Santorini Tours

Santorini tours are trips around the volcanic island group in the southern Cyclades, from the caldera and its lava islets to the Bronze Age city at Akrotiri, the cliff-top villages, the beaches and the vineyards. The page is part of the Greece Tours on Greece Ville.

This page covers the volcano and its geology, the history and archaeology of the island, the villages, the sea and its ports, food and wine, the routes from Crete and Athens and common questions. Each section links to the Greece Ville posts on single Santorini tours.

What are Santorini tours?

Santorini tours are visits to a Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km south-east of the mainland. The island is the largest part of a small ring of volcanic islands around a flooded caldera.

The main island is the largest piece of a small, circular archipelago. The Santorini caldera shaped that ring, so Santorini tours cross a sea-filled crater whose rim is made of islands.

The whole group holds 90 km2 of land. The municipality of Santorini joins two inhabited islands, Santorini and Therasia, with five uninhabited islands that lie inside the caldera or beside it.

Volcanic activity is the reason for the layout of Santorini tours. Santorini is the leading volcanic centre of the South Aegean Volcanic Arc, and the island still carries the marks of its past eruptions.

One of the largest eruptions in recorded history struck the island about 3,600 years ago. It left a large water-filled caldera surrounded by deep deposits of volcanic ash.

This part of the page sets out the volcano, the smaller islands, the earthquakes and the rocks. Later parts cover the history, the villages, the sea and the food of the island.

• Setting: The island group lies in the southern Aegean Sea, south-east of the Greek mainland.
• Land: The islands of the municipality add up to 90 km2 of land.
• Shape: A flooded caldera forms the centre of a ring of islands.
• Volcano: The group sits on the South Aegean Volcanic Arc.

Santorini tours make sense only when the volcano is understood first. The next sections start with the caldera and then move event by event and island by island.

How does caldera formation shape Santorini tours?

Santorini tours cross a caldera that formed through repeated cycles, in which a shield volcano grew, erupted violently and then collapsed into a roughly circular hollow. The sea flooded that hollow, and the flooded hollow is now the central bay of the island group.

The island is the result of repeated sequences of shield volcano construction followed by caldera collapse. Geologists count at least four caldera-forming eruptions among at least twelve large explosive ones.

Lava flows and small explosive eruptions first build cones. These cones are thought to block the flow of magma, which lets large magma chambers form beneath them.

Once the magma is rich enough in silica, a large explosive eruption destroys the cone. The hollow left behind collapses, and ignimbrite later fills part of it.

The cycle repeated itself as recently as 21,000 years ago. The northern part of the caldera was refilled by the volcano and then collapsed once more during the Minoan eruption, which Santorini tours treat as the final collapse.

Before the Minoan eruption the caldera rim formed a nearly continuous ring. The only entrance lay between the islet of Aspronisi and the main island, and the eruption cut two new channels through the ring.

• Old entrance: The gap in the ring lay between Aspronisi and the main island.
• First new channel: The eruption destroyed the ring between Aspronisi and Therasia.
• Second new channel: It also destroyed the ring between Therasia and the main island.
• Newest cone: The Kameni islands are the latest cone built by this volcano, with much of them under water.

The Santorini boat tour post covers sailing across this flooded caldera. Santorini tours on the water follow the outline of a collapse that the volcano has repeated again and again.

What do Santorini tours reveal about the Minoan eruption?

Santorini tours reveal the Minoan eruption, a Bronze Age blast rated 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. Marine sediments and seismic data from ocean expeditions place the erupted volume at 28 to 41 km3 of dense rock equivalent.

Earlier estimates of the volume were lower and ranged widely, from 13 to 86 km3, because the bulk of the erupted material landed in the sea.

The eruption was of the Plinian type and built an eruption column 30 to 35 km high that reached the stratosphere. Seawater entering the vent added violent blasts. These blasts belong to the story that Santorini tours tell at the caldera rim.

Researchers identify four major phases and one minor precursory fall of tephra. The opening Plinian phase was the largest, ejecting 14 to 21 km3 of magma and making up half of the total.

The eruption is comparable with the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, the 1257 Samalas eruption and the Hatepe eruption of Lake Taupo around AD 230. The 946 eruption of Paektu Mountain belongs to the same class.

The island of Anafi, 27 km to the east, carries ash layers 3 m deep. Pumice from the eruption also lies on slopes there that stand 250 m above sea level.

• Scale: The eruption rated 7 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index.
• Column: The plume rose 30 to 35 km into the stratosphere.
• Phases: Four major phases followed a minor precursory ash fall.
• Final phase: The last major phase completed the collapse of the caldera.

Santorini tours stand on the deposits of this eruption, so the layers of pumice and ash along the cliffs record each phase in order. The numbers above come from marine and seismic research.

What do Santorini tours show of older eruptions and the volcanic arc?

Santorini tours sit on a volcano that erupted long before the Minoan event and belongs to the South Aegean Volcanic Arc. The earliest eruptions took place on the Akrotiri peninsula between 650,000 and 550,000 years ago, and a share were submarine.

Those early eruptions differ chemically from later ones, because their rocks contain amphiboles. Over the past 360,000 years the volcano has run through two major cycles, each ending with two caldera-forming eruptions.

Each cycle ends when the magma evolves to a rhyolitic composition. Eruptive products range from basalt all the way to rhyolite, and the rhyolitic products belong to the strongest explosive eruptions.

The arc runs from the Isthmus of Corinth on the Greek mainland to the Bodrum peninsula on the Turkish mainland. Plate tectonics formed it, as the African plate sinks beneath the Eurasian plate.

Along the arc stand Sousaki, Aegina, Methana, Milos, Santorini with Kolumbo, Kos, Nisyros with Yali, and Akyarlar. The group includes dormant volcanoes and historically active ones.

Over the past 100 years only Santorini, Kolumbo and Nisyros have erupted or shown significant unrest. The Hellenic arc to the south also produces magnitude 7 earthquakes, including the Crete earthquakes of 365 and 1303, which Santorini tours place in a wider seismic setting.

• Early centre: The oldest eruptions took place on the Akrotiri peninsula.
• Two cycles: The past 360,000 years hold two major cycles of eruption.
• Arc ends: The arc runs from Corinth to the Bodrum peninsula.
• Active members: Santorini, Kolumbo and Nisyros showed activity within 100 years.

Santorini tours therefore visit one link in a long chain of volcanoes. The chain explains both the eruptions and the earthquakes that later sections cover.

What do Santorini tours offer at Nea Kameni?

Santorini tours reach Nea Kameni, a small uninhabited volcanic island within the flooded caldera. Its name means new burnt, and a path of gravel leads visitors up to a crater rim that stands 130 m high above the caldera.

In 1707, an undersea volcano breached the sea surface and formed the current centre of activity here. Later major eruptions took place from 1866 to 1870 and in the twentieth century, and the last small eruption in 1950 extruded a lava dome.

The island is nearly round, about 2 km across, and covers 3.4 km2. Scientists monitor it closely, and the whole island is a protected scientific site.

The island has vents, and one of them is an active sulfur vent named Jorgo. Locals named it after King George I of Greece, because the vent was active the day after his visit.

In summer a carpet of red grassy succulents grows on the thin soil. The island is otherwise nearly barren, which leaves the volcanic ground bare.

Dozens of tourist boats bring Santorini tours to the island every day throughout the summer. Visitors climb the gravel path to the top of the crater and can walk a full circuit of the rim.

• Name: Nea Kameni means new burnt in Greek.
• Height: The crater top stands 130 m above the sea.
• Area: The island covers 3.4 km2.
• Vent: The active sulfur vent is called Jorgo.

The Santorini volcano tour post covers the volcano itself, the landing and what the hot springs show. Santorini tours that land here walk across the newest ground in the caldera.

What do Santorini tours show at Palea Kameni?

Santorini tours pass Palea Kameni, a volcanic island whose name means Old Burnt Island. Pumice and lava built it in a series of eruptions between 197 BCE and 47 CE, and it lies to the south-west of Nea Kameni.

Ancient authors note that the island rose from the sea in 197 BCE and received the name Hiera, a name given in antiquity to volcanic mountains. Eusebius, Justin, Strabo and Plutarch state this.

Strabo relates that flames burst out of the sea for four days. An island then formed with a circumference of 12 stadia, or about 2.4 km.

The Roman historian Cassius Dio recorded that a small islet, hitherto unknown, appeared close to the island of Thera in the year 47 CE. Historians treat that report as a possible reference to Palea Kameni.

The island is private. It was inhabited until it was bought in 1899 and was sold again in 1975. A small church and other structures stand there.

The island has no good harbour, but tourists on Santorini tours can swim to it from nearby Nea Kameni. A herd of goats lives there, and sparse succulent plants cover the ground. Volcanic activity ceased until the 1570s, when the growth of Nea Kameni caused increased activity to be reported here.

• Name: Palea Kameni means Old Burnt Island.
• Ancient name: Writers of antiquity called it Hiera.
• Ownership: The island was bought in 1899 and sold in 1975.
• Animals: A herd of goats lives on the island.

The Santorini boat trip post covers the sea routes through the caldera. Santorini tours by boat view this island from the water.

What do Santorini tours pass near the Kolumbo submarine volcano?

Santorini tours pass near Kolumbo, an active submarine volcano in the Aegean Sea to the north-east of the island. It is the largest of a line of about twenty submarine cones, and its main cone measures about 3 km across.

The crater is 1.5 km across. The highest parts of the rim now lie about 10 m below sea level, and humans first noticed the volcano when it breached the sea surface in 1649.

A 2006 expedition by NOAA Ocean Explorer, equipped with remotely operated robots, explored the sea floor around Kolumbo. The team sampled and mapped the pyroclastic deposits.

The crater floor lies about 505 m below the sea surface on average. A field of hydrothermal vents marks its north-eastern area.

Water leaving the vents measured as hot as 224 degrees Celsius and carries metals. The flow built chimneys of polymetallic sulfide and sulfate up to 4 m high.

In October 2022 scientists announced a previously undetected magma chamber 2 to 4 km below sea level in Kolumbo. It is gradually filling with melt. An eruption is not imminent, but the finding matters for the sea that Santorini tours cross.

• Size: The main cone is about 3 km across.
• Line: Kolumbo is the largest of about twenty submarine cones.
• Floor: The crater floor lies about 505 m below the sea.
• Chimneys: Chimneys at the hot vents grew to 4 m.

The new magma chamber poses a threat, so scientists recommend real-time monitoring of Kolumbo. Santorini tours see this volcano only as a place on the sea, since the whole cone lies under water.

What do Santorini tours include at Thirasia?

Santorini tours include Thirasia, the second largest island of the Santorini group, which lies north-west of Nea Kameni. The island has a land area of 9.299 square kilometres, and the Minoan eruption separated it from the main island.

Thirasia lies north-west of Nea Kameni, a small island that marks the centre of the island group. Thirasia sits in the volcanic island group of Santorini in the Greek Cyclades. It is far smaller than Thera, the largest island.

The 2021 census counted 249 inhabitants on Thirasia, so Santorini tours here meet a small community. The island belongs to the municipal unit of Oia. The municipality of Santorini counts Thirasia as one of its two inhabited islands.

Five villages are listed on the island: Agia Eirini, Agrilia, Manolas, Ormos Korfou and Potamos. Manolas is the largest, with 140 inhabitants in 2021, and Ormos Korfou counts 2.

