Things to do in Thera

A town built on an edge

Thera is the capital of Santorini, and hardly anyone uses that name. On the ground it is Fira. The town sits on the caldera lip about 260 metres above the water, and the cliff dictates the whole plan.

One street runs the length of the rim. Everything below it is stairs, terraces and roofs that serve as somebody else's floor. Depth matters more than width here.

What the town holds

• Museum of Prehistoric Thera. Wall paintings lifted from Akrotiri, among them the monkeys and the House of the Ladies. The most reproduced ones went to Athens.
• Archaeological Museum. The later island instead: Ancient Thera up on the Mesa Vouno ridge, Classical and Roman.
• Two cathedrals. Orthodox at the southern end, Catholic in the old Frankish quarter to the north, ten minutes apart.
• The path north. Firostefani, then Imerovigli, then Oia, ten kilometres and about three hours, best begun before the heat.

The port underneath

Gialos, the old port, lies directly below the town, and no road reaches it. There are three ways down. Cable car, donkey, or 588 zigzag steps.

The steps are shared with the animals. It shows. Tenders from cruise ships come alongside here, which is what fills the cable car queue both ways.

Practical

• Ship hours. Between ten and four on a tender day the main street moves in single file. Before nine and after six it belongs to the town.
• Down and up. The steps take about twenty-five minutes down and noticeably longer back, which still beats an hour in the cable car line.
• Buses. Every island route starts and finishes at the station here, so crossing from one beach to another means coming back through town.
• Tables. A view over the drop costs roughly double the same plate one lane inland. Reserve the view days ahead in season.
• No sand. The black beaches are over the ridge at Kamari and Perissa, twenty minutes away by bus.
• Footing. The lanes are polished stone, steep, and slick after rain.
• Sunset. The one here is good and uncrowded. The famous one is at Oia, an hour of traffic away.