Santorini, Greece

Listen in to the vivacious pulse of this beautiful island adorned with white and blue adobe buildings perched on the caldera cliffs. This is touristic paradise!

The island of Santorini was made of lava and has changed shape many times throughout the years. Now let's travel back in time to trace one of the island's worst recorded natural disasters. Around 1640 BC a great volcanic eruption took place in Santorini, that vanished all life on the island. This is know as the "Minoan Eruption". Then another. July 9, 1956. In the wee hours of the morning, the beautiful island is hit by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake -- the largest ever to be seen in Europe in the 20th century. Disaster upon disaster. For the earthquake was followed by a tsunami 25 meters high. A total of 529 houses were destroyed, 1,482 were severely damaged and 1,750 were lightly damaged.

"Santorini is not whole and it was not always a volcano." - George E. Vougioukakis

Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have shaped the island into what it is today.

In the present day, the island is cherried with two silent volcanoes. “Palia Kameni” (the larger one) was gradually formed between 19 and 726 AD, whereas “Nea Kameni” (the smaller one) was formed later, in 1573.

“Ruin, eldest daughter of Zeus, she blinds us all, that fatal madness—she with those delicate feet of hers, never touching the earth, gliding over the heads of men to trap us all. She entangles one man, now another.” ― Homer, The Iliad

Some say Santorini might be the Lost Atlantis from the Legend of Atlantis by Greek philosopher Plato; and that is mainly based on its circular shape and the volcanic eruption. The Legend of Atlantis? Atlantis was a circular island populated by talented people of high culture and wealth, according to the Greek Philosopher Plato. Some people think it existed, some say it is only fictional. They all agree that it was a small paradise, but they cannot agree on its location. Although no one has been able to firmly prove that just yet, I can confirm that Santorini is indeed a small paradise. No matter if it is the Lost Atlantis or not, it is definitely worth seeing it for yourself.

Hiking across the desert island's hills, roads, and highways one of three ways: from Fira to Oia (11km), from Fira to Kamari (8km), or from Fira to Akrotiri (10km), I noticed a wild beauty that is just hard to find. One of a kind with tinges of dry shrub vineyards across desert, dusty-brown sand, black stone and surrounded by the azure blue Aegean sea.

“Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean sea.” ― Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek

Gradually the magic of the island [Santorini] settled over us as gently and clingingly as pollen. Hiking rocky mountain faces, dipping feet in transparent azure waters, laying on beaches of black stone (Kamari Beach) on one day and red sand (Red Beach, Akrotiri) on another, getting high on cocktails at Oia's Amoudi Bay, watching sunsets from the cliff faces of different villages, lightly jumping over caldera rock under the Aegean seas, laughing over our anthropomorphism of the donkeys, complaining over hiking hither and thither through 700 rock-cut steep steps (Karavolades Stairs), nevertheless, enjoying views both at the bottom (Old Port of Fira) and the Top, good mornings over Freddo sweet Spanish latte, resting in a decent and crowded hostel (Santorini Camping and Hostel)... these were a few of my favorite things (when in Santorini).