Santorini

Today we had a lovely visit to the island of Santorini. This beautiful island has 16,000 fulltime inhabitants and over 300 churches. We saw many of these churches while traveling, and learned that several had been built following volcanic eruptions. In fact, Santorini was once a round island, but a large volcanic eruption broke it into a main crescent and several small islands. The round shape of Santorini led Plato, a student of Socrates, to suggest that Santorini was actually the long-lost city of Atlantis. He further supported this claim by noting its volcanic ash created black, white, and red beaches, consistent with descriptions of Atlantis.

After tendering to shore, we passed through the winding hills to Oia. This tiny village is known for its beautiful architecture, and many artists travel there to paint its beautiful scenes. Cars cannot access the town center, comprised of many private homes and a few shops and restaurants, which made touring very peaceful. We also visited the oldest church on the island, which contained a painting that originated in Constantinople, known today as Istanbul. We enjoyed making this connection with our curriculum as well as a previous port of travel. We are traveling tonight to Argostoli, our final stop before returning to Italy.