The views onto Firá from the sea are as amazing as the vista from its white-painted tumble houses back across the geological spectacle of Santorini's bay.
Firá – the capital of Santorini, perched on the midpoint of its long volcanic ridge – is an astonishing sight. Especially if you steam towards it from the sea. Its whitewashed houses look ready to topple into the aquamarine sea lapping them. Sadly that has happened – earthquakes and landslips are a rare, but inevitable consequence of living on the edge of a volcano. But since the 1956 earthquake, Firá has been shored up the biggest danger now is from the crush of tourists, when a cruise ship docks.They're here for good reason, too. The island of Santorini presents one of the most dramatic vistas of any island, Greek or not. And Firá commands a spot right at the height of that drama, some 400 metres above the sea. The capital gets its name from Thera, the semi-legendary Greek Dorian leader who settled near here in the 9th century BC, also the old name for the island.The town itself is accessed from the port by a precipitous zigzag of a path. That ascent can be made easier by taking the donkey. Or if you're pressed for time, the cable car. Once at the top, you'll find much of your trip taken up with simple, honest staring. The town itself is a white-painted spectacle, with an endless parade of architectural fancy. The wider views are even more attention-grabbing. You can see the whole of the gargantuan basin of the caldera from here – over 12 kilometres long and 7 kilometres wide. The force of the explosion that excavated it beggars belief.Firá can also be accessed from its eastern side, and is partly open to cars. It has plenty of restaurants, bars and clubs, which treat the town's visitors to a very Theran hospitality. It is also home a beautiful central square – the Plateia Theotokopoulou – and two museums, the Santorini Archaeological Museum, and the Museum of Prehistoric Thera, close to the rebuilt White Orthodox Cathedral. But Firá shines most when taken as a whole – a blazing of white under the midday sun, and a starry twinkle of lights under the velvet of night.
