The island of Santorini, Greece, is the result of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history…
I left the van in Athens and took an 8-hour boat ride with my family to check it out…
This island is well known for it’s spectacular sunsets, fascinating geological history and stupidly expensive cups of tea. This is definitely a tourist island, but for a good reason!
Santorini Facts:
- It is the remains of a huge volcanic eruption that wiped out the earliest settlements on what was a single island
- The water at the black beach is warmer due to the heat absorbing black lava rock
- There’s also red beach and white beach
- One of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history (7 on the VEI scale out of 8!) – 4 times the power of Krakatoa!
- Probably led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete (110km south), through the massive tsunami created after the eruption
- One of only two locations in Europe which has a hot dessert climate
- Thought to be the site of Plato’s legend of Atlantis – the ancient civilisation, which submerged over 9500 years ago
- The volcanic ash soil makes for some really tasty Tomatoes and other extra-ordinary produce
There’s loads of stuff interesting stuff about Santorini. If you’re interested, watch the video: National Geographic video: ‘Santorini The Doomsday Volcano’
Exploring the island of Santorini in 9 photographs:
If you get the chance to go here, you should! it’s a beautiful, fascinating and slightly surreal island.
According to Wikipedia, Santorini was ranked the worlds top island from the BBC and Travel+leisure+magazine. Yeah it is good, but I haven’t seen the others yet.
Have you been? is it the worlds top island?
