"Cycladean Splendour" a Santorini Island Travel Page by steventilly

Santorini is a truly wonderful destination. The siting of some of its major towns along the clifftop rim of the caldera is one of the most spectactularly lovely sights I've ever seen. The buildings seem to defy gravity in the way they cling to the cliffs and are stacked one on top of the other like so many sugar cubes.
We had a slight fear that it may all be a bit too twee, a kind of "disneyland" and not really "Greece". We'd read how tavernas just want you to spend as much as possible and then leave as soon as you've finished; how waiters, shopkeepers etc. are less friendly and more pushy and about simply how expensive the place is.
We needn't have worried. The people were no different to anywhere else in Greece really. We always got good and friendly service and were never rushed. The food was wonderful, I'd say the best of any Greek Island we've visited so far, and it was a little more expensive, but only a little. We ended up taking a wadge of money back home because it was so much cheaper than we'd been led to believe.

There's more to Santorini than just the clifftop, sugarcube towns of Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia, though it is these that most people flock to see. There are inland hilltop "fortified" villages and cosmopolitan coastal resorts, with fine, black sand beaches and there are ancient archeological sites. We made sure that we saw all sides of Santorini.

It's a good island for walking too, if you're up to it. We took our (lightweight) walking boots with us so we could make the most of the opportunities. We'd been surprised (and delighted) to find that for all its diverse towns and villages, it's really a very small island. From where we were staying, near Fira, you could walk to almost everywhere. We walked to Pyrgos, Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli and Oia, as well as walking from Emborio to Perissa and Kamari to Ancient Thira (and back). We could have walked from where we stayed to Kamari, Megalahori, Messaria, Mesa Gournia and Akrotiri. In fact, we could have walked everywhere, given enough days.