Thera and Therasia were separated by the Thera eruption. The gap between them is now one of the channels that lead into the flooded caldera.

Thirasia covers about a tenth of the 90 km2 of land in the whole island group. Together with Thera it forms the inhabited part of the group.

• Rank: Thirasia is the second largest island of the group.
• Area: The land area is 9.299 square kilometres.
• Population: The 2021 census counted 249 inhabitants.
• Villages: Five villages stand on the island, from Manolas to Ormos Korfou.

Santorini tours that stop here land on a small inhabited island. The Minoan eruption cut it off from the main island and left it on the rim of the caldera.

What do Santorini tours see at Aspronisi and the Christiana Islands?

Santorini tours see Aspronisi, an uninhabited island inside the caldera, and look out towards the Christiana Islands, a separate group to the south-west of the main island. Aspronisi means White Island in Greek, because pale pumice covers part of it.

Aspronisi was briefly a submarine volcano before the force of the Minoan eruption pushed it above the surface. Dense layers of pumice and tephra then covered it and hardened into pale deposits.

The base of the island consists of black lava rock. The island measures 650 m by 200 m, covers 0.14 km2 and has a flat plateau on top.

Steep cliffs make landings difficult. Two pebble beaches and a small anchorage exist on the islet, sparse plants grow on it, and migratory birds nest there.

The Christiana Islands are a group of three volcanic islands: Christiani, the largest, with Eschati and Askania. They lie about 16 km south-west of Santorini and belong to one submarine volcanic edifice.

The three islands cover about 2.35 km2 and have been uninhabited since the 1890s. Christiani holds remains of human settlement from Neolithic times, and in the mid-1970s NATO considered it for a missile silo that was never built.

• Aspronisi size: The islet measures 650 m by 200 m.
• Aspronisi name: The name means White Island.
• Christiana group: Three islands make up the group.
• Access: The Christiana Islands are privately owned and public access is restricted.

Santorini tours view Aspronisi from the water because landings are difficult. The Christiana Islands stay closed to the public, so these Santorini tours look at them only from a distance.

What do Santorini tours show of the 1956 Amorgos earthquake?

Santorini tours pass an island that the 1956 Amorgos earthquake damaged severely. The earthquake was the largest in Greece in the 20th century, and a second shock of magnitude 7.2 followed just 13 minutes after the first shock.

The main shock reached magnitude 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale and a maximum intensity of IX on the Mercalli scale. Its epicentre lay south of Amorgos, the easternmost island of the Cyclades.

The shock struck 30 km south of Amorgos and about 50 km from Santorini. The fault ruptured an area about 110 km long and reaching 26 km in depth.

The second shock began close to the island of Anafi. It is believed to have caused the bulk of the damage and casualties on Santorini.

Damage was greatest on the western side along the caldera edge, a coast that Santorini tours now follow, where parts of the ground collapsed into the sea. On Santorini, 35% of the houses collapsed and 45% suffered major or minor damage.

A tsunami followed, and it reached an estimated 3 m at Perissa and 2 m at Vlichada. The damage left the population in extreme poverty, and the largest group of those who left settled in Athens.

• Magnitudes: The main shock measured 7.7 and the second shock 7.2.
• Houses: A total of 1,482 houses were severely damaged and 1,750 lightly damaged.
• Relief: The Greek military made air drops of food, tents and supplies.
• Declaration: Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis declared a large-scale local disaster.

The Cyclades lie in a zone of extensional tectonics between the South Aegean Volcanic Arc and the North Anatolian Fault. Santorini tours therefore cross ground shaped by both earthquakes and volcanism.

What do rocks and beach colours show on Santorini tours?

Santorini tours show that the island rests on older non-volcanic rock beneath its volcanic layers. This basement of metamorphosed limestone and schist dates from the Alpine orogeny, and the beaches take their colours from the layers exposed along the coast.

The Cyclades form a metamorphic complex called the Cycladic Massif. It was folded and metamorphosed during the Alpine orogeny around 60 million years ago.

Thera sits on a small non-volcanic basement that was once an island about 9 by 6 km. Its limestone and schist show at Mikros Profitis Ilias, Mesa Vouno, Pyrgos and Monolithos.

The metamorphic grade is blueschist facies. It marks the southernmost extent of the Cycladic blueschist belt and results from the subduction of the African plate beneath the Eurasian plate.

The ground slopes outwards and downwards from the caldera towards the outer coast, where the beaches are smooth and shallow. Beach sand colour depends on which geological layer is exposed.

Sand or pebbles of solidified lava create red, black and white beaches. The water at the darker beaches is significantly warmer because the lava acts as a heat absorber, a contrast that Santorini tours can compare along the coast.

• Basement: Metamorphosed limestone and schist form the older island.
• Age: The basement was folded around 60 million years ago.
• Colours: Beaches are red, black or white, depending on the layer.
• Warm water: Darker beaches hold warmer water than pale ones.

The Santorini kayak tour post covers paddling along the volcanic coast, where cliffs and beaches show these rocks from the sea. Santorini tours on foot see the same layers.

What did the volcanic unrest of 2011 to 2012 mean for Santorini tours?

Santorini tours run above a volcano that stirred between January 2011 and April 2012. Satellite radar showed that a rush of molten rock swelled the magma chamber, and scientists rated the injection as equal to 20 years of regular activity.

Small tremors and reports of strange gaseous odours during 2011 and 2012 prompted satellite radar analyses. These revealed the source of the symptoms in the magma chamber under the volcano.

The chamber swelled by 10 to 20 million cubic metres of molten rock. Parts of the island’s surface rose out of the water by a reported 8 to 14 centimetres.

No eruption followed, and the volcano is dormant at the present time. Scientists say the injection of molten rock matched 20 years’ worth of regular activity.

Nine subaerial eruptions are recorded in the historical record since the first Kameni island broke the surface in 197 BC. The latest of them ended in 1950.

At the current active crater on Nea Kameni, steam and carbon dioxide are emitted, and Santorini tours can see where the volcano stays active. Former craters also lie on the island.

• Period: The unrest ran from January 2011 to April 2012.
• Volume: Between 10 and 20 million cubic metres of melt entered the chamber.
• Uplift: Parts of the surface rose by 8 to 14 centimetres.
• Latest eruption: The last eruption ended in 1950.

The unrest shows how scientists track a dormant volcano from space. Santorini tours therefore take place on ground that satellite radar can measure down to centimetres.

Which Bronze Age city do Santorini tours visit at Akrotiri?

Santorini tours reach Akrotiri, a Cycladic Bronze Age settlement on the volcanic island, buried by the Theran eruption in the 16th century BC. Its ancient name is unknown, and the ash preserved multi-storey houses, pottery and furniture in remarkable condition.

Fragments of foreign pottery at the site show trade with other cultures of the Aegean. The town also processed copper, and the moulds and crucibles found there prove that trade.

Santorini tours also pass walls that stand as high as eight metres. A loom workshop suggests organised weaving of textiles for export, so Santorini tours treat the town as a producer and a port.

The town had a drainage system, and its pipes ran in twin lines for hot and cold water. The water closets found at Akrotiri are the oldest such utilities discovered anywhere.

Excavators found only a single gold object, hidden beneath a floor, and no unburied human remains. That evidence points to an orderly evacuation before the ash fell, and the residents took only their valuables.

• Horns: The House of the Benches held between 300 and 500 horns of cattle, sheep and goats, almost all altered by fire.
• Furniture: Ash kept negatives of rotted wooden pieces, and liquid plaster poured into them made casts of beds, tables and stools.
• Offering tables: Clay or plaster-coated tables with three decorated legs and a top are among the commonest finds.
• Pottery: The finds include storage jars, stirrup jars, bathtubs, braziers, oil lamps, bee-hives and flower pots.

The Akrotiri tickets post covers entry to the excavated site. Santorini tours rely on that post for the practical side, and this page keeps to the history.

How do Santorini tours explain the wall paintings of Thera?

Santorini tours explain the wall paintings of Thera as frescoes that Spyridon Marinatos found at Akrotiri. Excavated from 1967 to 1974, they are regarded as part of Minoan art, and they stayed on their walls under the ash.

As Santorini tours explain, builders first covered the stone walls with a mixture of mud and straw. Layers of fine plaster then formed the finished surface that the painters used for the scenes.

Painters used mineral pigments, which explains the good preservation. Blue marked birds, animal pelts, fish scales and shaven heads, and deep blue stood for the green of ivy, papyrus and palm trees.

The artists followed colour conventions. Red marked the darker, sun-tanned skin of males, and white marked the pale skin of females. Yellow stood for the golden fur of lions and for light green on myrtle.

The technique was not true fresco in nearly every case. Painting began on wet plaster but finished on a dry surface, so the paint soaked in at places and flakes off at others.

• Study value: The paintings serve archaeologists, art historians, zoologists, botanists and chemists, and they show figures, customs and events.
• Locations: The frescoes are now in the Museum of Prehistoric Thera on Santorini or in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
• Reproductions: The Thera Foundation commissioned 3-D copies from Kodak Pathe of France, a method also used for the Lascaux cave paintings.
• Santozeum: The copies hang on the inner walls of a museum that doubles as a private residence.

Santorini tours that stop at the museums meet two versions of the paintings. The originals show the Bronze Age hand, and the copies show the rooms as their painters meant.

Which single frescoes do Santorini tours connect with Akrotiri?

Santorini tours connect Akrotiri with single frescoes such as the Boxer Fresco, the Blue Monkeys and the flotilla of boats. Each scene came from a different room, and archaeologists reconstructed large sections of the Boxer Fresco from the surviving pieces.

The Boxer Fresco shown on Santorini tours is a leading example of Minoan painting. The figures’ shaved heads and stray locks mark their youth, and the left boy wears jewellery, which suggests a higher status.

The painting dates to about 1700 BC, and scholars still debate whether the gloves protected the wearer or raised the damage dealt. Boxing sat beside wrestling and bull jumping.

The youth of the figures hints that training began early in life. Writers have suggested that athletics played a religious role and that competition was a rite of passage into adulthood for the Minoans.

The Blue Monkeys fresco shows the animals climbing a rocky landscape. That landscape mimics the volcanic rocks that still lie near the site, so the painter evidently knew the island well.

• Antelopes: Two antelopes painted with a confident calligraphic line belong among the more complete scenes.
• Fisherman: A man holds fish strung by their gills, and the scene stood in place although it had detached from the wall.
• Flotilla: The flotilla fresco shows pleasure boats accompanied by leaping dolphins.
• Saffron-gatherers: Fragments show crocus stamens offered to a seated woman, a figure that scholars read as a goddess important to the culture.

Santorini tours that read these scenes learn about dress, sport, ships and plants. The single frescoes act as pages of a record that no written text supports.

What contacts with Crete and the Cyclades do Santorini tours reveal?

Santorini tours reveal an island tied to Minoan Crete and the wider Cyclades. Akrotiri is a Cycladic settlement, yet close similarities in artefacts and fresco styles link it to the Minoan civilisation, although the political relationship between the two islands is unclear.

Between about 2000 and 1650 BC Akrotiri grew into one of the major ports of the Aegean. Recovered objects came not just from Crete but also from Anatolia, Cyprus, Syria and Egypt.

Finds also arrived from the Dodecanese and the Greek mainland. The cargoes seen on Santorini tours show that the town stood at a crossing of sea routes and that its merchants dealt with distant coasts.

