My Santorini nightmare turned out to be a dream

Earthquakes on the island have cut tourist numbers, and finds that makes for a more enjoyable trip

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Santorini has never been high on my bucket list.

As a travel reporter, I’ve spent a lot of time researching and writing about how southern European destinations are dealing with overtourism. In the summer season when tourists flock to Mediterranean hotspots, small towns with narrow streets can easily become filled to bursting, overwhelming infrastructure that's not built for crowds, and damaging quality of life for long-suffering locals.

Over in Mallorca, protests have become a frequent occurrence, with residents claiming that uncontrolled tourism has priced them out of the housing market and left a damaging environmental impact on their island. So too in Barcelona, where this past summer, frustrated citizens organised demonstrations, including squirting tourists with water pistols.

So I'd been put off visiting a destination like Santorini, a favourite of cruise ship passengers who flood the streets on day trips, among other tourists elbowing their way to the most Instagram-worthy spots.

As much as I longed to see its famous blue-domed, whitewashed buildings and experience the sunset from the town of Oia, I feared the picture-perfect Cycladic landscape would resemble kick-out time at Wembley Stadium instead of a quaint Greek town.