I'll repeat brotherleelove's question about Akrotiri at the end of a recent Greece trip report - is it open? And is it "all the way" open? My daughter told me she was very disappointed in Dec. '02 in the small and not very interesting part she had access to. (She sent me photos and it was pretty bleak compared to what I have seen on various travel websites.) I found one website that said Akrotiri was going to close in Oct. '04 until the roof was done, although at least some of it was supposed to open during the Olympics. But I haven't been able to google any further info. (Finding that a lot of Greek websites only update every 2 or 3 or 4 years, whether they need it or not.)

After some shifting and juggling, I thought I had worked out something approximating a perfect schedule. But then I discovered that Monday is the only day the only Santorini full day tour (that I could find) doesn't operate - and Monday is the only full day we'll have on Santorini since we're arriving about 10AM Sun. and leaving at 5:30PM Tues. (No cruise ships in on Mon., I presume.) Though we're renting a car on Crete, I didn't particularly want to drive the cliffs of Santorini (shifting gears, which, alas, neither my husband nor I have done for over 25 years).

In some ways, I'm not too upset about the tour thing because I really don't do tours aside from Guide Fri. (before they got bought) hop-on-and-off things in the UK. Doing a 2 day Delphi/Meteora tour in Athens before I leave for the islands might finish me for life. But I'm wondering if we'll be able to see enough of the rest of the island by public bus, which is sure to take longer than a tour or by car (plus see the Fira museums, eat some good and leisurely meals, and relax a bit). If only a small and disappointing part of Akrotiri is open, maybe I should use my time for something else.

(Or does somebody know if there is another full island Santorini tour that runs on Mon.?)

Polly

Here's a quote from the Greek Ministry of Culture's Web site page on Akrotiri:

"The Archaeological Site of Akrotiri of Thera from October 1st, 2004 will be closed to the public, until the completion of the construction of the bioclimatic shelter."

It's probably the same one you saw...

There was a lot of hullabaloo at one point about returning frescoes found at Akrotiri from the National Archeological Museum in Athens to Thira. Glancing at the Web site for the Archeological Museum in Thira, I would guess that the most important frescoes are still in Athens.

Have a look at the Web site of the National Archeological Museum in Athens to check.

http://www.santorinidaytours.com/

http://www.thesaurus.gr/tour_jtr_akrotiri.asp

http://www.santorini-info.net/private_tours.htm

http://www.santorini.gr-santorini.com/tours/

http://www.thiratours.com/santorini-bus-tours.htm

I was curious as well and Asked Matt Barrett. He suggested I contact Dmitris of Ocean Wave Tours who runs tours out of Santorini and he said that the site is still closed but due to open June1,2005. We will be there at that time so I'm hoping that is the case.

latest update....

Akrotiri opened today and will be closed on Mondays.

I am traveling to Santorini on May 9th and the land operator we have for our private group found out today that indeed it is open as of today.

Hope that helps!

Excellent..... Thanks!

Thanks for the Akrotiri info and Monday closing comment. I'll plan to go there on Tues. and keep my fingers crossed that more is open than last summer. I read a couple of Travel Advisor postings, including one from a person who had been there some years ago and again last summer and who said she estimated about 5% was viewable last year. I'll let you know what the situation is when I get back the end of May.

Any new news on this from recent visitors to Santorini?

We saw alot at Akrotiri. Remember that only 3% of the site is actually excavated and it will take another 400 yrs to unearth it all.

See my trip report " Fabulous time in Athens , Santorini and Crete, for more details. Thoroughly enjoyed my time at Akrotiri. Highly recommend you use a guide.

Okay, back from Greece and Akrotiri. Yes, a great deal more was open than my daughter saw 2 years ago. The new roof is over the old one, and once they take the old one down, there should be enough light to see better, but no one seems to have any idea when that will be.

If you want to see the frescoes, though, better look at the reproductions in Fira. That floor at the Archeological Museum in Athens was closed this Tues., though I didn't ask when it would reopen.

On a lighter but perhaps important note to the ladies, they have also completed new facilities with normal flush toilets and even seats. No more hole in the floor, though you can see the former toilets to the right of the new ones.

We just returned from Santorini about a week ago. There was an accident at Akrotiri - the roof that the installed to control the elements collapsed. One tourist from England was killed. Others were injured. A representative from one of the tour buses places told us that they didn't think Akrotiri would be open for quite some time.

how dreadful; so so so sorry to hear of this!!