The wider Minoan world looked outward in the same way. Its traders reached Egypt, Cyprus, Canaan and the Levantine coast, and Minoan-style frescoes appear at elite houses in Avaris and Tel Kabri.

Santorini tours also note that Egyptians called the Minoans Keftiu. Fifteenth-century paintings at Thebes in Egypt show figures who look Minoan and who carry gifts, so the contacts ran in both directions.

• Cyclades: The islands lay in the Minoan cultural orbit, and Minoan art came to dominate Cycladic art of the same periods.
• Kythera: The island of Kythera, near the Greek mainland, held a Minoan settlement at Kastri.
• Early canoes: Trade in the early Minoan period is thought to have used Cycladic canoes.
• Dating: The eruption fell in Late Minoan IA on Crete and in Late Cycladic I on the surrounding islands.

Santorini tours therefore present Akrotiri as a meeting point. Ships from Crete, Cyprus and the Levant brought goods and styles, and the town added its own craft work in return.

Why do Santorini tours mention the Atlantis hypothesis?

Santorini tours mention the Atlantis hypothesis because writers have argued since the early twentieth century that the story kept a cultural memory of the Thera eruption. Present-day philologists and classicists, however, agree that the story is fictional.

Plato told the tale in two dialogues, the Timaeus and the Critias. He used Atlantis as an allegory on the hubris of nations, and the dialogues are the only primary sources for the island.

In the story told on Santorini tours, Atlantis was a naval empire from the west that had conquered the greater part of Europe and Libya. It lost divine favour after a failed campaign against Athens.

The dialogues claim to quote Solon, who visited Egypt between 590 and 580 BC. Plato placed the events more than 9,000 years before his own time and beyond the Pillars of Hercules.

Scholars suggest that Plato drew on Egyptian records of the Thera eruption. Others reject that chain of tradition and cite events such as the failed Athenian invasion of Sicily, and Santorini tours note both views.

• Aristotle: Ancient writers disagreed, and Aristotle believed that his teacher Plato had invented the island to teach philosophy.
• Crantor: This student of a student of Plato is cited as an early writer who took the story as history.
• Donnelly: Nineteenth-century amateur scholars, above all Ignatius Donnelly, misread the narrative as historical tradition.
• Syracuse: Rodney Castleden notes parallels between the fortifications of Syracuse and the description of Atlantis.

Santorini tours that raise Atlantis therefore treat it as a long-running debate. The Bronze Age eruption is documented, while the lost empire belongs to Plato.

What do Santorini tours show at Ancient Thera on Mesa Vouno?

Santorini tours show Ancient Thera, a site from classical antiquity that sits on top of a limestone hill called Mesa Vouno. Visitors reach it by a winding road that starts at Kamari or by footpaths from both sides of the mountain.

Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen investigated the city systematically from 1895 to 1904. N. Zapheiropoulos then dug between 1961 and 1982, and his team unearthed the necropolis in Sellada.

The city had a street almost 800 metres long, two to four metres wide, which was wide for its time.

The agora follows the ridge and measures about 110 metres by between 17 and 30 metres. The Basilike Stoa, a portico of 46 by 10 metres, marked the centre of public life.

On Santorini tours the theatre dates to the second century and seated about 1,500 people, more than the city needed. Performances drew people from across the island and from neighbouring islands as well.

• Sacred area: A grotto for Hermes and Heracles lies beside the temple of Apollo Pythios on the spur of the ridge.
• Inscriptions: Texts from the turn of the ninth to the eighth century BC are among the oldest examples of the Greek alphabet.
• Harbours: The city had two seaports, Oia at present-day Kamari and Elefsina at present-day Perissa.
• Houses: The bulk of the residents lived around small courtyards with a cistern below, and a number of houses had two levels.

The Santorini private tour post covers the island in numbers, the colony of Cyrene, birds, climate and village names. Santorini tours add this ridge to that wider picture.

How do Santorini tours tell of the Dorian colony and the founding of Cyrene?

Santorini tours tell of the Dorian colony through Herodotus, who reports that Thera sent colonists to Libya. Battus, a Therean born to the nobleman Polymnestus, led them, and the settlers named their new city Cyrene around 630 BC.

Santorini tours place the ancient city among its Doric colonists from Sparta, with archaeological evidence from the ninth century BC. Herodotus and Pausanias name the mythical ruler Theras, who gave his name to the island.

In about 639 BC the king Grinus visited the oracle at Delphi. The priestess told him to found a city in Libya, but the king was too old and handed the task to Battus.

In the account that Santorini tours repeat, the Thereans asked in Crete about Libya and met a fisherman named Corobius at Itanus. He had once been blown onto Platea, an island off the Libyan coast.

Battus sailed with two penteconters, but the crews turned back. Locals on the harbour threw things at them, and the settlers returned to Platea, where they lived for two years.

• Aziris: After a further Delphic reply the settlers moved to the mainland and lived at Aziris for six years.
• Apollo’s Fountain: Libyans led the group west to a spring, and the name Cyrene comes from the fountain Cyre.
• Succession: Battus died in 600 BC, and his son Arcesilaus I followed him as king of the Battiad dynasty.
• Trade: Cyrene grew rich through exports of horses and silphium, a plant used in the ancient world.

Santorini tours recall that Thera held a good name as the mother city of Cyrene despite its own small size. The link joined the Cyclades to North Africa.

How do Santorini tours cover Hellenistic and Ptolemaic Thera?

Santorini tours cover Hellenistic and Ptolemaic Thera as the period when the island became a naval base. After the death of Alexander the Great, it joined the Ptolemaic kingdom, and the wartime fleet for the whole Aegean lay in its harbour.

Earlier, as Santorini tours note, Thera stayed out of the Delian League in the fifth century BC. During the Peloponnesian War it sided with Sparta, and the Athenians took the island but lost it after Aegospotami.

The Ptolemaic kingdom was founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I, a companion of Alexander. On Thera the fleet arrived in the second half of the third century BC and changed the city.

The city was rebuilt for the officers. A regular street grid replaced the old layout, and peristyle houses with colonnades rose on terraces on the eastern slope below the main street.

Inscriptions show a garrison of three officers and about 300 soldiers at the start. Pensioned officers later settled, and the share of Egyptian mercenaries rose, so the cults of the city changed.

• Egyptian gods: A rock sanctuary for the ancient Egyptian gods was added to the sacred area in the third century BC.
• Gymnasium: A gymnasium of the epheboi followed from the second century BC, and baths joined it in the first century AD.
• Roman rule: From the middle of the first century BCE the island belonged to the Roman province of Asia.
• Priests: Therans reached high office, and twice one of them held the post of provincial high priest.

Santorini tours that reach the ridge walk through this Hellenistic plan. The grid, the colonnaded houses and the Egyptian shrine all belong to the fleet years.

What do Santorini tours say about Byzantine and Venetian Santorini?

Santorini tours say that Byzantine and Venetian Santorini passed through the Duchy of the Archipelago. A Venetian nobleman, Marco Sanudo, created the duchy in 1207 after the Fourth Crusade, and it centred on the islands of Naxos and Paros.

Santorini tours begin the Byzantine story as the island passed from Rome to the eastern empire. Thera became a diocesan town and was the only urban settlement on the island up to the fifth century.

The name Santorini first appears around 1154 in the work of the geographer al-Idrisi, who wrote Santurin. After the Fourth Crusade the Duchy of Naxos held the island until about 1280.

Licario reconquered the island for the Byzantines, and it was annexed to Venice around 1335 by Niccolo Sanudo. Turkish principalities raided it in 1318 to 1331 and again in 1345 to 1360.

The duchy, also called the Duchy of Naxos, covered all the Cyclades except Mykonos and Tinos. Marco Sanudo set up a Latin archbishopric, yet the majority of the population stayed Greek Orthodox.

• Dukes: Twenty-one dukes of two dynasties ruled the Archipelago in turn.
• Crispo family: In 1383 the Crispo family overthrew the heirs of Sanudo as dukes.
• Venice: The duchy became a vassal of Venice in 1418 in reaction to the rise of the Ottoman Empire.
• Ottoman tribute: In 1537 the duchy became a tributary of the Ottoman Empire.

Santorini tours that mention the Venetian years explain the Catholic community on the island. The Latin presence began in this period and has not ended, so the island keeps both rites.

How do Santorini tours present Ottoman Santorini and the 19th century?

Santorini tours present Ottoman Santorini as a sequence of capture, privilege and revolt. The Ottoman admiral Piyale Pasha captured the island in 1576, and it became part of the semi-autonomous domain of the sultan’s favourite, Joseph Nasi.

Santorini tours show that the island kept a privileged position in the 17th century. It suffered Venetian raids during the frequent Ottoman-Venetian wars, even though no Muslims lived there.

On Santorini tours the story continues as Russian forces under Alexey Orlov captured Santorini briefly in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774. Ottoman control returned afterwards, and farmers and seafarers exported their produce.

Alexandros Ypsilantis sent agents to the Cyclades in early 1821. The island did not rise as a whole, but it sent 100 barrels of wine to the Greek fleet in April of that year.

News of the massacres on Chios in April 1822 spread fear of Ottoman reprisals. Sixteen monks of the monastery of Profitis Ilias, led by their abbot, nevertheless declared in writing for the revolt.

• Taxes: The National Assembly imposed a contribution of 90,000 grosis on Santorini in early 1823.
• London Protocol: The island became part of the fledgling Greek state under the protocol of 3 February 1830.
• Kingdom: It became definitively part of the Kingdom of Greece in 1832 under the Treaty of Constantinople.
• 1862: Santorini joined the insurrection against King Otto, and the authorities restored control by 20 March.

Santorini tours that cover this period stress how much autonomy the islanders had enjoyed. Higher taxes under the new state caused open quarrels with its first governor.

Which museums do Santorini tours use for the Museum of Prehistoric Thera and the Archaeological Museum of Thera?

Santorini tours use two museums in Fira, the Museum of Prehistoric Thera and the Archaeological Museum of Thera. The first covers the island from the Late Neolithic period to Late Cycladic I, and the second holds finds from the Archaic to the Roman periods.

Santorini tours note that the prehistoric museum holds a very large number of artefacts from excavations on Santorini, among them Akrotiri. The collections follow a chronological order from the Late Neolithic period onward.

The wall paintings appear in great detail, and Santorini tours note that the displays explain the network of contacts that Thera kept with the outside world. Early Cycladic figurines and pottery also appear.

The Kastri group of objects shows the shift from Late Cycladic II to Late Cycladic III. The pieces come from the Christiana islets and from Akrotiri, and the museum presents them as a transitional phase.

The Archaeological Museum was built in 1960 to replace an older building that the 1956 Amorgos earthquake had brought down. Its pottery and amphorae of the Geometric and Archaic periods come from the ancient cemetery.

• Metalwork: Early Cycladic metal artefacts from different sites are also on show in the prehistoric museum.
• Potamos: The prehistoric museum also holds objects from the nearby Potamos site, dug by R. Zahn.
• Black-figure krater: An Attic krater from grave number 1 shows four ships on the inner surface, around the rim.
• Necropolis: Finds from the Sellada necropolis of Ancient Thera are on show in the museum at Fira.

Santorini tours that visit both buildings therefore follow the island from the Neolithic period to Roman times. The two collections divide the story at the eruption.

