"SANTORIN -THe ISLAND OF VOLCANOS" Greece by robertop

Santorin is a fantastic island in the Cyclades.This world famous island,is located in the extreme southern group of from the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea.,some 63 nautical miles from Crete,128 nautical miles from Pireus and 147 nautical miles from Rhodes..It extends on a area of 73 square km and its population of approximately 13.000 inhabitants is distributed among 13 towns and villages.It has 70 km of shores.
While on holiday in Crete,we made a cruise to Santorin,a fantstic journey I can recommend to anyone reaching the area.

When the cruise ship approached the islandI could see up there from distance like a cover of snow,
glittering in the sunshine might have taken into possesion the peak of this extinguished volcano-island.
But when coming nearer,one could recognize a long sequence(2,5 km)of unique white houses,which extend across the crater's margins.
This was Thera,capital of the island
and most visited by tourists.THe big earthquake back in 1956,destroyed
mny houses,but today everything
is rebuilt(unlike In Oia were still
destroyed houses can be seen.As water near the shores is not deep
enough for a big cruiseship,we were relocated in a smaller motor-boat,which brought us to the shores.
To get up the rocks to the towns,have several possibilities:
either by foot passing those 587 steps(what might be difficult due to the utmost heat),or on back of mules
or with the funicular.The steps,a
major construction work ,bear the
name of Spiridon Marinatus,the archeologist who discovered the
sites of Akrotiri.

On the islands temperatures are high, over 30 degrees C in the summer months.Best to visit because of lower temperatures and
as not many tourists present,are the
months of April,May,June.
The island is full of tourists and conditions hot in July and August.but this can happen already
at end of May too.As for ourselves,we were there in July and still if hot weather was splendid and
we had a real great time.The only regret was that we had to leave back
to Crete on the same day.
End September- middle of October
tourist activities decrease.as tempe-
ratures lower,but still then water
temperature remains at abt 23 degr.
C(in May water temperature just
19-20 degr.C).By the middle of
October tourism comes to a standstill.

• Pros:A scenery you can't forget
• Cons:sometimes too hot and crowded by tourists
• In a nutshell:you feel there,like paradse descended to earth