Santorini, Greece
“Wherever I turned I saw a picture before me. I did not know what to photograph first.” When Greek photographer Nelly’s arrived on Santorini in the 1920s, she was blown away by the island’s explosive beauty. A century later, much remains untouchable: the sheer magnitude of the submerged volcanic caldera, villages tumbling down cliffs of petrified lava, smooth houses sculpted from the landscape, stone by pumice stone.
Poised on Santorini’s northern tip, Oia is the pin-up of the Greek islands. The hypnotic view of the caldera is different from every angle, in every light, at every time of day. But there’s much more to this Cycladic village than awe-inspiring sunsets. Majestic mansions, sultry wine bars, and a path zigzagging down to a huddle of waterfront tavernas and a floating chapel where you can leap into the deepest, bluest water.