The Caldera Walk from Fira to Oia, Four Hours on Foot

Four hours on foot along the caldera rim, from Fira to Oia, on paths people have used for centuries. The route goes through Fira, the island's capital, then Firostefani and Imerovigli, all of them built on the cliff, with cave houses cut into the rock behind the whitewash. At Skaros the ruins of an old Venetian castle stand on the rock that pushes out into the caldera, and the view from there is most of the reason the walk exists. Along the way the guide covers the eruption that made the caldera, and the argument that ties it to the story of Atlantis. It ends at Oia, the northernmost village on the island and the best known, with the rest of the day free to walk round it. The group is small. The guide waits with a sign reading Caldera Walk.