The town of Ancient Thira, was built on the hill Mesa Vuno and founded by the Dorian colonists during the 8th century B.C.., it domains the southeast coast of the Island of Thira and, since its foundation and until the end of antiquity, was the civil, administrative and religious center of the city state of Thira.
Firostefani is the old village north from Fira characterized by traditional villages, the view of the capital city, the sea and the volcano. Its name means 'Crown of Fira' due to the altitude of the location in relation to the rest Fira.
Caldera is called the territorial cavity formed when the part of a volcanic cone recedes; the most characteristic Caldera in Greece is the one of Santorini Island which was formed around 1613 B.C. due to the Minoan eruption that took place.
The outline of the Caldera of Santorini is formed from the Islands of Santorini, Aspronisi and Therasia. The diameter of the Caldera of Santorini reaches 16 Km which classifies it as the largest Caldera on Earth.
The Villa Ilias Hotel is situated in one of the best locations of the island. From an altitude of 300 m anyone can admire the Caldera, the volcano and the unique and amazing sunset.
Comments
Hi everyone. We have been to Santorini which has to be the most beautiful place on earth. As for the donkeys … I chose not to ride on one up the 380 odd steps from the bottom to Thira in the blazing heat for the reason that the owners hit them to move up quickly Unfortunately, this happens all over the world, exploiting animals eg. elephants in Thailand. But do not be put off you have to visit this island as it is truly unforgettable. Have a happy day from a sunny and warm (it's winter) South Africa :)
Clean the lens please! Thank you!
5 cruise ships in today. Same number in 2012 when I arrived on Celebrity Equinox.
I was thinking of going Santorini one day, No longer, i will not go now that i know the poor donkeys have to go through that ordeal every day to carry humans all that way uphill, Lifts are available.
Was there last month. Beautiful. I hope to go back some day.
donkeys are used at Thira to carry some passengers up from the cruise ships along the winding streets, wouldn't go on one myself but an elderly friend did and her leg was scraped on the walls.
The other year we were staying at Lindos, Rhodes and donkeys were constantly used then at the end of the day they were placed in an enclosure at the entrance to the village.
Last time was there was in 1987, changed so much ..all the cruise ships, the selfies crowd, the instagrammers, the influencers, the donkeys ..
Koningsdam, Jewel of the Seas, and Seven Seas Voyages at anchor. Webcam needs cleaned.They used donkeys at Lindos on Rhodes but it's been a few years since I've been there.
last I heard they are still using donkeys at lindos rhodes
I was in santorini 30 years ago we used the lift to go up , then walked back down. No way would we have got on a donkey.
PMM,that is so sad in this day and age they are using them,people should boycott them!!
Hi Chris. I expect this post might not stay on long but when we were on our cruise here the company discouraged passengers to use the donkeys as unfortunately there is cruelty with long hours, where they get sore backs from the saddles. We were given free tickets to use the lift system.
Surely they don't use donkey's to carry people to the village???
Be lovely to be on a cruise ship now
Feel sorry for the donkeys that take passengers up the steep path to the town. I wonder if large people are turned away!
It's nice to look at it here, but in reality, this is nightmare for tourists: extremely crowded. We went thru this just a year ago when we waited in line for cable to get down to our ship 1 hour and 20 minutes,
I understand that better scheduling for cruise ships would be very difficult but not impossible. I am visiting this site almost every day and have noticed, that there are days when no cruise ships are around. Luckily for us we visited island before with another tour. It's so beautiful island with outstanding history; people deserve to enjoy it's beauty and not to stand waiting in line.