John Topley’s Weblog

I've just spent a week on holiday on the Greek island of Santorini, which is the southern most island in the Cyclades group. We stayed in the excellent El Greco hotel apartments in the capital, Fira. The temperature was in the mid-seventies, although a chill in the evening meant that wearing a jacket was advisable.

Santorini and its neighbouring islands were formed by volcanic activity and it's possible to visit the—still active—volcano by boat trip, which we did. The last eruption was in 1950. There are lots of good bars and restaurants on the island, most with excellent views out to sea and of the stunning sunsets.

Unfortunately our flight home was delayed by over eleven hours, due to “operational reasons” according to the airline; a predictably vague explanation. It was a shame, but it didn't spoil a great trip. Anyway, rather than bore you with words about the place, I'll let a selection of the photographs I took describe what it's like. Click the thumbnails for the bigger picture:

Fira, the capital of Santorini and where we stayed.

Taken from Fira and looking out towards the Burnt Island, where the volcano has been biding its time since 1950.

The boat on the right is the Adonis, which took us to the volcano island and its sparsely-populated neighbour, Thirassia.

This is Oia (pronounced “E-ah”), which is twenty minutes from Fira by bus and home to the best sunsets in the world according to some.

An arty shot taken in Oia. Or a picture of someone's washing, depending on how you look at it. The gate's design reminded me of the sun's rays.

This windmill actually belongs to a restaurant which is in the prime spot in Oia for the sunset view.

That famous sunset. I actually took nearly twenty shots in this sequence and the sun goes down in less than five minutes.