Where do the island’s names come from on Santorini tours?

Santorini tours explain that the island has carried four main names over time: Strongyle, Kallisti, Thera and Santorini. Each belongs to a different period or tradition, and the older names come from ancient writers and from a modern tradition about the island.

Strongyle, which Santorini tours translate as the circular one, comes from a modern tradition about the shape of the island group before the great eruption. The ancient writers called the island Kallisti before the name Thera.

Herodotus reports that Phoenicians called the island Callista and lived on it for eight generations. The later name Thera comes from Theras, the leader of the Spartan colonists.

Herodotus and Pausanias call Theras a descendant of Cadmus and a son of the king of Thebes, Autesion. He ruled Sparta for two underage nephews and then founded a settlement on Kalliste.

Apollonius Rhodius told another origin story, which Santorini tours cite as myth. In it Triton gave a clod of earth to the Argonaut Euphemus, and the clod grew into an island named for Theras.

• Linear B: Texts at Knossos from the 14th century BC name an entity called qe-ra-si-ja, read by scholars as the one from Qeras.
• Therasia: The later Greek name Therasia and its ethnic form Therasios are both attested.
• Santorini: The name Santorini appears from at least the middle of the twelfth century, with al-Idrisi as the first source.
• Origin: The Venetian influence on the island explains the Italian form of the name.

Santorini tours use the names as a short history of the island. Phoenician, Spartan, Venetian and Greek hands each left a mark on how the island is called.

What do Santorini tours find in Fira?

Santorini tours find Fira, the modern capital of the Greek island, a town of whitewashed houses on the caldera rim with a cathedral, a church with three bells, and the central bus station that serves the whole island.

Fira is the modern capital of Santorini. Its name derives from an alternative pronunciation of Thira, the ancient name of the island itself. The town is a traditional settlement, and this page moves outward from it.

Whitewashed houses stand on the edge of the caldera, on the western side of the semi-circular island of Thera. Santorini tours therefore meet the town first as a white line along a cliff.

The central bus station is in Fira, and buses depart from it very frequently. They cover routes to almost all places around the island, so Santorini tours link the villages from this one point.

The Cathedral of Ypapanti stands on the site of a church that the 1956 earthquake destroyed. The Church of the Dormition has a blue dome and three bells, giving the Three Bells of Fira its name.

The Three Bells stands directly above the cliffs. Two modest cave churches were cut into the cliff face there in the mid-17th century, and an infirmary later took their place.

• Name: Fira comes from a variant pronunciation of Thira, the ancient name of the island.
• Church: The present Three Bells church dates from 1757, with a feast day on 15 August.
• Damage: The 1956 earthquake heavily damaged the Three Bells, and the building was restored afterwards.
• Relief: After the earthquake, camps for homeless people stood on the outskirts of Fira.

Fira therefore combines the transport hub of the island with churches rebuilt after 1956. Santorini tours then continue north along the rim to the villages that the next sections describe.

What do Santorini tours find at Imerovigli and along the caldera rim?

Santorini tours find Imerovigli, a village north of Fira built on the rim of the caldera, crossed by narrow paved paths, with churches in the Cycladic style and a monastery on the path that links it to the capital.

Imerovigli lies north of the island capital Fira. It is built on the rim of the Santorini caldera and is crossed by narrow, paved paths instead of wide streets.

Its churches all follow the Cycladic architectural style. The church of Ai-Stratis stands in the centre of the village, and Santorini tours pass it while walking the lanes.

The Monastery of Saint Nikolaos stands on the path that connects Imerovigli to Fira. Santorini tours on foot use that path between the two settlements, along the edge of the cliff.

The inner coast of the caldera is a sheer precipice that drops more than 300 metres at its highest. Layers of solidified lava lie stacked in the wall, and the main towns sit along its crest.

After the 1956 earthquakes, the underground dwellings along the ridge above the caldera had to be evacuated. The soil on that ridge was unstable, and it was responsible for the great extent of the damage there.

• Position: Imerovigli sits north of Fira, on the rim of the caldera.
• Paths: Narrow paved paths cross the village from one church to the next.
• Churches: Ai-Stratis and Saint Nikolaos both follow Cycladic style.
• Rock: Skaros Rock carries the remains of a Venetian castle.

Skaros Rock has its own section below. The Santorini photo tour post covers photography along the rim and its villages, which Santorini tours reach on foot from Fira.

What do Santorini tours find at the Skaros rock?

Santorini tours find Skaros Rock, a volcanic promontory near Imerovigli where a Venetian fortress was completed in 1207, grew into the largest settlement on the island, and fell into ruin after the volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of later centuries.

Skaros is a large rock promontory on Santorini. Volcanic activity of the nearby caldera created the formation, and erosion and earthquakes have shaped it since. At sea the formation is called Cape Skaros.

The height of the rock made it a good site for defence. The fortress known as La Roka was completed in 1207 in the time of Marco I Sanudo, Duke of Naxos.

A settlement grew around the fortress, with the Chapel of Panagia Theoskepasti at the base and a small harbour. By 1336 it held over 200 homes and served as the de facto capital of Venetian Santorini.

In the mid-16th century, wars between the Ottoman Empire and Venice brought raids to Santorini, yet the cliffs protected Skaros. In 1566 admiral Piali Pasha demanded annexation, all settlements accepted, and a garrison stayed at Skaros.

Fira became the capital and Skaros declined. The eruption of 1650 caused earthquakes that collapsed part of it into the sea. Eruptions from 1701 to 1711 and 1866 to 1870 drove residents to Fira or Imerovigli.

• Names: The rock is also called Skaros Rock, Fortress Skaros and Castle Skaros.
• Access: The promontory is reached through the nearby village of Imerovigli.
• Chapel: The Chapel of Panagia Theoskepasti remains in use on the cliffs below the rock.
• Use today: The ruins are a destination for hiking and photography on Santorini tours.

Santorini tours therefore read Skaros as a place where Venetian rule, Ottoman annexation and volcanic eruption each left a mark. By the early 19th century only weathered ruins remained.

What do Santorini tours find in Oia?

Santorini tours find Oia, a village on the northern edge of the Santorini caldera whose wealth came from a merchant fleet, whose seamen’s cave houses became guest houses, and where crowds gather each evening at the sunset viewing point.

Oia, also called Ia, covers the whole island of Therasia and the north-western tip of Santorini. Its land area is 19.449 square kilometres, and the cobbled main street is named Nikolaou Nomikou.

The village sits on the northern edge of the caldera at a height of between 70 and 100 metres above the sea. Santorini tours walk its cobbled main street along the rim.

Oia reached its peak of prosperity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through a merchant fleet trading in the Eastern Mediterranean. In 1890 the village had about 130 sailing ships. Captains’ houses recall it.

Steam power and the concentration of shipping at Piraeus ended the sea trade, and emigration to Piraeus and Laurium followed. In 1976 a Greek National Tourism Organisation programme under Aris Konstantinidis began to restore traditional houses.

A number of the yposkafa, the simple seamen’s houses on the caldera edge, became guest houses, hotels and restaurants. The programme won the Europa Nostra Prize in 1979 and the Sofia Biennale Prize in 1986.

• Sunset: Crowds gather every evening at the Sunset Serenade point.
• Castle: Fort Londsa was the seat of the Argyri family and gives a 360-degree view.
• Defence: The castle formed part of the same Venetian defence system as Pyrgos.
• Bay: The Bay of Armeni below was once an important boatbuilding centre.

The Santorini sunset tour post covers the evening light over the caldera. Santorini tours that end in Oia join the crowd at the viewing point.

What do Santorini tours find in Pyrgos?

Santorini tours find Pyrgos Kallistis, a hill village on Santorini whose Greek name means Beauty Tower, built in tiers on a slope, with narrow winding medieval lanes, fortified walls and the defensive design that islanders chose against pirates.

Pyrgos Kallistis, called simply Pyrgos, is a village on Santorini in the Cyclades. Its Greek name means “Beauty Tower”, and the village belongs to the municipality of Thira.

The village is built amphitheatrically on a hill, which gives views of Santorini in almost all directions. Santorini tours climb its narrow, labyrinthine streets to reach the upper lanes.

Pyrgos is a typical example of medieval architecture. It has fortified walls and hidden passages as well as narrow streets, and these features answer the pirate threat of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Pirates plundered harvests and enslaved men and women in that period. In response, islanders built settlements at the highest, least accessible points, close to one another, with outer walls that had no openings.

Pyrgos is one of five kasteli, the large fortified and permanent settlements of the island. At the entrance to every kasteli stood a church dedicated to Agia Theodosia, the protector-saint of castles.

• Name: Pyrgos Kallistis means “Beauty Tower” in Greek.
• Setting: The village rises in tiers on a hill with views in nearly every direction.
• Rock: Santorini tours see non-volcanic rock of the older island at Pyrgos.
• Water: A desalination plant at Exo Gialos supplies Pyrgos with drinking water.

Oia holds a castle from the same Venetian defence system as Pyrgos. Santorini tours that compare the two villages see how the island turned its settlements into fortresses.

What do Santorini tours find in Megalochori?

Santorini tours reach Megalochori, a village on Santorini in the Thira municipality that shares its name with five other places in Greece and sits among the 12 local subdivisions that make up the administrative map of the island.

Megalochori is a village on Santorini in the Cyclades. Six places in Greece carry the name: villages on Agkistri, the Methana peninsula and Lesbos, in the regional units of Serres and Trikala, and this village.

The municipality of Thira covers all settlements on Santorini and Therasia. It was formed at the local government reform of 2011 by the merger of the former municipalities of Oia and Thera.

Apart from Oia and Therasia, the municipality has 12 local subdivisions on Santorini: Akrotiri, Emporio, Episkopis Gonia, Exo Gonia, Imerovigli, Karterados, Megalochori, Messaria, Pyrgos Kallistis, Thera, Vothonas and Vourvoulos.

Water reaches the village from a desalination plant at Exo Gialos with two units and a total capacity of 2,000 cubic metres per day. The same plant supplies Fira, Imerovigli, Karterados, Pyrgos and Vourvoulos.

The 1956 earthquakes left 1,482 houses on Santorini severely damaged and 1,750 lightly damaged, and almost all public buildings were destroyed. Santorini tours meet the rebuilt villages of the island, Megalochori among them.

• Name: Six Greek villages are called Megalochori, and Santorini tours visit the one on Santorini.
• Merger: The 2011 reform joined the former municipalities of Oia and Thera.
• Divisions: Twelve local subdivisions lie on Santorini beside the community of Oia.
• Seat: Thera is the seat of the municipality.

Santorini tours treat Megalochori as one stop on a road network that the central bus station in Fira serves. The next section turns to Emporio, one of the five fortified settlements.

What do Santorini tours find in Emporio?

Santorini tours find Emporio, also called Nimborios in Greek, a village on Santorini 12 kilometres from Fira near the Profitis Ilias mountains, with an old Goulas castle, the church of Saint Nicholas Marmaritis and a community of four villages.

Emporio, written Emporeio in transliteration, is also known as Nimborios. It lies 12 kilometres from Fira, near the Profitis Ilias mountains, and Santorini tours reach it by road from the capital.

According to the 2021 census, the community of Emporio has 3,704 permanent inhabitants. It consists of the villages of Emporeio, Perissa, Agios Georgios and Exomytis, so Santorini tours cross four settlements without leaving it.

