Santorini Today
Modern Santorini exists largely because of tourism which provides much of the islands income. The permanent population is around 10,000 inhabitants although this becomes much larger when people arrive from Athens and other parts of the mainland to work in the summer. One of its other major products is wine. It is said that the island produces more wine than water - which sounds the right way round to me. Not that it's difficult. Most of the islands water has to be brought in by tanker from Athens. You'll gather that there is very little rain so the island is extremely dry. When we were there even the cacti looked as though they were wilting!
Inland the terrain is mountainous although there are flat coastal plains on the far side of the island from the caldera. Nearly all of the villages give the impression that they are clinging to the cliffs. This is particularly true of the capital Thira and the pretty little town of Oia. These two places are also the original tourist traps. Although prices on the island are reasonable, perhaps even a little cheaper than those on other Greek islands, you can expect to pay at least 50% more in those places.
Thira, apart from being the capital, is the main port of the island and is a magnet for cruise ships because of the spectacular views. The only way up to the village is by a precipitous road or by cable car. Here you'll find the usual tourist places including many jewellery shops.
Oia is famous for its views of the sunset. They claim that the island has some of the most spectacular sunsets in the world and while I don't have evidence to support this they can certainly be beautiful. Just before dusk all the tourists squash themselves into a small square in the old fortress that overlooks the sea to try to get the best view. Ironically there are many other places in the village that have excellent vantage points without the crush. We actually thought that the view of the sunset from the sea was better anyway!
Santorini is known as the Greek Pompeii. The eruption c.1500 BC buried the town known as Akrotiri preserving it in stone. Archaeologists have been excavating this site for a number of years and it is usually open to the public. Unfortunately a fatal accident a few months before our visit meant that the site was closed and we were unable to visit it.
The other thing that the island is known for is its churches. It's not unusual for one village to have 5 churches, each one coated in pristine whitewash topped with a beautiful blue dome. We didn't find out why they seem to be particularly religious but perhaps having a volcano for a neighbour is reason enough!
Being volcanic the island beaches are composed of coarse, grey-black sand. This sounds far more unpleasant than it really is although the colour does mean that the sand gets particularly hot in the sun.
One other peculiarity of the island (although it may be common to other members of the Cyclades group) is the shape of many of the house roofs which are semicircular.
