This Santorini shore trip visits the ancient site of Akrotiri, the village which was buried in volcanic ash around 1450 BC and today is an outside archaeological site. As a bonus you will stop for a wine tasting before returning to Fira, and your ship.
You will transfer from the ship by colorful local kaiki (tenders) to Fira port, where you will meet your private guide. Together you will go up the cliff to Fira by cable car where you will be lead to meet your driver and private vehicle.
You start your tour by driving to the southern side of the island through to the Archaeological site of Akrotiri. This town was once an important commercial center in the Aegean sea but it was buried in the volcano that erupted around 1450 BC. One detail that surprises many visitors: unlike Pompeii, excavators have found no human remains at Akrotiri, suggesting residents had enough warning, likely from earthquakes and tremors in the weeks before, to evacuate the town before the eruption buried it.
Amazing ruins have been excavated here, buried some thirty feet below the earth's surface after the eruption of the island's volcano. Under a protective cover you'll visit the ancient city squares, cobblestone streets and peer into some of the houses and shops, some two and three stories high. Some historians and archaeologists have pointed to Akrotiri, a sophisticated town wiped out in a single catastrophic event, as a possible inspiration behind Plato's legend of Atlantis, though the theory remains debated.
After the tour of the excavations you will stop at a winery where you sample the local wines. Five tastings per person are included. Winemaking on Santorini is not a modern industry: excavations at Akrotiri itself have turned up grape pips, wine presses, and storage vessels showing that residents were making wine here roughly 3,600 years ago, making this one of the oldest continuously cultivated wine regions anywhere in the world. Look for Vinsanto on the tasting list, an amber, sun dried dessert wine that carries that same winemaking tradition forward today.
At the end of tour you will continue on through the beautiful countryside to Fira, the picturesque capital town of the island built on the rim of the caldera wall. You can enjoy the town at leisure or perhaps relax over a coffee and enjoy the magnificent panoramic views of the volcanic island, the caldera and the sea before you take the cable car back down to the pier.
This tour is not available on Monday when the site of Akrotiri is closed.
Review Location- Santorini 
