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April 2000

Fira

David Aaronson
2005-09-24 21:09:12

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Santorini, known locally as 'Thira', is considerably different from the other Cyclades. Once a solid circular island, some three to four thousand years ago the center of the island exploded in an enormous volcanic eruption. The resulting land was ring-shaped with two small breaks. The sea rushed in to fill the new caldera in the center and the resulting tidal wave is likely responsible for the destruction of the Minoan civilization on nearby Crete. Today, Santorini consists of two facing crescent shaped islands: Thira and Thirassia. In the 18th century, volcanic activity produced a couple new islands in the center of the caldera, Nea and Paleo Kameni. The Kameni islands (1) are shown in this photo with one of the two openings between Thira (left) and Thirassia (right) in the background. The small island visible past Thira is Aspronissi. Today, only Thira and Thirassia are inhabited.

The airport is located on the fertile but small plain on the outside of the main island. As a result we had not yet seen the caldera when the taxi dropped us off on the edge of Fira, the capital city. Fira is mostly built vertically in layers and car-bearing roads are not possible. The streets in the city are similar to those in Mykonos except three-dimensional. Some of the streets are in fact nothing but long staircases. The city is perched atop the cliff and hangs over towards the caldera. Far below at the water is a small port where boats leave for other stops around the island. This is the staircase leading down to that port (2). Behind it, the six white spheres are the cable cars for those not willing to brave the more than 600 stairs. Alternately, mules are available for the trip up and down.

From the balcony of nearly every home and business in Fira you can look down at the roof of a building one street down and up at the balcony of the next street up. The receptionist at our hotel led us to our room, which turned out be quite necessary ...

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