Santorini, the real Atlantis?

We were in Santorini in the first week of August, from the 4th to the 11th: we took a flight + hotel package in Perissa, in the south-east part of the island, where the beaches are. In antiquity Santorini was a volcano whose eruption, in 1500 BC, caused a tsunami whose waves, 20 metres high, reached Crete and destroyed an entire civilisation, the Minoan one, and gave life to the city of Atlantis which, according to legend, lies on the seabed of the caldera.

What remains today is precisely the caldera: an immense pool of water with the island of Vulcano in the centre, whose craters are still active (the last eruption dates back to 1956), two other small islands formed after the various eruptions, the island of Thirassia (little Thira) and then Santorini itself which, if on one side it has cliffs plunging into the sea overlooking the caldera, on the other gently settles into the water and creates long beaches of very black sand. The most famous beaches are: PERISSA: to us it seemed the one with the most beautiful sea (there were fish practically at the shore), the sand is dark (and gets very hot!!) but the beach is very wide. In Greece all beaches are state-owned and paid: we paid from a minimum of 5 to a maximum of 7 euros for two sun loungers and a parasol...

prices in Liguria I think are at least double!! KAMARI: the beach with the most beautiful seafront, full of little shops and restaurants; here too the sand is dark and the sea lovely, but nothing exceptional. RED BEACH: a very striking beach, you get there after a 50-metre walk among the rocks, which are red in colour... very beautiful, but the sea was rough and full of seaweed when we were there. VLYCHADA: pretty, not very wide, dark beach, rough sea MESA PIGARIA: the beach where some scenes of Muccino's film were shot, with enormous pebbles. Broadly speaking the sea and the beaches are not bad, but they didn't drive us crazy: last year in Formentera it was a whole different thing! What makes Santorini unbeatable and truly worth going for are the villages and the splendid view you enjoy over the caldera.

THIRA: it is the capital, the liveliest town, full of venues and shops, with all-white and light-blue houses, and from which you enjoy a beautiful view and unforgettable sunsets. In the evening, once the sun has set, the little lights come on and it feels like being in a nativity scene. OIA: the most characteristic little town, but also the most expensive in Greece (land costs 10 thousand euros per square metre) and absolutely the most beautiful on the island; being a UNESCO heritage site it is particularly protected, there are no external power lines (they are all underground) so as not to spoil the landscape, and it is a tangle of little streets, stairways, white walls, light-blue domes that are breathtaking. The spectacle of the sun going to sleep, seen from here, is truly sensational.

PYRGOS: it is a pretty little village, all white, less touristy than the others and therefore more authentic... where we found real Greeks and not many tourists. Besides the natural beauties there are also the historical ones; in particular there are two sites to visit: AKROTIRI with its excavations (which, however, were closed when we went) and ANCIENT THIRA: the latter we did visit; under a scorching sun, you have to climb a stony path (no flip-flops, wear shoes, I beg you... I destroyed both my flip-flops and my feet!!) until you reach the remains of what was the ancient capital.

The position sheer above the sea offers a beautiful view of the beaches of Kamari on the left and Perissa on the right, but otherwise the site is a bit disappointing, not so much for how it is kept, but more because there are not many explanations and we found ourselves wandering among the stones without knowing what we were treading on. We also took a sailing-ship trip into the caldera, where we climbed the slopes of the volcano, swam in the sulphur waters and had lunch on the small island of Thirassia, where we saw the most beautiful water of all. In Santorini we rented a quad and roamed the island far and wide; we ate very well, Greek cuisine offers a wide choice of products: the olives, the fish, the meat and the salads with feta and tomatoes are very good, excellent!...and drink the Vin Santo, which seems to originate right here!