact that there were no human traces
found, prove that, ancient Akrotiri inhabitants had earlier been clearly warned
for the forthcoming great explosion and had plenty of time to leave their town.
After the cataclysmic eruption there was a period of 1300 years while
the volcano remained silent. But in 198 BC a volcanic eruption created an
island, Hierra. In 46 AD another eruption created another island, called Theia.
Finally, in 60 AD a third eruption united the two islands. The newly united
islands “grew” after the eruption of 726 AD. Two more eruptions in 1457 and
1508 AD increased the size of the island. It’s now called Palea (Old) Kameni
and its peak reaches 110 m
above sea level. Sixty five years after Palea Kameni reached its present form,
another eruption broke out at 2400
m NE of the island’s center and a small island was
formed. It was then called «Small) Kameni». In 1707, activity began again, this
time near the small island when two cones appeared. They were called Aspronisi
and Macronesi. Those were united in the course of the following five years by
an island which formed between Palea and Small Kameni, much larger and higher
then either and was called Nea (New) Kameni or «the Volcano». This island,
visitors nowadays can walk, is the youngest island in Greece
Santorini has erupted many times, with varying degrees of explosivity. There
have been at least twelve large explosive eruptions, of which at least four
were caldera-forming. The most famous eruption is the Minoan eruption. Eruptive
products range from basalt all the way to rhyolite, and the rhyolitic products
are associated with the most explosive eruptions.
The earliest eruptions, many of which were submarine, were on the Akrotiri Peninsula
Over the past 360,000 years there have been two major cycles, each
culminating with two caldera-forming eruptions. The cycles end when the magma
evolves to a rhyolitic composition, causing the most explosive eruptions. In
between the caldera-forming eruptions are a series of sub-cycles. Lava flows
and small explosive eruptions build up cones, which are thought to impede the
flow of magma to the surface. This allows the formation of large magma
chambers, in which the magma can evolve to more silicic compositions. Once this
happens, a large explosive eruption destroys the cone. The Kameni islands in
the centre of the lagoon are the most recent example of a cone built by this
volcano, with much of them hidden beneath the water.
The devastating volcanic eruption of Thera has become the most famous
single event in the Aegean before the fall of Troy island of Nea Kameni
The caldera itself was formed several hundred thousand years ago by the
collapse of the centre of a circular island, caused by the emptying of the
magma chamber during an eruption. It has been filled several times by
ignimbrite since then, and the process repeated itself, most recently 21,000
years ago. The northern part of the caldera was refilled by the volcano, then
collapsing once more during the Minoan eruption. Before the Minoan eruption,
the caldera formed a nearly continuous ring with the only entrance between the
tiny island of Aspronisi
On Santorini, a deposit of white tephra thrown from the eruption is
found lying up to 60 m
(200 ft )
thick, overlying the soil marking the ground level before the eruption, and
forming a layer divided into three fairly distinct bands indicating different
phases of the eruption. New archaeological discoveries by a team of
international scientists, in 2006, have revealed that the Santorini event was
much more massive than previously thought; it expelled 61 cubic kilometres (15
cu mi) of magma and rock into the Earth's atmosphere, compared to previous
estimates of only 39 cubic kilometres (9.4 cu mi) in 1991, producing an estimated 100 cubic kilometres
(24 cu mi) of tephra.
Recent activity - The impressive descriptions
May 1707 - September 1711 Outpouring of lava leads to the formation of
two small islands, that were soon joined together, forming the "Nea Kameni" island or the
"Volcano" as we know it today.
May 1707 Seismic activity lead to the appearance of a new small white
island, 200 meters
from the "Small Kameni". The white island is still seen, and it is
called "Aspronisi"
June 1707 Appearance of a new black island at the south side of the
white one
June 1707 the two islands were joined together
1866 - 1870 intense volcanic activity lead to the tripling of "Nea
Kameni"
1866 The creation of the cone (crater) named "George". In the
beggining "George" was a small autonomous volcanic island close to
"Nea Kameni". Later on, another small island named
"Afroessa" was emerged 400 meters at the southwest side of
"George". The same year were emerged from the sea the small island
"Reka" and "May islands" that nowadays have been sunk 1 meter under the sea.
1925 - 1928 The creation of a small island called "Daphne"
between the "Small Kameni" and "Nea Kameni" (Volcano) as a
result of the flow of pyroclastic material.
"Daphne" crater managed to unite "Small Kameni" and
"Nea Kameni" (Volcano) as a unique island.
1928 The creation of the volcanic cone "Naytilos" at the
eastern of "Daphne". "Naytilos" cone has been covered by
the later lava eruptions.
1939 - 1941 Signs of volcanic activity with increasing water temperature
in the bay called "Saint George". Volcanic eruptions result in the
creation of the volcanic domes Triton, Ktenas, Fouquo, Niki, Reck and Smith
Smith.
1950 - 1952 After intense volcanic activity the volcanic dome
"Liatsikas" is is formed on the "Nea Kameni" (Volcano)
All cones and craters on the volcano have different colour because of
their different constituent materials and their age.
During the recent years the volcano shows a "steamy" activity
(vapor getting out of its land) close to the crater "George". Besides
that, along the volcano coasts there are hot
springs
The activity of the volcano has been attended the last centuries by the
most important and respected geologists and volcanologists and nowadays is been
a subject of study of the international scientific community.
Apart from scientists, many modern as well as classical writers have
followed the activity of Santorini volcano mentioning it in their work. One of
the most characteristic examples is Jules Verne, who inspired his book "20
000 Leagues under the Sea" by the activity of the volcano between 1866 -
1870. Also, in his book "The Mysterious Island", appears captain Nemo
and his crew to follow a volcanic eruption, which is undoubtedly a description
of Santorini volcano activity.
