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| Fira, Caldera by night - Santorini Guide to Santorini Island, Cyclades, Aegean, Greece. |
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| Fira is the capital of the island of Santorini, built on the edge of a cliff which is in fact, the rim of a volcanic crater, the 'Caldera'. FIra is approximately 900 feet almost 800 broad zigzagging steps up from the port and harbour. You can either walk! take a donkey ride up the winding steps or take the easy route and pay 3 euro (2005 prices) for the cable car ride. Climbing the steps on the back of a Donkey has been a tradition on Santorini for years, although from 20 years ago when the cable car was opened many travellers have taken the more modern mechanical ascent. Liek much of the island, Fira suffered in the earthquake of 1956. The town has approximately 1500 permanent inhabitants, although during the siummer season this number can be doubled just by the docking of one of the many cruise ships which make Santorini one of their ports of call. There are a huge number of hotels, apartments available in and around Fira, plus many bars restaurants and cafes to cate for almost every taste and budget. And Shopping? you will not be stuck for a choice of Jewellers, and shops offering just about every souvenir you could ever need! Santorini is a small, circular group of volcanic islands located in the Aegean Sea, about 200 km south-east from the mainland of Greece. Santorini is also known by the name of the largest island in the archipelago, Thira or Thera. It is the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately 73 km2 (28 sq mi), and in 2001 had an estimated population of 13,600. The inhabitants are citizens of Greece and speak Greek. It is the most active volcanic centre in the Aegean Arc, though what remains today is largely a caldera. The name Santorini was given to it by the Venetians in the 13th century and is a reference to Saint Irene. The island was the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the last several thousand years when it erupted cataclysmically about 3,500 years ago. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by ash deposits hundreds of feet deep, and its effects may have indirectly led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete, 70 km to the south. Santorini was annexed to Greece in 1912. Major settlements in Santorini include Fira (Phira), Oia, Emporio, Kamari, Imerovigli, Pyrgos and Therasia. Akrotiri is a major archaeological site with ruins from the Minoan era. The island has no rivers and water is scarce. Until the early nineties locals used to fill water tanks from the rain that fell on their roofs and courts, from small springs as well as by importing it from other areas of Greece. Nowadays, there is a desalination plant that provides running, yet nonpotable, water to most houses. The primary industry of Santorini is tourism. The pumice quarries have been closed since 1986 in order to preserve the caldera of Santorini. Photography, Text and Graphics © Red Door VR Limited All rights reserved. |
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