Admire the beauty of the Caldera, surrounded by the allure of blue domes.
While island-hopping in the Greek Islands, Santorini is surely a main stop. A few days admiring the beauty of the Caldera, surrounded by the allure of blue domes is an utmost dreamlike experience. Before you visit Santorini, here are some incredible facts that may provide a general insight.
1. Thera or Thira?
Santorini is classically known as Thera, but you may see signs that spell it with an “I”: Thira. Both indicate the same location, meaning the island in the southern part of Aegean Sea and Greece’s mainland.
2. The southernmost island of the Cyclades.
The Cyclades signify a group of 220 Greek islands, some you may have heard of, including: Amorgos, Anafi, Delos, Ios, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, paros, Serifos, Sifnos, Sikinos, and Thira/Santorini.
3. Minoan eruption.
Santorini is the remains from a large volcanic eruption that annihilated the earliest settlers. The Minoan eruption, aka: Thera eruption, which occurred 3,600 years ago. It left a massive caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of meters below.
4. The legend of Atlantis.
Many also believe the Minoan eruption is the source of the Atlantis legend – a fictional island in Plato’s Timaeus and Critias. In which the founders of Atlantis were half human, half god around 360 B.C. Their utopian civilization developed into a mighty naval power.
5. A dozen on the island.
Thera includes 12 local subdivisions with must-see’s including: Fira, Emporio, Imerovigli, and Pyrgos.
6. Blue domes.
Santorini features the traditional architecture of cubical houses made of local stones and whitewashed with volcanic ashes. The rooms are highly insulated by air-filled pumice, and are cool during summertime while warm during wintertime.
7. Say a little prayer.
Although they’re quite small, there are more churches than residential houses on the island of Santorini. Most of them are also private churches.
8. The real deal with the sunsets.
After speaking to many local entrepreneurs and experts in the hospitality industry, its safe to say that sunsets in Santorini are just like any other sunsets in Greece or around the world, for that matter. Tourists surround the Caldera every evening and applaud as the sun goes down. This in itself makes an entertaining sight all on its own.
9. Local Santorinian cuisine.
Don’t miss brantada, which is fresh cod coated in flour, salt, water and beer. Fava, a local broad bean, and Melitinia which is a local cookie.
10. It’s wine o’clock.
Santorini’s grape variety results in a small but fantastic wine industry. You’ll be tasting many great whites made from well-drained volcanic soil and vines that are ancient yet resistant to phylloxera (a plant louse that is a pest of vines.) The vines are planted far apart, and appear like lowly entwined baskets with grapes inside to be protected from the wind.
