Sightseeing in Thera

Fira is the capital of Santorini and the very spot on the cliff edge that appears in every photograph of the island. The town stands about three hundred metres directly above the flooded crater, and its whole layout follows from that: the streets run along the rim, the houses stack in terraces, and a staircase of five hundred and eighty-eight steps drops to the old port of Gialos below. There are three ways down — on foot, by donkey, or by cable car, which covers the drop in three minutes. Walking tours are usually built around that vertical: the Catholic quarter with its cathedral, Theotokopoulou square, lanes of small shops, and one viewpoint after another.

The museums here are small but substantial. The Museum of Prehistoric Thera holds what was found at Akrotiri: frescoes with blue monkeys and swallows, the golden ibex, Bronze Age pottery. The Archaeological Museum covers the later periods, Hellenistic and Roman. The distinction is worth knowing: the Akrotiri excavation itself lies in the south of the island, while its contents were brought here, to the capital.

Fira is also the practical base for seeing the rest of the island, and that is the second half of the local programmes. Sightseeing tours gather Oia and its sunset, Pyrgos with its Venetian castle, the inland villages and the wineries on ash; separate trips run to the Akrotiri site and to the beaches of red and black sand. The sea part starts here too — boats to the volcano and the hot springs leave from the old port directly below the town.