Oia
Today, we’re making our way to Santorini (a.k.a. Thera), which is known to be one of the most popular holiday destinations in the world.
Since this island is most often portrayed by images like the one here, it’s surprising to learn that Santorini was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization (think King Minos, the Minotaur and the great labyrinth).
The eruption left a large caldera (cauldron-like feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption) surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of feet deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, through the creation of a gigantic tsunami. Another popular theory holds that the Thera eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis.
Anyone else been to Santorini? Any travel recommendations?
Check back tomorrow for another one of my favorite Greek myths!
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santorini
I wrote a post about Santorini in my blog — I haven’t been, but I’ve always wanted to! The interesting thing I found through my reading was about the beaches. If you’re planning on swimming, I’d say go for a beach with black sand — the water will be warmer!
Have fun!
Thanks for the suggestion, Meika. We actually did end up hanging out at Perissa (one of our favorite black sand beaches on the island) one day. In general, the water was rather frigid in late May, however we braved the cold on numerous occasions…it was just too inviting!