Santorini Island, Greece

Santorini is a group of small and circular volcanic islands situated in the southern Aegean Sea. Santorini Island in Greece is located at a distance of about

200 km to the south-east of Greece's mainland. Santorini Island, Greece is often known as the Thera and constitutes as the southernmost island in the Cyclades group of islands. Santorini Island covers an area of approximately 73 km². Santorini Island is a complex of five islands, where Santorini or the Thera is the main island along with Thirasia and Aspronisi and the other two volcanic islands called the Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni. The island derived its name from a reference drawn to Saint Irene, this name was given to the island in the 13th century.

The Santorini Island, Greece with its natural beauty, the volcanoes, the view of the caldera from Fira, Oia, Imerovigli, Firostefani, Akrotiri makes this island one of the most preferred tourist attraction in Greece. Natural beauty of the island along with its vibrant night life scenario makes this island as one of the most interesting tourist destination in Greece and attracts thousands of visitors.

There is a central lagoon in the island which stretches over an area of 12 km by 7 km and is surrounded by high steep cliffs on the three sides. From the cliffs the island slopes downward to meet the Aegean Sea. On the fourth side, smaller island called Therasia separates the lagoon from the sea. On the northwest and southwest side, the lagoon merges with the sea. The sunken volcano is the most important characteristic of Santorini Island, Greece.

These villages in the Santorini Island mainly comprise of Cycladic houses painted in blue and white and most of the windows opening to the black volcanic rock of the Caldera.

A view of the sunset in the backdrop offers a brilliant color composition which makes the place dab in a natural beauty which is rare and worth a watch. Some of the important villages of this group of island are Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli and

Oia.

Numerous reasons made the Santorini Island in Greece in Europe famous, among them the main are, the connection between Thira and mythical Atlantis. Jules Verne made Santorini Island known world wide in his famous book "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea" and "The Mysterious Island". It was here in the fiction, where captain Nemo and his crew witness the volcano eruption.

While in Santorini Island, one must visit the beaches at Perissa, Kamari, Perivolos, Vlihada and Red beach and experience the most of the natural beauty of this place. Santorini is well connected to all the major islands of Cyclades by boat. Athens and many other countries are directly connected to Santorini by air route.

Holidayshub.com provides detailed online information on Santorini Island in Greece.