OIA, Greece
Located at the northwestern point of crescent-shaped
Santorini and extending for over a mile along the caldera rim, Oia must be one
of the most photogenic villages on earth.
But word is out, and it is probably also one of the most over-touristed
places on earth. Oia is now known as the place to go for the best sunset on
Santorini and perhaps the world.
A century ago, Oia was a relatively affluent place with a
significant shipping fleet at Ammoudi Harbor below the town, the owners of which
lived in significant mansions in town. The town was largely destroyed in an
earthquake in 1956 and since rebuilt into the picture-perfect village it is
today. Thus, it’s rather like Disneyesque,
mostly a reproduction of the style that existed before but now on a much
grander scale to accommodate the thousands of hotel units for the tourist
hordes.
We managed to find a descent place for dinner, Meletini restaurant,
with mostly traditional Greek dishes and reasonable prices. Afterwards, we ventured
into the pictured maze of the reconstructed old town in search of a spot for
sunset views.
That was actually more like
we and 20,000 of our closest friends from around the world. I don’t like crowds, and the crush of people
on the steep narrow lanes and stairs was suffocating. Worse was the aggressive behavior of those
who wanted the perfect selfies, ordering others to stop so they could take an
ideal picture for Instagram. We went out to the ruins of an old castle that
allegedly offers some of the best views, but my enochlophobia kicked it. I can’t say sunsets are a big deal for me
since they happen daily whenever the skies are clear. It also became clear that
there wasn’t going to be a true sunset since things had largely clouded over. We decided to ditch it because of the crowds and
take an earlier bus back to Fira than the one at a post-sunset hour.
2025-05-23