Akrotiri ( el, Ακρωτήρι) is a village on the island of Santorini in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. It is located 15 kilometers south of the capital

Fira Firá ( el, Φηρά, pronounced ) is the modern capital of the Greek Aegean island of Santorini (Thera). A traditional settlement,http://www.visitgreece.gr Greek National Tourism Organisation "Firá" derives its name from an alternative pron ...

, built on the slopes of a hill offering staggering views of the

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

cliffs. On top of this hill, there are remains of a Venetian castle (Goulas). Akrotiri is part of the Thira region and had 489 permanent inhabitants according to the Greek census of 2011. Approximately 2 km southeast, the

Minoan The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...

Bronze Age Akrotiri archaeological site is located. This is one of the most important of its kind in the Aegean. West of Akrotiri and on Santorini's westmost tip, there is a lighthouse dating from 1892. Much of the town is built around the ruins of a 13th-century fortress, the

Castle of Akrotiri The Castle of Akrotiri, also known as Castle Akrotiri, Goulas or La Ponta, is a former Venetian castle on the Greek island of Santorini. The now-ruined castle lies at the center of the village of Akrotiri. History The castle was built in the ...

Gallery

File:South-west of Santorini.jpg, West view of Santorini and Akrotiri File:Santorini Akrotiri2 tango7174.jpg, West view closeup File:Stegastro001.jpg, Akrotiri Minoan settlement File:FarosSantorini.jpg, The lighthouse near Akrotiri File:Akrotiri-Santorini_volcanic-pumice_Aegean-Sea_Greece.jpg, Weathered soil of

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...

near "Balos Harbour", flourishing

Lampranthus ''Lampranthus'' is a genus of succulent plants in the family Aizoaceae, indigenous to southern Africa. Description The genus name ''"Lampranthus"'' means ''"shining-flowers"'' in Greek, and the species of this genus have unusually large, bright ...

References

Santorini Populated places in Thira (regional unit) {{SAegean-geo-stub

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See also

References