The old Goulas Castle and churches such as Saint Nicholas Marmaritis stand in the village. Emporio was one of the five kasteli of the island, with Oia, Akrotiri, Pyrgos and Skaros.

The word goulas comes from the Turkish word kule, which means tower. A goulas was multi-storey and rectangular, and it was the highest tower of a kasteli. Four goulas stood on the island.

Islanders used a goulas as an observatory and a refuge, with thick walls, parapets, iron gates, murder holes and embrasures. Coastal watchtowers called viglio kept a permanent garrison to raise the alarm at a pirate ship.

• Distance: Emporio lies 12 kilometres from Fira.
• Community: Emporeio, Perissa, Agios Georgios and Exomytis form one community.
• Tower: The Goulas Castle is the old fortified tower of the village.
• Church: Saint Nicholas Marmaritis is one of the churches of the village.

Santorini tours that read Emporio beside Pyrgos and Skaros see the full pattern of towers, walls and watchtowers. Perissa, in the same community, comes after Kamari.

What do Santorini tours find in Kamari?

Santorini tours find Kamari, a coastal village on the south-east shore of Santorini that residents of Episkopi Gonias built after the devastating earthquake of July 1956, named after a small arch that remains from an old customs house.

Kamari is a coastal village on the south-eastern part of Santorini. It belongs to the municipality of Thira and had 1,065 permanent inhabitants in the 2021 census. Santorini tours reach it by road from Fira.

Residents of the nearby village of Episkopi Gonias built Kamari after an earthquake in July 1956 almost flattened their old homes. Episkopi Gonias lies on the foothills of Profitis Ilias and had 187 inhabitants in 2021.

The name comes from a small arch, kamara in Greek, on the beach. The arch remains from an old customs house built between 1537 and 1650, and the Epiphany Blessing of the Water takes place there.

Kamari was once an agricultural and fishing village. Its beach runs from Monolithos to the foot of Mesa Vouno, the second highest peak of Santorini. Santorini tours now find accommodation, cafes and water sports along it.

In 2002 an archaic sanctuary dedicated to Achilles was discovered at Kamari. The name Episkopi Gonias comes from Panagia Episkopi, an 11th-century Byzantine church that was once the seat of the Orthodox diocese of Santorini.

• Rebuilding: The village grew from the people of Episkopi Gonias after 1956.
• Arch: The old customs house arch gave the village its name.
• Sanctuary: An archaic sanctuary of Achilles came to light in 2002.
• Cinema: The open-air Cinema Kamari hosts the Santorini Film Festival every year.

Episkopi Gonias and Kamari together form one community with 1,252 inhabitants in 2021. Santorini tours on the south-east coast move on from here to Perissa.

What do Santorini tours find at Perissa and the south-east coast?

Santorini tours find Perissa, a village 13 kilometres south-east of Fira near the rock of Mesa Vouno, with beaches on the Aegean Sea, the remains of an Early Christian church and a coast that the 1956 tsunami reached.

Perissa is a village on Santorini, 13 kilometres south-east of Fira, near the rock of Mesa Vouno. In the 2021 census it had 725 permanent inhabitants, and Santorini tours reach it by road.

Perissa belongs to the community of Emporio. The village has beaches on the Aegean, and Santorini tours use the south-east coast as the sea-level counterpart of the cliff villages in the west.

The remnants of an ancient Early Christian church dedicated to Saint Irene stand at Perissa. The outer beaches of the island are smooth and shallow, unlike the sheer precipice of the caldera on the other side.

The 1956 earthquake set off a tsunami. It was much higher at other islands, but it reached an estimated 3 metres at Perissa and 2 metres at Vlichada on Santorini.

The Tomato Industrial Museum stands at Vlychada. It began as a tomato paste factory in 1945, closed in 1981 and reopened as a museum in 2014. Its oldest machinery dates to 1890.

• Distance: Perissa lies 13 kilometres south-east of Fira.
• Population: The 2021 census counted 725 permanent inhabitants.
• Church: The remains of the Early Christian church of Saint Irene stand in the village.
• Tsunami: The 1956 wave reached an estimated 3 metres at Perissa.

The Santorini horse riding post covers riding on the island. Santorini tours by road reach the same south-east coast from Fira.

What do Santorini tours find at Akrotiri village and the Akrotiri lighthouse?

Santorini tours reach Akrotiri village, a hill community with a Venetian castle on its summit, and the Akrotiri Lighthouse on the westmost tip of Santorini, built by a French company in 1892 as one of the oldest in Greece.

Akrotiri is a village and community on Santorini. Its hill offers views of the caldera cliffs, and a Venetian castle stands on top. Santorini tours cross the south-western part of the island to reach it.

Much of the town is built around the ruins of the Castle of Akrotiri, a Venetian fortress. Akrotiri was one of the five kasteli of the island, with Oia, Emporio, Pyrgos and Skaros.

The Bronze Age site that shares the name is a separate subject, and Santorini tours that visit it appear in the history part of this page. This section stays with the village and the coast.

Akrotiri Lighthouse stands on the westmost tip of Santorini. A French company built it in 1892, which makes it one of the oldest lighthouses in Greece, and the lighthouse is famed for its sunset views.

The lighthouse ceased operating during the Second World War. The Greek Navy recommissioned it in 1945. Santorini tours to the lighthouse follow the road across the south-western peninsula.

• Community: Akrotiri is one of the local subdivisions of the Thira municipality.
• Castle: The ruins of a Venetian castle stand on the hill above the village.
• Lighthouse: A French company built the lighthouse in 1892.
• Peninsula: The earliest eruptions, including submarine ones, took place on the Akrotiri Peninsula 650,000 to 550,000 years ago.

Water for the village comes from a desalination plant with two units and a total capacity of 650 cubic metres per day. Santorini tours end the south-western route at the lighthouse.

What do Santorini tours find on Profitis Ilias?

Santorini tours reach Profitis Ilias, the mountain above Emporio and Episkopi Gonias on the island, whose monastery was a leading monastic centre of the Cyclades in the last years of Ottoman rule and whose monks backed the Greek revolt of 1822.

Profitis Ilias means Prophet Elijah, and the name belongs to peaks across Greece. The Santorini mountain rises near Emporio, and Episkopi Gonias, 6 kilometres from Fira, is built on its foothills.

Sellada is a mountain pass between the peaks of Profitis Ilias and Mesa Vouno, near the village of Kamari. Santorini tours on the south-east side therefore cross the saddle between two mountains.

During the last years of Ottoman rule, farmers and seafarers formed the majority of residents and exported their produce. The Monastery of Profitis Ilias stood among the leading monastic centres of the Cyclades.

Reports of the massacres of Chios in April 1822 made islanders fear reprisals, and two villages stated they were prepared to surrender. Sixteen monks, led by abbot Gerasimos Mavrommatis, declared in writing support for the revolt.

A second ridge, Mikro Profitis Ilias, lies in the north of the island between Cape Kolumbo and Cape Skaros. Its northern peak stands at 319.6 metres and its southern peak at 318 metres.

• Mountain: Santorini tours see Profitis Ilias above Emporio.
• Pass: Sellada links the peaks of Profitis Ilias and Mesa Vouno.
• Monastery: Sixteen monks of the monastery backed the revolt of 1822.
• Ridge: Mikro Profitis Ilias is non-volcanic rock that is older than the eruption of 1610 BC.

The Mikro Profitis Ilias ridge took its present size from the ejecta of the Minoan eruption. Santorini tours that reach either mountain see the older island that the ash did not cover.

What do Santorini tours find in the cave houses and inland villages?

Santorini tours find Cycladic building on the island in the cave houses that islanders dug into pumice, in low limewashed cubical houses of local stone, and in the inland communities of Messaria, Exo Gonia, Vothonas, Karterados and Vourvoulos.

The traditional architecture of Santorini resembles that of the other Cyclades. Houses are low and cubical, made of local stone, and whitewashed or limewashed, with volcanic ashes used as colours.

The characteristic feature is the hypóskapha, an extension of a house dug sideways or downwards into the surrounding pumice. Air-filled pumice insulates well, so these rooms stay cool in summer and warm in winter.

Storage rooms of this kind are prized for produce, especially for wine cellaring in the Kánava wineries. Santorini tours that visit a cellar enter a hypóskapha in working use.

Colours have in recent years tended to replace white on facades. After the earthquake of 1956, large numbers of residents emigrated to Piraeus and Athens, and the building tradition changed with the island.

Inland, a desalination plant at Agia Paraskevi, near the airport, supplies Kamari, Vothonas, Messaria, Exo Gonia and Monolithos. Vourvoulos lies 3.7 kilometres north-east of Fira and had 591 inhabitants in 2021.

• Pumice: Air-filled pumice gives the dug rooms their insulation.
• Colours: Volcanic ashes supply the colours of the facades.
• Cellars: The Kánava wineries use the dug rooms for wine.
• Vourvoulos: The village lies 3.7 kilometres north-east of Fira.

Karterados, Exo Gonia, Messaria and Vothonas complete the list of inland communities. Santorini tours end here with the building style that links every village in the sections above.

How does the caldera bay shape Santorini tours?

Santorini tours sail on the water-filled caldera, the bay left when the centre of a circular island collapsed after its magma chamber emptied. Nearly every sea trip starts inside this bay, so its shape sets the pattern of the whole day.

The collapse happened hundreds of thousands of years ago, long before the Minoan eruption. Ignimbrite filled the hollow again and again, so the present bay is the latest stage of a long cycle.

The inner coast shows layers of solidified lava stacked on top of each other, with the main towns perched on the crest. Santorini tours therefore look up at a cliff of banded rock from the water.

The island of Thera is semi-circular, and Fira stands on its western edge, so the town looks across the bay to Nea Kameni at the centre and to Thirasia.

The Santorini catamaran cruise post covers the sail across this bay on a twin-hulled boat, with the stops that such a cruise makes inside the caldera and along its edge.

The Kameni islands stand in the centre of the lagoon, and much of each cone lies hidden beneath the water. Santorini tours therefore sail around a volcano that is mostly submerged.

• Shape: The caldera is a collapsed circular island that the sea now fills.
• Inner coast: Layers of solidified lava show in the cliff, with the main towns on the crest.
• Fira: The capital stands on the western edge of the semi-circular island.
• Centre: Much of each Kameni cone lies hidden beneath the water.

In short, Santorini tours begin with one geographic fact: a flooded, collapsed island whose steep inner shore and gentle outer shore give the sea two very different faces.

How do Santorini tours use the Old Port of Fira and the cable car?

Santorini tours meet the caldera at the Old Port of Fira, known as Gialos or Skala, where a cable car links the quay with the town above. Tour boats leave from Skala for Nea Kameni and other places around the island.

The Santorini Cable Car is a pulsed gondola lift, locally called the Teleferico. It joins the Old Port, also named Scala Pier, with Fira, the capital of the island.

A shipowner, Evangelos Nomikos, started the project through a donation in 1979. Building began in 1980 and finished in 1982, and the Municipality of Thera owns the lift today.

Each gondola carries six passengers in two rows of three, and the lift adheres in its design to Austrian safety standards. Santorini tours share the line with cruise passengers and locals.

Before the lift, the ascent meant climbing a stair of about 600 steps or riding a mule. Mule rides drew concern over animal welfare, and part of the ticket revenue now supports the mule drivers.

