Santorini has changed a lot since I first visited it fifty-four years ago. It is now one of the most glamorous and visited islands on planet earth.
The views of the Caldera from the patios of elegant hotels is stunning.
The 3-hour trek between Fira and Oia presents a most beautiful scenery.
Santorini has become the place where young persons from far away places such as the United States or China elect to give vows of everlasting love and devotion.
On this visit I stayed in the lovely hotel Phaos, which patio overlooks the the islands of Anafi and Astypalea in the Aegean Sea.
As in my first visit in 1968, I visited once more Akrotiri the Bronze Age settlement, one of the most important Minoan urban centres in the Aegean Sea, when it was covered by ash following the volcanic eruption in the 17 century BC. The ancient Minoan town at Santorini's south coast, is called the "Pompeii of Greece" and some archeologists theorise that it is the fictional island of Atlantis that was created by demi-gods who established a utopian society as described by Greek philosopher Plato.
I am finishing the trilogy on Santorini with the lighthouse in its southern tip, likely the oldest in Greece, as it was built in 1892. It was the purpose of my first visit to service it and my role as a young Navy physician to check the health status of its crew. The view was beautiful then, like it is now, thus a large number of visitors keep coming in the evenings to look at the sun setting. Each of my trips to Santorini left me with beautiful and indelible memories which I will cherish the rest of my life.
