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As the ferry manoeuvres into the great caldera of Thira , the land seems to rise up and clamp around it. Gaunt, sheer cliffs loom hundreds of feet above, nothing grows or grazes to soften the awesome view, and the only colours are the reddish-brown, black and grey pumice striations layering the cliff-face. The land scape tells of a history so dramatic and turbulent that legend hangs as fact upon it. From as early as 3000 BC the island developed as a sophisticated outpost of Minoan civilization, until sometime between 1647 and 1628 BC (according to latest estimates) when catastrophe struck: the volcano-island erupted, its heart sank below the sea leaving a crater (caldera) 10km in diameter, and earthquakes reverberated across the Aegean. Thira was destroyed and the great Minoan civilization on Crete was dealt a severe blow. At this point the island's history became linked with legends of Atlantis, the "Happy Isles Submerged by Sea". Plato insisted that the legend was true, and Solon dated the cataclysm to 9000 years before his time - if you're willing to accept a mistake and knock off the final zero, a highly plausible date. These apocalyptic events, though, scarcely concern modern tourists, who come here to take in the spectacular views, stretch out on the island's dark-sand beaches and absorb the peculiar, infernal atmosphere; as recently as a century ago, Thira was still reckoned to be infested with vampires. Though not nearly so predatory as the undead, current visitors have in fact succeeded in pretty much killing off most genuine island life, creating in its place a rather expensive and stagey playground
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