Thera, Modern Greek Thíra, also called Santorin or Santoríni, island, southernmost island of the Cyclades (Modern Greek: Kykládes) group, southeastern Greece, in the Aegean Sea, sometimes included in the Southern Sporades group.
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Fira, sometimes spelt 'Thira,' is the capital of the Greek island of Santorini. If you've seen photos of Santorini in the past, with its whitewashed rectangular buildings overlooking the contrasting, rich blue hues of the Mediterranean – well, then, this is where you can find that same enchanting scenery.
It was about 3,600 years ago when a volcanic explosion created the famous caldera that we today see in the middle of Thera. The volcano spewed lava, smoke, ash. The eruption was 121,440 feet high into the air and released 60 cubic kilometers of magma.
After the liberation of Greece in 1821, the name 'Thira' was established as the official name of the island. In spite of this, maps abroad had the island marked as 'Santa Irina'. Until today Greeks still refer to the island as Santorini.
The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history: the Minoan eruption (sometimes called the Thera eruption), which occurred about 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep.
The walk through the narrow streets of Fira is a typical representation of the most common characteristic of the Cycladic islands, the small shops packed one next to the other, the pebbled streets, the traditional houses with the small blue and sun-burned verandas and of course the amazing view which distinguishes ...