Most Cycladic islands we visited have very similar architectural features to each other. Historically, for defensive purposes, the main town was on a hill, not by the harbor. The main town on the island of Sérifos you see here is a good example. 

Typically, the orientation of the buildings is toward the southeast, where the winter sun is warm. Windows are small to keep out the heat and the treacherous north wind called the meltemi. The paint is white to keep cool, and keeping up the paint is a matter of pride. In the time of plague, it was believed that the white paint was more hygienic.

Close up, the hill towns reveal more detail. Nearly everyone paints the trim on their houses the same shade of blue, and often the church domes are blue as well. The houses often have more than one story because space atop the hills is so limited. The whitewashed corners of houses are beveled only from the ground to about six feet up to allow donkeys with wide loads to navigate the narrow streets.

Even the flat-roof sugar-cube look of the houses has a purpose. The roof, sometimes slightly domed, catches rainwater to deposit in a cistern. Roof tiles would be impossible, as the meltemi wind would send them flying.

The green of the omnipresent olive and fig trees and the bright purple bougainvillea that is prevalent against the houses add to the colorful charm of the islands.

Santoríni is now a crescent-shaped island with steep, dramatic cliffs like the one you see at right. But it once was a large, round island with a volcano in the middle. Eruptions in the crater were common, and helped create rich fertile soil.

An explosion most likely in 1645 BC buried much of the island in lava. Water rushed in and created a large bay, and also started a tsunami, a tidal wave, that completely wiped out the advanced civilization on Crete, about sixty nautical miles away.

Donkeys and mules are still used commercially all over the Cyclades. Often the best walking path we would find to go from one town to another on an island was a stone donkey path, with its steps worn smooth with age and use. In many island towns, you aren't surprised to see donkeys with saddlebags being passed on the streets by cars and motorcycles.