Fira By Night

Fira By Night, a photo by Ben Heine on Flickr.

A picture I took in Fira (Santorini, Greece), last summer. It is a long exposure shot and I've repainted some parts of it.

Fira is the modern capital of the Greek Aegean island, Santorini. It is a traditional settlement.

The view from Fira is magnificent, with a unique panorama showing the 18 km long caldera from southern Cape Akrotiri to northern Cape Ag. Nikolaos, plus the volcanic island Nea Kameni at the center with Thirassia Island in the distant west on blue Aegean water.

Fira is a town of white-washed houses built on the edge of the 400 m high caldera on the western edge of the semi-circular island of Thera. The two main museums of interest are the Santorini Archeological Museum, 30 m east of the cable car entrance, and the Museum of Prehistoric Thera at the southeast corner of the White Orthodox Cathedral (with the Greek name meaning Metamorphosis), built on the site of the Ypapanti Church, destroyed in the 1956 earthquake.

Access to Fira is mainly by roads on its eastern side, climbing from its port via the Z-shaped footpath on foot or on donkeys, or by riding the steep cable car from its lower terminal by the port.