The Fira station stands close to the Archaeological Museum of Thera. Ticket revenue is shared among Santorini’s 14 communities, so the lift also serves a public purpose beyond moving passengers.

• Name: Locals call the lower port Gialos, and maps also show Scala Pier.
• Lift type: A pulsed gondola lift joins the port to Fira.
• Capacity: Six passengers ride in each gondola.
• Access: Wheelchairs of 58 cm maximum width fit the gondolas.

Santorini tours that use the Old Port therefore start at the foot of the cliff, with a lift, a stair and mules offering three ways up to Fira.

What role does Athinios port play in Santorini tours?

Santorini tours reach the island through Athinios, its primary ferry port, which stands among steep multi-coloured volcanic cliffs. A road climbs the slope in zigzags, and Athinios is the only port on Santorini with regular passenger ferry services to the mainland.

Santorini has two ports, Athinios and Skala. Athinios is the Ferry Port, and Skala is the Old Port. Each has a separate role in the daily pattern of the island.

Regular passenger services link Athinios with Piraeus, the Cyclades, Crete and Rhodes. A Piraeus to Rhodes ferry calls at Athinios and Heraklion, and the same line serves the port of Anafi.

The cliffs around the port show different colours of volcanic rock, and the road zigzags backwards and forwards up the face. Santorini tours that pass here travel through exposed layers of the island.

Older rock lies exposed here. Metamorphosed limestone and schist from the island that existed before the volcano show on the inner side of the caldera wall between Cape Plaka and Athinios.

Cruise ships anchor off Skala, and local boatmen carry passengers ashore there. This split sets cruise arrivals apart from the ferry traffic of Athinios, so Santorini tours draw their travellers from two separate harbours.

• Role: Athinios is the primary ferry port of Santorini.
• Links: Regular services reach Piraeus, the Cyclades, Crete and Rhodes.
• Setting: Steep multi-coloured volcanic cliffs surround the port.
• Road: The road to the top zigzags backwards and forwards.

In practice, Santorini tours that use ferries begin their island day at Athinios, then climb the zigzag road towards the villages above.

How do cruise ships fit into Santorini tours?

Santorini tours serve cruise passengers, because large ships anchor inside the caldera and do not dock at a quay. Tenders carry travellers to the old port, and a well-marked reef east of Nea Kameni shows why the anchorage needs care.

Lifeboat tenders on cruise ships serve in daily use and also act as lifeboats in an emergency. Current designs favour catamaran hulls, since these roll less in the calm to moderate conditions where tenders work.

On 5 April 2007 a cruise ship ran aground on a volcanic reef east of Nea Kameni, inside the caldera, and sank the next day. All 1,153 passengers were first reported safe.

Two French citizens, a father and his daughter, were listed as missing, and their bodies were never found. Greek authorities charged the captain and five other officers with negligence on 7 April.

After the sinking, residents of Santorini demanded that the wreck be raised, but in 2011 the Greek government called removal too costly. The owners and insurers had no plans to raise the ship.

The Santorini shore excursion post covers land programmes for cruise passengers who come ashore at the old port, and the island sights that such programmes reach in a single port call.

• Tender: Catamaran hulls roll less in calm to moderate seas.
• Reef: The reef lies east of Nea Kameni, inside the caldera.
• Passengers: The ship that sank carried 1,153 passengers.
• Piraeus: The mainland port counted 1,098,091 cruise passengers in 2019.

Cruise calls shape the shore side of Santorini tours, because anchorage, tenders and the cliff ascent set the first steps of any port day.

Why does Red Beach matter to Santorini tours?

Santorini tours include Red Beach, a volcanic sand beach on the Aegean island of Santorini, where oxidised iron gives the sand its red-hued look. The beach is famed for this colour and counts as a popular tourist attraction near Akrotiri.

Iron oxides are widespread in nature and appear as pigments in an earthy range of yellow, orange, red, brown and black. Rust is the best known of the related ferric oxyhydroxides.

Landslides occur from mountain ranges to coastal cliffs and even underwater. Gravity is the primary driving force, and a trigger such as an earthquake or erosion by sea waves can start movement.

Red Beach can be reached from nearby Akrotiri. The area is prone to landslides, so Santorini tours that visit the beach by sea view cliffs that are still changing.

The grains are pulverised black and red volcanic rock from the nearby Santorini caldera, so the beach works as a small display of the volcano’s products on the edge of the sea.

Richly coloured sediments also mark the floor of the south Aegean around Santorini and Milos, so the red of the beach has a counterpart in the sea itself.

• Setting: The beach lies near Akrotiri on the Aegean island of Santorini.
• Colour: Oxidised iron gives the sand a red hue.
• Grains: Pulverised black and red volcanic rock forms the sand.
• Slopes: Landslides can follow earthquakes, erosion or heavy rainfall.

Red Beach shows how a single mineral can tint a coast, and Santorini tours that sail past it read the volcano from the colour of the sand.

What is Amoudi Bay in Santorini tours?

Santorini tours reach Amoudi Bay, the old fishing port that lies below Oia on the western side of the town. Excursion boats for trips around the island leave from its harbour, and ferries to Therasia sail from the same quay.

The bay is also spelled Ammoudi, and the harbour village is Ormos Ammoudi. Tavernas and a pebble beach stand at the water, and steep stairs north of Fort Londsa lead down from Oia.

To the southwest lies the Bay of Armeni, which people reach from Oia on foot or by mule. It was once an important boatbuilding centre, and only small repairs are now made on a single wharf.

In the late 19th century Oia was a mariners’ town. In 1890 it had about 2,500 residents and about 130 sailing ships, with a wharf in the bay of Armeni.

Wine from the hinterland went by sea to France, and the town took part in the trade route between Russia and Alexandria. Steam and the concentration of shipping at Piraeus then collapsed its seagoing trade.

In the early 20th century wars, economic depression and overexploitation of fish resources weakened the economy of Oia, and residents emigrated, especially to Piraeus and Laurium. Santorini tours now board at the harbour.

• Name: Both Amoudi and Ammoudi appear as spellings.
• Beach: A pebble beach lies at the harbour.
• Bays: Armeni lies to the southwest of the town.
• Links: Ferries to Therasia leave from the harbour.

Amoudi Bay joins the cliff village to the sea, and Santorini tours by boat use its harbour as the point where land and caldera meet.

How do ferry links serve Santorini tours?

Santorini tours depend on ferry links, because the island connects with Piraeus every day of the year, with up to five direct crossings in summer. Athinios receives these ships, and the other Cyclades link to Santorini through further routes.

A ferry is a boat or ship that carries passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. Ferries form part of the public transport of waterside cities and islands.

Piraeus is the mainland end of the main route. It is the largest passenger port in Europe, and services about 20 million passengers a year. Santorini tours that start on the mainland begin in this harbour.

Passenger traffic at Piraeus reached 15.5 million in 2017, after 18.6 million passengers in 2014 made it the busiest passenger port in Europe. Santorini tours rely on that scale of sea traffic.

The passenger terminal at Piraeus has a quay length of 2.8 kilometres, and Terminal A handles 1,200 passengers an hour. Two medium-sized ships can check in at once.

In Greek myth the ferryman appears as Charon, the boatman who carried souls across the River Styx to the Underworld. Santorini tours rely on a crossing of the same kind, though the Aegean replaces the Styx.

• Frequency: Piraeus connects with Santorini daily all year.
• Summer: Up to five direct crossings run in summer.
• Port: Piraeus is the largest passenger port in Europe.
• Quay: The passenger quay at Piraeus is 2.8 kilometres long.

Ferry links tie Santorini tours to the mainland, so the timetable of the sea affects how a visit to the island begins and ends.

How do the Etesian winds affect Santorini tours?

Santorini tours sail in the Aegean, where the Etesian winds, or meltemi, are strong, dry north winds that blow in summer. They arrive in clear weather without warning and can reach force 7 or 8 on the Beaufort scale.

The word etesian comes from the Greek etos, meaning year, a reference to the yearly pattern of the winds. The name meltemi is thought to be a loan from the Italian mal tempo, meaning bad weather.

In the southern Aegean the winds blow as northwesterlies, while in the central Aegean they come from the north and in the northern Aegean from the north-east. Santorini tours sail in the southern zone.

Philip II of Macedon timed his military operations around the winds, because southern fleets sailed north only very slowly while they blew. In fine weather the northerly flow also tempers the fierce summer heat.

The larger share of inter-island ferries cannot sail in such conditions, and neither can certain yachts. Leisure sailors still favour the winds, because they give a good, steady sailing wind.

The Santorini sailing tour post covers sailing trips on the caldera and the coast, together with the sea conditions that shape such a sail and the waters it crosses.

• Season: The Etesians blow in summer.
• Dryness: The meltemi is dry and has no matching winter wind.
• Strength: Force 7 or 8 is possible on the Beaufort scale.
• Cause: A low-pressure trough over the Eastern Mediterranean helps drive the winds.

Wind explains why Santorini tours that use the sea follow the weather, since the strong, dry north winds of summer affect where boats can go.

Which marine life shares the water with Santorini tours?

Santorini tours share the southern Aegean with the Mediterranean monk seal, a pinniped of which between 800 and 1000 individuals survive, and with fish such as sardines, mackerel, grouper, grey mullets, sea bass and seabream that Greek fleets catch.

The Mediterranean monk seal is believed to be the rarest pinniped in the world. Isolated groups live in the Mediterranean, especially the Aegean Sea, and in the Atlantic near Madeira and Cabo Blanco.

In Greece an estimated 250 to 300 animals live in the Aegean, with the largest concentration on Gyaros. That uninhabited island lies in the northern Cyclades, so Santorini tours sail far from this stronghold.

Pregnant seals use inaccessible undersea caves to give birth, though historical descriptions show that open beaches served until the 18th century. Scientists link the shift to the growth of population, tourism and industry.

Commercial hunting in Roman and medieval times cut the numbers, and in the 20th century fishermen treated the seal as a pest because it damaged nets. Coastal urbanisation and pollution added to the decline.

The Santorini snorkeling post covers swimming with a mask over the volcanic seabed and the fish found there, in places along the coast and around the Kameni islands.

• Seal: Between 800 and 1000 Mediterranean monk seals survive.
• Pups: Pups are weaned at around 18 weeks of age.
• Fleet: Greece has Europe’s largest fishing fleet.
• Trade: Fish are Greece’s second-largest agricultural export.

Marine life gives Santorini tours a living side, from a rare seal that avoids people to the fish that fill the nets of the Aegean fleet.

Which neighbouring islands appear on Santorini tours?

Santorini tours look out on Ios, Anafi, Folegandros and Sikinos, four neighbours which together with Santorini form the southern part of the Cyclades. All four belong to the same Thira regional unit and differ widely in size and population.

Ios measures about 18 kilometres in length and 10 kilometres in width, and covers 109 square kilometres. According to Plutarch, the name Ios comes from the word for violets, said to grow abundantly on the island.

The island is largely hilly, with cliffs that descend steeply to the sea. Chora has whitewashed architecture, narrow alleys and steep stairways, which leave the village largely inaccessible to cars.

Anafi lies east of Santorini, covers 40 square kilometres and had 293 residents in 2021. In Greek myth Apollo made the island appear to the Argonauts as a shelter from a storm, which explains its name.

Folegandros covers 32 square kilometres and had 719 residents in 2021. Sikinos, between Ios and Folegandros, covers 42 square kilometres, had 253 residents and was once called Oenoe, the island of wine.

