SANTORINI

Long before the blue domes became photographic fixtures, Santorini supported a prosperous Bronze Age community. At Akrotiri, multi-storey buildings, drainage systems and imported objects reveal a settlement connected to Crete and the wider Aegean. Its inhabitants shared many features of Minoan culture, though that does not make the town simply a Cretan colony.

A massive volcanic eruption buried the settlement during the late seventeenth or sixteenth century BC; its precise date remains debated. Ash preserved houses and wall paintings, including the famous boxing boys and springtime swallows. No human victims have been identified in the excavated town, suggesting evacuation, although their ultimate fate is unknown.

The eruption reshaped an already volcanic island group rather than creating the entire caldera from nothing. Later settlers established Ancient Thera on Mesa Vouno, traditionally associated with Dorian settlement. Roman, Byzantine and Latin rule followed; the name Santorini derives from a medieval reference to Saint Irene.

Shipping and wine sustained the island in more recent centuries, while the earthquake of 1956 devastated several settlements. Tourism subsequently transformed its economy. Connections with Plato's Atlantis remain speculative: an impressive eruption is not, by itself, a forwarding address for a lost civilisation.

The roofed excavation at Akrotiri rewards slow looking: streets, staircases and storage jars make this a town rather than a collection of isolated treasures. The celebrated frescoes were removed for conservation; important originals are in Athens, while Fira's Museum of Prehistoric Thera provides essential local context.

The roughly 10-kilometre Fira–Oia path follows the caldera through Firostefani and Imerovigli before reaching more exposed ground. Allow several hours, carry water and start early in hot weather. Oia's maritime houses and cliffside lanes are worth exploring before sunset, when apparently everyone else remembers the appointment too.

1. Akrotiri archaeological site

   Bronze Age; buried in the late seventeenth or sixteenth century BC

   Walk beneath the protective roof through the excavated streets of a remarkably preserved Aegean town.

2. Oia village and sunset

   Older settlement; many surviving maritime houses are nineteenth-century

   Explore the cliffside lanes and sea captains' houses before settling somewhere safely away from the busiest sunset bottlenecks.

3. Fira to Oia hike

   Traditional paths; modern walking route of roughly 10 kilometres

   Follow the caldera edge through villages and exposed volcanic terrain with sturdy shoes and ample water.

Small tomatoes and hardy pulses suit the island's dry conditions, while vines are often trained into low baskets for protection from wind. Seek out Assyrtiko at a winery and remember that a tasting is a poor prelude to driving.

1. Tomatokeftedes

   Modern island tradition; especially associated with the twentieth century

   Try crisp tomato fritters made with herbs and the island's small sweet tomatoes.

2. Fava Santorinis

   Ancient pulse-growing tradition; PDO registered in 2010

   Order the silky local split-pulse purée made from Lathyrus clymenum rather than assuming it contains broad beans.

3. Assyrtiko wine

   Long island viticultural tradition; modern Santorini PDO

   Taste a dry Assyrtiko for its firm acidity and mineral character shaped by volcanic soils and a dry climate.

Allow three days for Akrotiri, the caldera villages and a winery visit without treating every bus as a competitive sport. Check current site hours and transport schedules, reserve popular tastings, and avoid the exposed walking trail at midday in summer. The Museum of Prehistoric Thera makes a useful companion to the excavation.

Santorini is most rewarding when the famous view becomes a setting rather than the whole itinerary. Beneath the terraces and sunset queues lies a longer story of seafarers, farmers and people rebuilding on ground that has never promised to sit still.