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<\/p>\nContinued from yesterday… As we marched along like ants in a line, we thought about how terrible it must be for the locals to have their town overtaken every day by hundreds of tourists that try to look in their doors and windows. We wonder if many people even live there, or if they have abandoned the historic areas for more modern ones. Let’s face it, who wants to park their car at the bottom of a mountain and lug their heavy groceries all the way up the hill? Wouldn’t you want a house built on a road where you can pull up to the front door?<\/p>\n
At the top of the hill, the view is stunning. It is one of the highest peaks on the islands. We enjoyed the view and took some photos, and then it was already time to head back down. Progress down was as slow as progress up.<\/p>\n
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We piled back into the bus and headed to Oia, at the north end of the island. This is the town that Santorini is famous for. 80% of the Santorini photos you see come from Oia. Uh oh. There were even more busses in this parking lot than the last one. Our group swarmed up the mountain to the old Venetian portion of the town, joining the sea of people already filling the narrow streets. This town is definitely super scenic. It was largely destroyed in an earthquake in 1956, and for a couple decades was a ghost town until people came back and started rebuilding. There are only a few historic buildings left, but the layout of the old area looks to be the same as before the earthquake. Like Pirgos, the walkways are narrow mazes tracking up and down the cliff. The buildings are tightly packed into one another with no wasted space, but the lay out wasn’t as quite as odd as in Pirgos. You could definitely distinguish buildings from one another. We suspect today’s building regulations have something to do with the buildings being more “regular”\u009d looking. Most of the buildings are attractive, all looking quite similar in style. There are a lot of churches with the blue dome here, as well. And, despite the more modern buildings, there are still a lot of doors that seemed to go to nowhere. We began to wonder if there are caves is these cliffs that people live in. That would explain some of the doors to nowhere.<\/p>\n
We headed down to the old Venetian fort. There isn’t much left there, just a few walls and an open area that once contained the fort. Here is a shot of the fort from above. As you can see, there is a nice view of the islands in the caldera. The second shot is looking north from the fort. If you look carefully, you can see the narrow, maze like walkways. The third is looking north from the fort.<\/p>\n
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We headed over to the windmills, wondering if they are ancient or new. They are all privately owned, so you can’t go in them. We wandered around and enjoyed the stunning views and the picturesque town. We found a store named Kosmos and went in. Eric duly informed the Greek shopkeeper that Kosmos is Greek for world, which elicited a polite “yes, it is”\u009d, but her expression said “OK weirdo”\u009d. The store sells handmade art, and amongst the collection are lots of wall hangings and figurines of boats. We found one that looks a lot like our boat. Eric excitedly showed the shopkeeper our card and a photo of our boat. She seemed like she wanted to talk to us at that point, but we needed to get moving. We didn’t have a lot of time left for sightseeing.<\/p>\n
We walked over to the newer section of town. The walkway suddenly became wide and straight, instead of narrow and windy. The buildings were carefully laid out so that there was a stunning view at all times from the walkway. In the old town, you often had to walk down little side corridors to get a glimpse of the view, but poking your head into the little crevices was half the fun of exploring the town. The new town looked like it was mostly hotels, and nice ones at that. The walkway parallels the road, so you don’t have to walk very far from your car to new town. To get to the old village from the road is quite the hike.<\/p>\n
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When our time was up, we got back in the bus and went to the biggest town on the island, Fira, located between Oia and Pirgos. We have noticed that there are a lot of buildings between the three towns. Almost all of them have a similar look. A mostly flat roofline with at least one decorative arch, the walls of the top floor are set back so that there is a patio, and the patio usually has a decorative trim to it. The building style is aesthetically appealing. The tour guide told us that the reason the buildings are all so similar is because Santorini has strict architectural codes. We also saw an area where they were building a dozen or so of the old looking windmills, just like the ones we saw in Oia. We believe the tour guide said they are going to be used as hotels.<\/p>\n
Fira is also set on a tall mountain. We ascended up the mountain as high as the cable car ride that takes you down to the old port on the seashore directly below the town. The line was really long and the cars didn’t seem to be moving. The part of the town we had seen so far hadn’t wowed us. It wasn’t nearly as quaint and charming as the other two villages. It actually looked more like a pedestrian mall in Athens than Pirgos or Oia. The streets aren’t nearly as maze-like. Like Oia, there was a lot of damage in the 1956 earthquake, and most of the buildings look like they are post-eartquake. We do have to give it credit for spectacular views along the water.<\/p>\n
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We were tired and didn’t want to schlep up the steep hill anymore. We had hiked up and down the mountain in Oia several times following the assorted paths through town, and it wore us out. So, we wandered around the entire area between the cable car ride and base of the town, but we didn’t see the upper area, nor did we take the 35 minute walk down (and God knows how long up) the cliff to check out the old port. We did try the local wine. It is quite sweet, almost like a sherry. Here is a shot of a cool looking walkway next to an old looking building. The second shot is most of the village looks like.<\/p>\n
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We left Fira at 5:45 pm. We were back in Agios Nickolaos just before 11:00 pm. It had been a long day, but a good one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Continued from yesterday… As we marched along like ants in a line, we thought about how terrible it must be for the locals to have their town overtaken every day by hundreds of tourists that try to look in their … Continue reading