Migrants from Anafi built houses on the slopes of the Acropolis rock, in an area still known as Anafiotika. Santorini tours that look east therefore see an island with a link to Athens.

• Ios: Chora is the principal village of the island.
• Anafi: Ruins of a temple to Apollo Aegletus stand at the monastery of Panagia Kalamiotissa.
• Folegandros: Three villages, Chora, Karavostasis and Ano Meria, share a paved road.
• Sikinos: Two large sandy beaches lie on the island.

These four islands extend the horizon of Santorini tours across the southern Cyclades, and each differs in size, population and village pattern.

What is the Sea of Crete in Santorini tours?

Santorini tours look south over the Sea of Crete, the southern part of the Aegean with a total surface area of 45,000 square kilometres. Thira, on Santorini, is listed among the port towns of this sea, on the northern side.

The sea stretches north of Crete, east of the islands of Kythera and Antikythera and south of the Cyclades. It lies west of the Dodecanese islands of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kassos.

Across Crete, on the opposite shore, the Libyan Sea begins. To the northwest lies the Myrtoan Sea, a subdivision of the Mediterranean between the Cyclades and the Peloponnese.

Off the coast of north-eastern Crete the sea reaches a maximum depth near 3,293 metres. Other maps show a maximum depth of 2,591 metres, so published figures differ for the deepest point.

Ferry routes between Piraeus and Heraklion, and between Piraeus and the southern islands of the Aegean and the Dodecanese, run across this sea. Anafi, a neighbour of Santorini, lies on its north-eastern side.

The Aegean covers about 215,000 square kilometres, so the Sea of Crete forms about a fifth of it. The Thracian Sea is the other main subdivision of the Aegean.

• Area: The sea covers 45,000 square kilometres.
• Greek name: Kritiko Pelagos is the Greek name of the sea.
• Depth: Maps give a maximum depth of 3,293 or 2,591 metres.
• Bays: Chania Bay, Souda Bay, Almyros Bay and Mirabello Bay lie on the Cretan side.

For Santorini tours the Sea of Crete is the open water to the south, and Santorini tours that start on Crete cross it to reach the caldera.

How do the beaches and coastline shape Santorini tours?

Santorini tours follow a coast where the outer beaches are smooth and shallow, and where the sand takes its colour from the geological layer beneath. Darker beaches of lava hold significantly warmer water, because the lava acts as a heat absorber.

Beaches of sand or pebbles made of solidified lava in different colours include the Black Beach and the White Beach. Each colour reflects the layer of the volcano that the sea has cut into.

Kamari has a beach covered with black pebbles that runs from Monolithos to the foot of Mesa Vouno. It lies in a north-east to south-west line, and the village offers water sports.

Residents of the nearby village of Episkopi Gonias built Kamari after a devastating earthquake almost flattened their own village in July 1956, and the settlement today stretches along the beach.

Kamari takes its name from a small arch, Kamara in Greek, at the south end of its beach. The arch is what remains of an old customs house built between 1537 and 1650.

The island’s pumice quarries have been closed since 1986 in order to preserve the caldera, which leaves the shore to swimmers, boats and walkers alike. Santorini tours therefore meet a shore without working quarries.

• Outer coast: Beaches there are smooth and shallow.
• Colour: Sand or pebbles of solidified lava come in different colours.
• Water: Darker beaches hold significantly warmer water.
• Kamari: Black pebbles cover the beach.

Santorini tours sample beaches that differ in colour, depth and warmth, and each stretch of shore reflects a different layer of the volcano.

What is the wine region behind Santorini tours?

Santorini tours cross a wine region on the archipelago of Santorini, in the southern Cyclades. Wine has been made there since ancient times, and the classified wines of the island are Santorini, Nykteri and Vinsanto, all tied to local white grapes and volcanic soil.

Records place winemaking on the island in Greek and Roman times. The wine became famous worldwide in the Middle Ages, under the influence of the Republic of Venice, which ran a wide trade network by sea.

Crusaders took control of the island from the Byzantine Empire after Constantinople was sacked in 1203. One of them was a Venetian nobleman, and his family kept control of the island until 1336.

The Ottomans captured the island in 1579 and did not discourage the wine trade. One explanation is that poor soil and cliffs running to the sea made other cash crops hard to grow. Santorini tours that visit cellars meet this history first.

The name Nykteri means working the night away in Greek. Growers traditionally picked those grapes at night to avoid the heat, and after fermentation the wine must age in oak for a minimum of three months.

About 1,200 hectares of land lie under vine. The tourism industry puts that small area at risk of shrinking further, so the vineyards matter to anyone who books Santorini tours with a wine stop.

• Region: the wine region sits on the Santorini archipelago in the southern Cyclades.
• Classified wines: Santorini, Nykteri and Vinsanto carry the island’s classification.
• White grapes: Assyrtiko, Athiri and Aidani are the indigenous whites of the island.
• Red grapes: Mandilaria and Mavrotragano are the indigenous reds that can also be found.

The Santorini wine tour post covers the wine zone, its grapes and its cellars. Wine remains the base of agriculture behind Santorini tours.

Why does Assyrtiko matter on Santorini tours?

Santorini tours meet Assyrtiko, the white grape indigenous to the island. It grows in arid soil rich in volcanic ash and keeps its acidity even when very ripe, which gives the dry wines of Santorini their sharp, mineral character.

The grape is also spelled Asyrtiko, and it appears under the synonyms Arcytico, Assirtico and Asurtico. Outside Santorini, vines grow on other Aegean islands such as Paros and on the mainland in Chalkidiki.

Its clusters are large, with transparent yellow-gold skin and juicy flesh. A wine magazine described the style as a pronounced savoury profile with stony minerality and citrus freshness, a note that suits Santorini tours with a tasting stop.

The grape earns the nickname white grape in red’s clothing, because it makes full-bodied wine with an average of 13.5% alcohol by volume. The nickname explains why Assyrtiko holds its place on every list.

Winemakers blend Assyrtiko with Sauvignon blanc, Semillon and Malagousia. In Retsina it is blended with the less acidic Savatiano grape. Across Greece the grape also makes dry and sweet styles, including musky dessert wines.

Old vineyards on Santorini are ungrafted, because the island is described as free of phylloxera. Wines from the island are low-yielding and concentrated, with briny-fresh salinity and sharp acidity.

• Origin: the grape is indigenous to the island of Santorini.
• Acidity: the grape does not lose its acidity even when very ripe.
• Strength: the average alcohol level is 13.5% by volume.
• Table: the island’s wine goes with grilled fish and meats.

These traits explain why Santorini tours with a vineyard stop begin with Assyrtiko before any other variety, and why the grape anchors the island’s whole wine identity.

How is Vinsanto made on Santorini tours?

Santorini tours reach the home of Vinsanto, the sweet wine of the island. Growers dry late-harvested grapes in the sun before pressing, and the wine then ages in oak, a method that goes back thousands of years in the island’s tradition.

A bottle earns the Vinsanto label only if it contains at least 51% Assyrtiko. The rest comes from Athiri and Aidani, with small amounts of other locally grown white grapes added.

Producers add no sugar. The wine holds only the natural sugars and acids of the grapes, which dry in the sun for 12 to 14 days before they are crushed and fermented.

The wine then ages for a minimum of 24 months in oak barrels and must reach at least 9% alcohol by volume. Its colour runs from golden-orange to dark amber, with flavours of dried apricot, golden raisin and sweet spice.

The name carries a story. One account says packages leaving the island were marked Santo for their origin and vino for their contents. In 2002 the European Union named Santorini as the place of origin of Vinsanto.

Italy can still use vin santo or vino santo for its own style, historically called holy wine. Santorini tours that end with a sweet glass therefore touch on a name shared by two countries.

• Grapes: at least 51% Assyrtiko, with Athiri and Aidani.
• Drying: grapes rest in the sun for 12 to 14 days.
• Ageing: the wine spends a minimum of 24 months in oak.
• Mezzo: the name means less sweet, and the style sits outside the official classification.

In the early nineteenth century the island exported 45,000 to 50,000 barrels of wine a year, and Vino Santo was called the king of its wines, a record that sits behind Santorini tours today.

Why does vine training matter on Santorini tours?

Santorini tours pass vineyards where growers weave vines into low baskets called koulara. The training shields the grapes from harsh wind and sun on poor volcanic ash soil, and it has kept roots alive for centuries on the island.

Growers coil each vine into a ring, with the grapes facing the inside. Leaves and shoots shelter the fruit. The plots are small, and the baskets can pass for wild bushes to an unknowing visitor.

Grape varieties are frequently grown together in the same plot, so growers are frequently unaware which grape is which until the harvest. The harvest takes place in mid-August, a date that frames Santorini tours in that month.

The soil is poor and made of volcanic ash and rock. Its porous calcareous subsoils hold humidity from the air and release it as moisture at night, which the vines use during the dry growing season.

The volcanic soil holds none of the clay that the phylloxera parasite needs to survive, so the island is immune. As a result, roots on the island are centuries old and reach deep for any moisture.

At the age of 75 a vine is woven into thick layers and cannot supply enough yield. It is cut at its roots, and a new vine is joined to the old rootstock. A trial found less water stress in baskets than on a vertical shoot trellis.

• Shape: vines are woven into a basket with the grapes facing inward.
• Soil: volcanic ash and rock make a poor soil with porous subsoils.
• Water: night humidity gives the vines moisture in a dry climate.
• Renewal: a new vine is joined to the old rootstock at about 75 years.

Santorini tours that cross the vineyards show how the low baskets, the ash and the winds work together in a dry climate that suits a small set of crops.

What is the Santorini cherry tomato on Santorini tours?

Santorini tours meet the Santorini cherry tomato, a prized local produce grown on volcanic ash soil. The ecology and climate of the island give it this crop, and the island’s only remaining tomato processing factory stands near Monolithos, built in 1952.

Cherry tomatoes are small round tomatoes, believed to be an intermediate genetic mix between wild currant-type tomatoes and garden tomatoes. They range from the size of a thumbtip to the size of a golf ball.

Red is the common colour, but orange, yellow, green, purple and black types also exist. Oblong cherry tomatoes share traits with plum tomatoes and are known as grape tomatoes, a detail worth noting on Santorini tours with food stops.

Wild tomato species with cherry-sized fruit are native to western South America. The tomato is thought to have been first domesticated in the Puebla-Veracruz region of Mexico, from small-fruited types that resembled cherry tomatoes.

The first direct European reference to cherry tomatoes dates to 1623, in a botanical work by the Swiss botanist Caspar Bauhin. He described a nightshade whose fruit took the form of cherries.

In 1947 the Union of Santorini Cooperatives was established to process, export and promote the island’s farm products, in particular its wine. In 1952 it built the tomato factory near the village of Monolithos.

• Type: cherry tomatoes are a botanical variety of the cultivated berry Solanum lycopersicum.
• Size: fruit ranges from thumbtip size to golf ball size.
• Colour: red is common, with orange, yellow, green, purple and black types.
• Soil: the Santorini crop grows in volcanic ash soil.

Santorini tours that taste island produce pair a small fruit with a long history and a single remaining processing plant, set in a landscape made by the volcano.

What is fava on Santorini tours?

Santorini tours serve fava, a thick purée of split peas rather than of fava beans. The dish called Fava Santorinis carries a protected designation of origin and comes from Spanish vetchling seeds cultivated only on Santorini and the neighbouring islands.

