Cyclades Guide - Escale Yachting

Oia, Tholos, Perivolos and Finikia. Small detached houses in
harmonious colours are arranged on the crest of the caldera, right
above the sea. Oia is famous for the wonderful view it offers of the
sunset. It is the location of the Agios Nikolaos castle (1207), with the
old church of Panagia Akathistou. Two hundred steps beneath the
castle lead to the old port, Ammoudi and its picturesque fish taverns,
from where boats can take visitors to Therasia in ten minutes. Oia has
a long maritime tradition and is the seat of the Thera Marine Museum,
one of the richest museums in Greece. On the mainland, at the
location Mesa Gonia or Episkopi Gonias lies the church of Panagia,
featuring a screen carved from blue marble. It is said to have been
established by the Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos (11th
century). In Pyrgos, a medieval settlement close to the Venetian
Kasteli, lies Theotokaki, one of the oldest churches of the island (10th
century), Christoulaki (Metamorfosi Sotiros), and the church of Agios
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S a n t o r i n i
Nikolaos Kisiras which has been carved in the rock. In Kontochori one
can visit the wonderful Folk Museum of Lignos, which includes an entire
hyposkafo house (traditional cave-cut house, where a space –horizontal
tunnel- cut in the condensed volcanic matter is shaped into a house with
the addition of a front wall). Beautiful villages include Vothonas with two
cave-cut churches, Mesaria featuring the Argyros mansion, and
Megalochori, surrounded by vineyards. In Emporio which offers
unimpeded views to both sides of the island, one can see the old
windmills and the ruins of a Venetian castle and a tower from the period
of Turkish occupation.
Routes for all
Akrotiri The location 15 kilometres south of Fira, near the village
Akrotiri, is a true revelation. The volcanic eruption caused the burial of a
thriving city during the 2nd millennium BC under a thick layer of volcanic
ash, but at the same time it helped it remain almost intact – a prehistoric
Pompeii! The arrangement of the city is reminiscent of the Minoan
palaces in Crete, and includes two and three-storey houses where the
amazing frescoes of the ladies, the fisherman, the boxing boys, the blue
monkeys and spring were discovered.
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Oia- Fira A route that will overwhelm nature lovers, from the pedestrian
route of the caldera to the old road to the chapel of Profitis Ilias and the
chapel of Timios Stavros on the top of the mountain.
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