Greece's most stunning island

Romantic, authentic, and accessible, Santorini is the most beautiful island in Greece's most stunning archipelago, the Cyclades. Plunging cliffs, burning black-sand beaches and deeply scarred hills make the landscape as dramatic as the cataclysm that created it. From about 2000 to 1500BC, one of the most advanced societies in ancient Greece flourished on this island, drinking native wine and producing murals now on display at the National Museum in Athens which show fun-loving sea animals frolicking in the ocean. But in 1500BC a massive volcanic eruption put a stop to all the fun and excitement by burying every sign of civilization beneath millions of tons of lava, thus creating the caldera (basin) that is now Santorini's harbor. In 1976 the excavations, as in Pompeii, unearthed a complete town, except that no bones were found in the excavations; the fate of the Santorinites remains a mystery. A bus tour to the site, which is called Akrotiri includes a visit to the Profitis Ilias monastery which hovers at the top of Santorini's highest peak, and a stop at a winery for local wine-tasting (3000-3500dr).