"The volcano island" a Santorini Island Travel Page by csordila

Santorini received its name from the Crusaders after the church of Ayia Irini - Saint Irene. The patron saint of Santorini is of course also Saint Irene and after all it is no wonder, that a lot of the women and girls named Irene.
The two main village, Fira, the capital, and Oia are situated right on the edge of the caldera and they are breathtakingly attractive villages.
The amazing cycladic architecture, the deep blue sea and the threatening but dormant volcano comprise a unique picture.
A scene of fairy tale opens up in front of you, as you catch the sight of the peculiarities of the natural environment, the striking landscape, whiter-than-white walls of the villas, the bright colorful doors, sparkling blue church domes, along the dark, steep edge of craters.

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The present-day funny shape of the island is created by a huge eruption of the ancient supervulcano back in biblical times.
The 30-40 kilometers high eruption cloud was seen from hundreds of kilometers and the thundering noise from the explosions must have been heard in almost the entire world.
Meters of volcanic debris from the eruption buried one of the most highly developed civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was probably the most terrible natural catastrophe on Earth since the end of the dinosaurs.
The activity of the volcano after this major eruption has continued into the present. The result of several eruptions since Archaic times, is two islets of black stone, Palea and Nea Kameni, which are the living evidence of the volcanism within the caldera

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