Blogs from Fira, Santorini, South Aegean, Greece, Europe - page 3

Santorini. How could it possibly match the glowing reviews and beautiful pictures. I wasn't convinced until I saw the island and the villages clinging to the edge of the caldera. A word about the sea. It is sapphire blue, truly. I have never seen water this color anywhere. In pre-historic times the island blew itself up, literally, with a volcanic explosion 100 times the force of Krakatoa. What was once a round island made up of five volcanos became a crescent shaped island with smaller islands around, remnants of the volcano. Villages were later built on the rim of the caldera, a position safe from pirates that were a constant threat. Today, these villages continue although they are really modern replacements for the ones destroyed by earthquakes and more recent eruptions. The vast majority of the ... read more

Santorini 20 to 23 June 2013 As we sit on the fast ferry back to Rafina, Athens to take us back to our motor home. What a wonderful 8 days we have had. A real holiday. We can see why they label Santorini as the romantic island. We saw several weddings. The people at our hotel Annassa Executive Suits, in the town of Kamari were incredibly helpful with helping us to decide what to do and see during our 3 days on the island. When I was sorting the photos of Santorini I wondered how I was going to choose a few best photos for this blog out of 480 that I had taken (!!!!!), so I apologise in advance at the number I have actually chosen to include. Just quickly flick through them. The evening ... read more

A wonderful day around the island - though brutally hot, topping out at 40 C (what is that in fahrenheit?). Started with a taxi down to one tip of the island, Akrotiri. This is home to the famous archeological site. Akrotiri, back in its day during the 1600s BC, was one of the great cities of the world, and had established trading routes all throughout the Meditteranean. It also produced some of the great artwork of the world. But it was horribly decimated by a giant earthquake and volcanic eruption, and never really recovered after that. At Akrotiri, a lot like at Pompeii just outside of Naples, you can see volcanic ash mixed about in the ruins. What's also nice about Akrotiri is that it's completely covered, meaning that the Greek government was smart enough to ... read more

Everything I have ever heard about Santorini was great, so I don't know why I was so surprised by it's incredible beauty. I guess describing it to someone who has never seen it is like describing the Grand Canyon: it's just too big for words but I'll try my best. We tendered into a remote dock on the south end of the island early this morning. And I guess I can sum up the Santorini philosophy by telling you that the first place we went was a winery. Imagine doing wine tasting at 9am in the morning! It turns out that 70% of the island is covered in vineyards and they only export 40% of the wine produced there. So apparently wine is an appropriate drink for anyone at any time here. And of course it ... read more

Yassou! Or G'day in Oz, we are now enjoying the liveliest of weather and locations on Paradise Island called Santorini, it is absolutely stunning. We arrive in the early hours of Saturday morning after a 3 hour plane trip to Athens leaving Heathrow at 10pm and landing in Athens their time at 4am! Then a short 30 minute flight to Santorini, unfortunately it was still dark coming into land so we couldn't see the true beauty of the place. We were picked up by our host of the villa we are renting and woke Katherine and Bryan up. The villa was superb, authentic white stone cave with a balcony overlooking the ocean. We had a very relaxed 1st day exploring the island in our rental car, then a beautiful dinner in the local traverna eating some ... read more