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Arrive by boat to Santorini
and you are met by the breathtaking site of the collapsed volcano crescent: the Caldera, the largest of it’s kind in
the world, with layers of black, pink, red and brown rock it rises 335mts above sea level. Along the top edge lie the villages
of Thira, Imerovigli and Oia.
Santorini today is a group of
five small islands located in the middle of the eastern Mediterranean, part of the Cyclades Islands, and part of modern day
Greece.
The main island of Santorini
is crescent shaped with the edge of the island closest to the volcano being a sheer multi layered cliff face extending to
335 metres in height. More recent volcanic activity has created a new island on which the current volcano sits.
What we see of the island today is a legacy of what was probably the worlds largest
ever volcanic eruption.
At one time the island had been circular with a crater in the middle. The eruption
that occurred back in 1647 BC, caused the middle of the volcano to subside, leaving a caldera of high cliffs. This great eruption was so large that it caused the crater to collapse
inward and break the central and western parts of the island into pieces allowing water to rush in creating the present day
caldera.
Much of the island is covered with
layers of Pumice (hardened volcanic ash) and lava several metres deep. There are no rivers and only four springs on the island.
This is apparently very suited to growing the grapes to produce the famous Santorini wines and the vines can be seen all over
the island grown in rows of low round bushes formed by winding the vine around the root to protect them from the winds.
For
details of Santorini wines click on the picture below…
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