Santorini

An arrival into Santorini, even by plane but particularly by boat, is an extraordinary experience. Giant cliffs rise abruptly from the sea, their size made all the more imposing by the extraordinary colours of black and russet reds that testify to their volcanic origin.  All that you can see around you was caused by a massive explosion around 2,000BC that blew the top off a volcano, the sea roaring in and creating the 1,300 ft deep bay of today. Atop the black and rust coloured cliffs perches Thira, the tiny capital of the island, gleaming white between the blue sky and the dark black rocks on which it clings.

Santorini’s creation from this volcanic explosion dominates all aspects of the island’s life, with dark black beaches instead of sand, jagged contours of gnarled rock and pumice stone strewn across the land, and fertile agriculture (the island’s wine is particularly well considered).  But it also gives endless possibilities for archaeology enthusiasts to explore the civilisations that existed at the time of the explosion and became embedded afterwards beneath the debris. Indeed, was the explosion of Thera the source of the legend of Atlantis? 

For those times when you wish to leave your villa, there’s the chance to swim off a blackened beach into suddenly very deep water, to take an excursion out into the Caldera (the crater which forms the bay), to examine archaeological sites – or try the local wine in a variety of pleasant vineyards.