A low, white stucco wall holds me back from a thousand-foot drop into the Aegean Sea. White buildings pile atop each other, tumbling toward the water. I can lean out over the wall and look down, past the rounded blue roofs and jumbles of white houses, and see the cruise ships idling in the harbor.
Santorini is an island of white stuccoed buildings that contrasts beautifully with the deep sapphire sea. Santorini, the sensuous island calls to the adventurer and dreamer alike.
Aboard the FlyingCat4, we left lovely Santorini and skimmed the waves for 3 hours to Naxos. Our first impressive sight was the Portara, a huge stone doorway on a peninsula jutting into the sea. The entrance to a never-finished temple of Apollo, it was a dramatic introduction to the island.
Famous for its spectacular sunsets, Oia did not disappoint. We perched ourselves on a bench as the sun slipped into the water, turning the nearby white buildings to a subtle orangy-pink. Read more about sensuous Santorini.
Hundreds of islands dot the Aegean Sea, and who wouldn’t love to visit them all? But time-wary travelers have to choose, so we chose Santorini, Mykonos, and Naxos in the spring, when the air is fresh but warm and we could avoid high-season crowds and prices.