A must see island - This island is the remnant of the rim of ONE GIGANTICE volcanic caldera, much of which was blasted away by a huge eruption in 1615 BC. The remains of the main island are about 12 miles long and 6 miles wide. This island looks like an ideal honeymoon destination! The town of Fira is perched on the caldera rim, about 1,000 feet above the water. To get there, we took a funicular (a cable car) for an approximately 5-minute ride to ascend to the town. If you like there are mules, you can ride up to the town. WOW the gleaming white houses of Fira all look down hundreds of feet to the bay with a fantastic view out each window. We walked through town to the local museum that houses all the relics and decorative wall mosaic recovered from the ancient town we will visit later today the cliffside village of Oia. Oia is at the other end of the big island that is part of the rim of the Caldara (We thus covered both ends of the island extensively). We walked around for about one hour visiting shops and a view down into the water-covered caldera of the dormant volcano, while exploring the beautiful blue-and-white Church of Panagia Platsani in the village center. Most of the windmills where originally used to turn wheat into flour, but they went into disuse hundreds of years ago. Recent rebuild of the windmills have turned some into actual functioning units, but most are just a decorative object slightly turning in the wind for the tourist to admire or some structures turned into homes.