A wonderful and well-known destination to many peoples around the world, Santorini in 2022, is a holiday proposal by Santorini Tours. In addition to the magnificent view, the world-famous sunset and the wild beauty it offers, produce delicious local wines and delicious food.
What to visit in Santorini?
Do not forget to visit Imerovigli, the highest point of the caldera to take the best photos, Oia for the sunset and the beautiful alleys decorated by nice souvenir and jewelry shops, Firostefani to drink at Mylos evening cocktail steep cliffs and the sea, Fira for fun and Megalochori for traditional cuisine, the beautiful village square and the Gavala winery. View
Megalochori is 6 km from the city center of Fira. Few people know this, but we believe that it is worth taking a walk. On the way to the winery, the houses have island colors on their windows and doors and the flowers complete a beautiful landscape.
Oia
Oia is the first village you will see from the ship as you enter the caldera and look up. The spectacle of Oia lying on the rock above the bay of Armeni and the picturesque port of Ammoudi welcomes the traveler and puts him in the climate of Santorini. Oia is world famous for its sunset.
Fira
The capital of Santorini, undoubtedly one of the most beautiful settlements in Greece – along with Oia. Fira is built in a very impressive location on the cliffs at the eyebrow of the caldera, at a height of 260m. The port of Chora is the bay of Fira, from where one climbs to Chora taking the cable car, the donkey or on foot for the most daring! The view of the sea captures the gaze so much that if you choose the last way to go up a lot of attention and eyes in front – the cliff is steep and unguarded.
Caldera
A few words can really describe the view from the Caldera to Santorini. Enchanting, seductive, dramatic, a breathtaking view.
The Caldera of Santorini is perhaps one of the most impressive but also important natural wonders on planet Earth: the contrast of the red volcanic rock with the endless blue of the Mediterranean and the whiteness of the villages of Santorini causes awe and admiration.
Imerovigli
Imerovigli is 3 km away from Fira to the eyebrow of the caldera, overlooking the peculiar and steep red rock of Skaros, which was once a Venetian castle – a fortified settlement. Imerovigli with its whitewashed houses, dazzling and tidy with colorful flowers in the courtyards and the harmonious in relation to the environment hotels along the width of the cliff, relax the eye and offer an unsurpassed spectacle. The cobblestone road that goes to the settlement of Firostefani and the capital of Fira is surrounded by dry stones while, a little further on, donkeys graze in blond fields. The settlement was created in the middle of the 16th century and its name was given by the then pirates – conquerors of the island (Imerovigli: observatory during the day).
Monastery
It is a Catholic Convent and is located above Fira, in Firostefani. The monastery of St. Catherine was founded in 1596 by a pious (catholic) Santorinian, with the help of the then bishop Antonio de Marchis.
On the morning of July 11, 1956, a strong earthquake struck, with devastating effects on the residents and buildings of Santorini. All the solitary battalions that had been in Santorini for centuries (Jesuits, Lazarists, Sisters of Mercy), left the island forever and only the Dominicans remained. In the mid-1980s, nuns came from a similar monastery in Spain and specifically from Olmedo. Fifteen nuns of different nationalities live in the Monastery, including two Greek women.
Do not forget to try vinsanto
The most famous wine produced only in this place is vinsanto. Its special feature is that while white fleshy grapes are used to make it, its color when the fermentations are completed turns out to be amber. It is very sweet in taste and is drunk as an aperitif or as a dessert wine. Otherwise it can be combined with yogurt and sweet grapes. If you do not try it at the beginning of the meal, you can try white assyrtiko or handkerchiefs. For the production of vinsanto no mechanical vintage is used, the grapes are normally pressed with bare feet. If you are on the island in August, you can visit the place and enjoy the experience of harvesting and pressing grapes.
Prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri
The prehistoric settlement of Akrotiri extends in a small plain at the southern tip of Santorini, near the modern village of the same name. It had two natural harbors protected from the strong north winds that blow in the area.
At Akrotiri, part of a rich city that flourished during the Middle Cycladic period (first half of the 2nd millennium BC) was excavated. The place was inhabited from the late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age (4th – 3rd millennium BC).
However, what made the revelation of Akrotiri world-famous was the discovery – in almost all the houses of the settlement – of frescoes, which in some cases are preserved in excellent condition. This is a phenomenon unique in the prehistory of the Aegean, as the archaeologist now has the opportunity to study this era from the illustrative documents themselves, designed by the artists of the time. The frescoes have now been detached and some are on display on the second floor of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, while most are in the Prehistoric Museum of Santorini.
