Santorini is one of the most southerly islands in the Cyclades. It lies between Ios and Anafi, has an area of 96 square miles, and its permanent population numbers 11,381. It is situated 130 nautical miles from Piraeus and 70 nautical miles from Crete.The island itself is 18 kilometres long. the capitol of the island is Fira, and Athinios is its port.

Santorini in recent years has developed into a summer holiday resort for Greeks and foreigners alike. Its important archaeological sites and its stunning beauty, which is mainly a function of its extraordinary landscape, attracts tourists from all over the world every summer.

Many well known scientists, journalists and astronauts were present. Amongst the attending was award winning Dr Valery V. Poliakov, who took part in the most prolonged in the history space flight ( January 8th 1994 to March 22nd 1995 ) on the MIR station. Other names include Patrick Moore, Joan Vernikos ( Director of the Life Sciences Division at NASA Headquarters, U.S.A. ) and female astronaut Chiaki Mukai.

Honeymoon Petra Villas was privileged to host a reception for all attending as well as provide one of its villas to Dr Poliakov.

The name of this village belongs to the days of the pirates: vigla = watchtower, imera = day. Its position at the centre and highest point of the caldera rim gave it visual command of the whole area, enabling it to signal timely warnings to the population when pirates sailed into view.

It also derived importance from its proximity to the fortress at Skaros. The Malteza church has a marvelous carved wooden screen with icons depicting scenes from the Old Testament. There is a path from Imerovigli leading to Skaros.

Although written documents which could tell us exactly what happened do not exist, historians try to piece together the events of the 16th century BC. The whole island was buried under a thick layer of tufa, at many points 30 meters deep.

Material thrown up from inside the cone creating a huge vacuum, the crust collapsed & a large central part of Strongyle was sucked inside. Eighty three sq.km of earth vanished into the crater. The sea flooded the dry land. All that remains of Strongyle today is Santorini.