How incredibly exciting! My image won 3rd place in the March photo challenge hosted by Rock the Shot! Thank you so much to Rock the Shot for choosing my photo amongst such beautiful submissions, and also to Magazine Mama for the generous prize!
I’ve been to Greece several times over the years, and Santorini is one of my absolute favorite islands! The village of Oia, on the western tip of the island, really is like one of those places like no other place on earth. The island suffered an enormous volcanic eruption thousands of years ago, which literally caused an entire side of the island to fall off, leaving very high, very steep cliffs that drop 1000 feet sharply into the Aegean Sea. The little white stucco buildings are carved right into the edge of the mountain, with the entire village essentially hanging off the edge of the cliff. When the mountainside fell into the sea below, it created an enormous caldera filled with water. The view across the caldera is just something you’d have to see to believe; it’s breathtaking, and I don’t say that lightly. I’ve seen a lot of beautiful places, and the view in Oia is unbelievable!
Years ago when I was in Santorini my first time, it was quite a bit less discovered (ie: there were not 12 cruise ships sailing in on a daily basis). Santorini is world famous for it’s sunsets (isn’t that the story with most islands?). There is a beautifully dilapidated old castle on the west end of the island, and from there, crowds would gather to watch the sun dip into the sea across the caldera. Between my last visit, and my most recent one, photographing anything anywhere remotely near to sunset nearly impossible without having 862 other people in it. It can get crowded now, really, really crowded depending on the season. Soooo, like a devoted photographer does (even one who doesn’t like mornings!), I would wake up before dawn and wander the paths and stairways that wind up and down the village. At that time of day, you’ll mainly see a few locals, some shop owners preparing to open for the day, and an occasional fellow photographer. It was quiet, it was quaint, and it was beautiful. Dawn is now my official favorite time to wander aimlessly around this captivating village, one of my favorite places in the world.