Santorini boat trip from Rethymnon

The boat trip to Santorini starts at 8:00 from the harbour in Rethymnon to the island of Santorini and returns to Rethymnon at 20:30 in the evening.

The trip with the boat takes about 2½ hours each way, in Santorini is included a bustour of the island and is a stop-over for lunch and shopping.

The Santorini tour includes breakfast and dinner on the boat,  tours of the island, bus and guide.

Facts about Santorini
Santorini is the last of the Cyclades island to the South. The closests islands are Ios, Folegandros, Sikinos to the North, Anafi and Amorgos to the East and Crete to the South.

We refer to Santorini as one, but actually is complex of five islands. Santorini (Thira) is the main island and around it Thirasia and Aspronisi (parts of the ancient Stroggili) and the two volcanic islands Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni.

It was one island named Stroggili (circle in Greek) until about 1645 BC, when the volcano in the middle of the island erupted and Caldera was created. The two volcanic islands appeared much later from various eruptions starting 157 BC and the last one to be in the 20th century (1950).

History of Santorini
The island was inhabited at around 3200 B.C. when the Cretans showed up. The influence of the Minoan culture on the island was obvious when excavations started on Akrotiri and found a whole village with houses decorated with wall paintings similar to those found in the Minoan palace in Crete. Before the volcano started its destructive work the island was called Stroggili, from its shape. 

But in 1500 B.C. something happened that completely changed the story of the ancient world. It was the explosion of the volcano which was in the center of the island and the greater part sunk. The tidal wave which was caused by the explosion, estimated at around 100m high, destroyed the palace of Knossos and did a lot of damage at the north coast of Crete. The site of Ancient Thira, through which Phoenicians, Dorians, Romans and Byzantines all passed is of particular interest. 

The city is divided down the middle by the Sacred Way. Apart from the clusters of buildings dating from various different eras, there are the agoras, public baths, theatres, a number of sanctuaries, the House of Ptolemy Euergetes, tombs from the Archaic and Classical periods, Early Christian relies, etc. Graffiti etched out of the nearby rocks record in the ancient Thiran alphabet appellations to the god Apollo and the names of men and youths who danced at the gods festival. At Akrotiri there are ruins of a Minoan city destroyed by an eruption of the island's volcano around 1500 B.C. 

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