Sunset over Santorini

The approach to the island of Santorini aboard the private twin-engine helicopter was a journey into the realm of myth. Rising sheer and black from the cobalt depths of the Aegean Sea, the volcanic caldera of Thira resembled an ancient crater forged by the fury of Vulcan himself. Atop the thousand-foot razor-sharp cliffs, the whitewashed villages of Fira and Oia cascaded down the volcanic slopes like glistening fields of freshly…