Santorini – The South of the Island – Akrotiri

Akrotiri
From the junction (6km) on the main road between Megalochori and Emboreio, a west branch leads to the village of Akrotiri (8.5km) and to the western extremity of the main island. The hill of Akrotiri is panoramic, and it was an obvious site for the Venetians to construct the fourth in their series of intercommunicating fortresses— this one watching the southern approaches to the island and its caldera. A branch of the Bolognese Gozzadini family, who were based on Siphnos and Kythnos, lived here already by 1336 and probably built the kastro; they were still occupying it in the 17th century under Turkish rule. Though ruined, the form of the ensemble survives well: the encircling ring of houses and quasi-bastions surround the summit, which was crowned originally by the main tower, whose ruins have been considerably modified to accommodate the modern church. The enceinte is entered by a tunnel above the church of Aghios Giorgios. Inside, there is a tightly-knit tissue of ruined buildings and the visible remains of plastered cisterns, and church es incorporating ancient fragments and spolia.
   From Akrotiri, roads radiate west to the white bay and cliffs at Aspri, and beyond to the elegant light-house of Akrotiri point (13.5km), built by a French company in 1892, or south for the archaeological site, and the ‘red beach’ which lies a short, fifteen-minute walk beyond it to the west.