TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM / AUGUST 2019 87
I was on the Greek island of Santorini, and had
stumbled upon the rooftop terrace at the wonderful
Atlantis Books in the town of Oia—pronounced ee-ya,
like a gasp of wonder. I found an alfresco reading desk
and an empty chair, where I sat for a moment and gazed
out, alone and unimpeded, at the vast, sunken heart of
the island’s caldera. There were those famous volcanic
cliffs, the whitewashed houses, and the occasional blue
dome of an Orthodox church, all framed by a perfect
azure sky and sea.
Santorini is known as the most photogenic place in the
Cyclades—the archipelago that spirals through the
unearthly waters of the Aegean Sea, southeast of the
Greek mainland. It owes its striking looks to a freak
geological occurrence. More than 3,500 years ago, a huge
volcanic eruption collapsed the center of what was then a
much larger island, allowing the sea to fill its interior.
The result of this explosion—thought by some to have
inspired the myth of Atlantis—is a vast oceanic
amphitheater, and one of the most dramatic landscapes
in all of Greece.
With its vertiginous location above the caldera, Oia
offers the best views. Which is why, in the hours before
sunset—even in October, when I visited—the town takes
on the feverish atmosphere of a Black Friday sale.
Increasingly frantic people perch on terraces and jostle
for the best angle on the setting sun. There was a greater
likelihood of losing an eye to a selfie stick than having a
transcendent encounter with the island’s natural beauty.
Even during the daytime, Oia sometimes felt like it was
bursting at the seams. Within seconds of sitting down on
the tiny rooftop at Atlantis Books, I had my view blocked
variously by a woman from Nanjing in a bridal gown
posing for her pre-wedding photos, a Spanish couple
celebrating 45 years of marriage, three Korean women,
five Canadians, and a man with a tattoo of Hannibal
Lecter on his head.
Tourism on Santorini took off in the 1960s, but since
the advent of social media, the industry has been
turbocharged by a critical mass of Instagram posts,
bucket-list blogs, and listicles about the best sunsets on
earth. Around 2 million people now visit the island each
ONE MORNING AT THE
END OF LAST SUMMER,
I FOUND MYSELF, VERY
BRIEFLY, TO BE THE
SOLE CUSTODIAN OF
THE WORLD’S MOST
BEAUTIFUL VIEW.