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A journey through time, from today's Santorini to yesterday's Greece (vid)

Featured A journey through time, from today's Santorini to yesterday's Greece (vid)

Our friend Marinos Charalampopoulos and Travel Inspiration offers us a unique view of the cosmopolitan Santorini, and her "cinderella" sister Thirasia. 

Many thousands of years ago, in the Late Bronze Age, the catastrophic eruption of a volcano that blew 30 billion magma into the air in the form of pumice and volcanic ash, split a "round" island in two and forever changed their common fate.

With the eruption, a huge funnel was created that was immediately flooded by the sea, while a new volcanic edifice was created with the mild eruption of magma in this cavity. Twelve more eruptions in history, and the current form of two "sister" islands, gave the Santorini volcano the title of the most violent volcano in the world, while the island of Santorini is commonly called the most beautiful and imposing island in the world.

But what about her little "sister"?

When a ship enters the caldera from the north, with Oia of Santorini on the left and the island of Thirasia on the right, faces turn to theleft, thousands of flashes immortalize the beauty of the famous Oia with the most beautiful sunset in the world and a long "aahhh" is heard from everywhere.

Yes, Santorini has stolen the show once again.

No gaze turns right, no lens photographs Thirasia, and perhaps most tourists don't even know the name, or its existence.

And yet, a visit to the island of Thirasia could change the minds of many and perhaps become part of a list for future trips.

And the journey through time is just beginning.

Sometime in the middle of the 20th century, the two islands had a more or less common course, but Thirasia does not seem to follow. Two different situations are just beginning, with the frenzy of reckless growth on the one hand, and inaction and abandonment on the other. As if time froze at the moment of the great change…

With no infrastructure, with only 250 permanent residents, electricity arrived on the island in 1980 and drinking water in 1999. In 2008, the first road was paved, and even today, the short trip to the island looks like a leap in time, automatically transferring the visitor to many years ago… to the Santorini of yesterday.

Innocent and unadulterated, authentic and lonely, but with the same wild beauty of her great "sister", and the view of the common "valley" of water that separates and unites her at the same time with her sister, she notices the change and the glory of her sister's evolution, but insists on staying in her shadow.

It is compatible with one-day tourism and gives the visitor the rare thrill of discovering a virgin place with countless churches and quiet picturesque cobbled streets. But in the end, what Thirasia really gives to visitors is the difference from "one of the same" and the feeling of freedom that a virgin land offers you with along with all the memories from yesterday's Greece…

So have you ever wondered what it is that makes a place unique?

The answer is that, yes, we have all entered this process at some point and of course, judging by the result, we make the appropriate choices.
Of course, for each of us the criteria vary and mostly differ; just like our personalities, but there are undoubtedly some that are common to all.

Both the natural beauty and the authenticity of a place are perhaps what is most important ...

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