Santorini (Greece): a 300 meter (984 ft) high paradise

Located about 200 km southeast from Greece's mainland, the archipelago ofSantorini is essentially what remains of an enormous volcanic explosion, destroying the earliest settlements on what was formerly a single island, and leading to the creation of the current geological caldera. Its spectacular physical beauty, along with a dynamic nightlife, have made the island one of Europe's tourist hotspots. The Minoan eruption, which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization, left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of feet deep and may have led indirectly to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 110 km (70 miles) to the south, through the creation of a gigantic tsunami. The giant central lagoon, more or less rectangular, mesures about 12 km by 7 km (8 mi by 4 mi) and is surrounded by 300 m (984 ft) high steep cliffs on three sides. (Photos by andreas, marcel and kdludwig)