Doorways of Santorini

The blue & white of Santorini - and Greece

A photo journal stroll through the beautiful villages of Santorini - Imerovigli, Firostefani, Fira and Oia - just in case you didn't get the message from my recent blog post!

The Cycladic architecture of Santorini owes much to the fact that there are very few trees - and thus no wood for building - on the island, but there is a lot of stone, much of it soft, workable volcanic rock. Timber and metal for doorways, windows and reinforcement has to be imported, so is kept to a minimum. In some of the villages, houses are carved back into the rock face itself, forming Santorini's "cave houses", with typically a doorway flanked by two window and often a skylight above -- cool in summer, warm in winter. Domed roofs, flat roofs, houses stacked on top of one another like children's blocks, most painted a blinding white with splashes of colour: the houses of Santorini.

Enjoy your stroll.