Santorini greece,history of Santorini,santorini guide,tours in santorini
santorini is welcome you to Greece
THIRA, SANTORINI,GREECE,CYCLADES,ISLANDS
  ISLAND OF SANTORINI  
 
PRESENTING THE ISLAND

Santorini, also know as Thira, is widely considered to be Greece's most spectacular island. Thousands of tourists come every year to gape at the caldera of this volcano, a vestige of what was probably the world's largest volcanic eruption ever.

This eruption, which occurred sometime around 1450 BC, caused the middle of the volcano to sink, leaving a caldera of high cliffs, one of the world's most dramatic geographic spectacles.
There is a theory, one that has fired the imagination of writers, artists and mystics since ancient times, that postulates that the island was part of the lost continent of Atlantis.
 
IN THE CAPITOL CITY

From the landing-place, Skala, we can climb up to Fira, the capital, on foot or on donkey-back. There is a funicular railway for those who wish to avoid the hundreds of steps. Fira is very attractive, with winding narrow streets, arcades and a quarter where the Catholic nobility once dwelt. . There is a superb view out from Fira to the Kamenes, the two islets of black stone created by the volcano.
The site at Akrotiri has yielded the remains of a Minoan city destroyed around 1500 BC by an eruption of the volcano on Thira. In effect, this is a prehistoric version of Pompeii buried beneath volcanic ash, with two and three-storeyed houses, with squares, shops, workshops and so on. Among the finds from the houses were marvelous murals (on display in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens), vases, and everyday utensils.

 
  MUST VISIT

The old-world village of Ia, 11 km. to the north of Fira, is a place of incomparable beauty. The unique appeal of Ia lies in its little houses hewn out of the soft rock, its neo-classical mansions with their courtyards, its narrow paved alleys. There is a superb view out to sea. Among the best bathing beaches - some of them with black sand and others with pebbles - are Kamari or Armeni, Amoudi, Baxedes Perissa, Monolithos and Kokini Paralia. The striking landscape, the peculiarities of the natural environment, the unusual architecture and the outstanding monuments of Santorini attract very large numbers of visitors in the summer - so many, in fact, that the excellent tourist amenities of the island can only just cope with them.