Greek fava is a traditional dish of split peas, yellow ones. Cooks boil them with chopped onion and mash them with seasoning, garlic, lemon juice and oil into a creamy paste, eaten warm or cold or used as a dip.

The plant behind Fava Santorinis is Lathyrus clymenum, known elsewhere only as a wild plant. Residents of Santorini and the neighbouring islands have cultivated it for 3,500 years, a span that Santorini tours can trace in the soil.

When weather is good, farmers reap about 800 kilograms of beans per hectare. Strong winds can blow away the flowers before they yield the pea, and drought or a sudden heat wave can destroy the crop almost instantly.

The seeds hold 25% protein and 26% dietary fibre and are very low in fat. The plant resembles Indian toor dal or chana dal, yet it is a completely different species.

Spanish vetchling, also called Lathyrus clymenum, is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the Mediterranean. The dish itself originated in Byzantine cuisine and was widely served in tavernes.

• Base: the seeds of Lathyrus clymenum, also called Spanish vetchling.
• Cooking: the cooked seeds are mixed with chopped onion into a purée.
• Serving: the purée comes with chopped onion, olive oil and lemon juice.
• Protection: the dish holds a protected designation of origin.

The Santorini food tour post covers island products and their food labels. Fava is a core dish among Santorini tours about food.

Do capers feature on Santorini tours?

Santorini tours bring up the caper, the salted flower bud of a Mediterranean shrub. The plant, Capparis spinosa, grows around the Mediterranean basin, including Greece and the Greek islands, and it needs a semiarid or arid climate to thrive.

The caper bush is also called the Flinders rose. Plants of the World Online accepts eleven subspecies and variants, and the taxonomic status of the species remains controversial and unsettled among botanists.

The edible flower buds are the capers, used as a seasoning or garnish. The fruit are caper berries. Both are consumed salted or pickled, which is how Santorini tours with a table stop meet them.

Buds ready to pick are dark olive green and measure from under 7 millimetres to more than 14 millimetres. Pickling in salt, or in salt and vinegar, develops an intense flavour compared with black pepper or mustard.

The bush has developed ways to cope with strong radiation, high daily temperature and scarce soil water. In response to sudden humidity, its leaves form wart-like pockmarks, then adjust to the new conditions.

Archaeobotanical evidence of capers in the Mediterranean region dates back to the Upper Paleolithic period. Ancient Greece used the caper as a carminative, and the writer Theophrastus gave it attention.

• Plant: Capparis spinosa is the botanical name of the caper bush.
• Edible parts: the flower buds are capers and the fruit are caper berries.
• Climate: the bush needs a semiarid or arid climate.
• Seeds: fresh seeds from ripe fruit sprout within two to four weeks.

The Santorini cooking class post covers cooking with island ingredients in a class setting. Such classes sit beside Santorini tours for food lovers.

Which airport serves Santorini tours?

Santorini tours begin at Santorini International Airport, coded JTR, north of the village of Kamari. It serves both military and civil traffic, and with its redesigned apron it can take up to nine civilian airliners at the same time as of 2021.

The airport lies about 6 kilometres southeast of the centre of Thira. Santorini has a major airport, which is a rarity among the Cyclades islands, and Santorini tours rely on it.

The main asphalt runway is 2,197 metres long. A parallel taxiway was built to runway specification and is now marked and lit as a taxiway rather than a second runway.

The airfield can take medium-sized jets such as the Boeing 757, Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 series. Smaller aircraft such as the Avro RJ, Fokker 70 and ATR 72 also use it.

In December 2015 the privatisation of this airport and 13 other regional airports of Greece was finalised. The operator holds all 14 airports for 40 years from 11 April 2017.

Seasonal scheduled and charter flights add to the timetable in spring, summer and autumn. Buses, taxis, hotel car pickups and hired cars link the terminal with the island, so Santorini tours can start by road.

• Codes: JTR is the IATA code and LGSR is the ICAO code.
• Location: the airport lies north of Kamari and southeast of Thira.
• Runway: the main runway measures 2,197 metres.
• Use: the airport serves both military and civil flights.

The terminal marks the first step of Santorini tours by air, and the road links named above carry travellers on from there to the villages of the island.

How do travellers reach Santorini tours from Crete?

Santorini tours from Crete cross the Sea of Crete, which covers 45,000 square kilometres. Heraklion, the largest city of Crete, lies on its southern shore, and Thira, the main town of Santorini, is listed among the port towns on its northern edge.

The Sea of Crete stretches north of Crete, east of Kythera and Antikythera, south of the Cyclades and west of Rhodes, Karpathos and Kasos. Its surface area is 45,000 square kilometres.

Ferry routes between Piraeus and Heraklion, and to the southern islands of the Aegean and the Dodecanese, run through this sea. Just off the north-eastern coast of Crete it reaches a depth near 3,293 metres.

Heraklion is the administrative capital of Crete and the fourth largest city in Greece. Its municipal population stood at 179,302 in 2021, a base from which Santorini tours from Crete begin.

The ancient port of Heracleium served Knossos and lay about 20 stadia from the palace. That ancient harbour falls inside the modern city, so the departure point has Minoan links.

The sea lists Anafi on its north-eastern side and Thira on its northern side among its port towns. Chania, Rethymno, Sitia and Agios Nikolaos are listed on the Cretan shore.

• Sea: the Sea of Crete forms the southern part of the Aegean.
• Cretan shore: Chania, Rethymno, Heraklion and Sitia are port towns.
• Santorini side: Thira is a port town on the northern edge.
• Neighbours: the Ionian Sea lies to the west and the Myrtoan Sea to the northwest.

The Santorini day trip from Crete post covers the trip from the Cretan side. The Crete tours post sorts the tours of the island itself.

How do travellers reach Santorini tours from Athens?

Santorini tours from Athens start at Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos, in the Spata area, or at the Port of Piraeus, the chief sea port of Athens. Santorini is linked to Piraeus by ferry on a daily basis all year long.

Ownership of the airport company is divided between the Greek State and private investors in a 55%-45% stake. It replaced the old Ellinikon International Airport, which was at capacity with no space for growth.

It lies about 20 kilometres east of central Athens, or 30 kilometres by road because of intervening hills. The towns of Markopoulo, Koropi, Spata and Loutsa surround it, and Santorini tours from Athens begin there.

Parallel runways of 4 kilometres and 3.8 kilometres serve it. Studies for a new airport began in the 1970s, with 19 different locations looked at before an area close to Spata was chosen.

Piraeus served as the port of Athens since ancient times. In 493 BC Themistocles began its fortifications, and in 483 BC the Athenian fleet moved there from the older harbour of Phaleron.

The Greek state owns the port today, and the Piraeus Port Authority operates it. The port is a major employer in the region, and Santorini tours by sea pass through its quays.

• Ownership: the Greek State and private investors hold a 55%-45% stake.
• Distance: it lies about 20 kilometres east of central Athens.
• Port: Piraeus is the chief sea port of Athens and the largest in Greece.
• History: the Athenian fleet moved to Piraeus in 483 BC.

The Athens tours post covers tours of the capital. Travellers pair the capital with Santorini tours in the same journey.

Which months suit Santorini tours, by climate?

Santorini tours run in a hot semi-arid climate, classed BSh, with Mediterranean traits such as dry summers and wetter winters. The island receives around 270 millimetres of rain a year and has an average annual temperature of around 19 degrees Celsius.

The National Observatory of Athens classes Santorini as hot semi-arid, with Mediterranean characteristics. The hot semi-arid type is found across the Cyclades, where Schoinoussa is the driest area in Greece.

In the true Mediterranean zone of Greece, summer weather is sunny and dry, and rain falls only as showers or thunderstorms. Winters are wet, and snow does not last long on south-facing slopes.

Very windy days occur in the Cyclades islands in summer. Heatwaves happen, but at the coast they are mild, since the cooler sea and the sea breeze moderate temperatures. This pattern shapes Santorini tours in summer.

Seasonal flights add to the timetable in spring, summer and autumn. The grape harvest falls in mid-August, and tourism is the primary industry particularly in the summer months, so those months set the calendar for Santorini tours.

Greece has 11 climates in the Koppen system, a count unmatched in Europe for its size. Santorini sits in the dry and windy corner of that range, with only one spring.

• Rain: annual precipitation is around 270 millimetres.
• Temperature: the annual average is around 19 degrees Celsius.
• Summer: days are dry and sunny, with windy spells across the Cyclades.
• Winter: rain is relatively wetter than in summer.

The dry summer months and the added flights of spring and autumn frame the choice of months, so the climate figures above are the base for planning Santorini tours.

What do tourism and population mean for Santorini tours?

Santorini tours operate on an island whose primary industry is tourism, with an estimated 2 million visitors a year. In 1954 the island counted about 12,000 inhabitants and only a trickle of visitors, so the change in half a century has been large.

In 1954 Santorini had about 12,000 inhabitants. Transport on the island came down to a jeep, a small bus and the traditional donkeys and mules.

In the early 1950s tourism meant small numbers of wealthy visitors on yacht cruises through the Aegean. Island children presented flowers to arriving passengers and bade them farewell.

Before 1960, the economy rested on crops and trade. The flow of foreign visitors then began gradually. The earthquakes of 1956 had sent islanders to Piraeus and Athens, so the new trade rebuilt a shrunken population.

The expansion of tourism has grown the economy and the population. Magazines and travel sites ranked Santorini the world’s top island, and the island promotes sustainable development, conferences and sport events alongside Santorini tours.

The pumice quarries have been closed since 1986 to preserve the caldera. As of 2019, the island is popular with Asian couples who come to take pre-wedding photos against the landscape.

• Visitors: an estimated 2 million tourists visit each year.
• Economy: tourism is the primary industry, with agriculture and wine beside it.
• Quarries: the pumice quarries have been closed since 1986.
• Photography: pre-wedding photo sessions became popular by 2019.

Santorini tours sit inside this growth, and the wine industry feels it too, since tourism puts pressure on the shrinking vineyard area of the island.

What do travellers ask about Santorini tours?

Santorini tours raise questions about wine, food, access and climate. This section answers four of them in brief, using facts from the sections above: which wines are classified, what fava is, where flights land and how the weather behaves.

Which wines do Santorini tours taste?

Santorini tours taste the classified wines of the island: Santorini, Nykteri and Vinsanto. The dry whites rest on Assyrtiko, with Athiri and Aidani as partners, while Vinsanto is a sweet wine made from sun-dried grapes and aged in oak for a minimum of 24 months.

What food do Santorini tours bring to the table?

Santorini tours bring fava, a purée made from Spanish vetchling seeds grown on the island, served with chopped onion, olive oil and lemon juice. The cherry tomato grown in volcanic ash soil and the salted caper bud belong to the same food story.

How do travellers reach Santorini tours?

Travellers reach Santorini tours by air, through Santorini International Airport, coded JTR, or by sea. Ferry routes on the Sea of Crete join Piraeus, Heraklion and the southern islands of the Aegean, and Santorini is linked to Piraeus on a daily basis all year long.

What climate do Santorini tours face?

Santorini tours face a hot semi-arid climate with dry summers, wetter winters and around 270 millimetres of rain a year. The annual average is around 19 degrees Celsius, and windy days across the Cyclades shape summer weather, softened at the coast by the sea breeze.