Skaros Rock

A bare volcanic headland jutting into the caldera below Imerovigli, Skaros was the island's fortified capital under Byzantine and later Venetian rule, sheltering residents from pirate raids until earthquakes and the 1650 Kolumbo eruption brought the settlement down. Little of the kastro survives beyond scattered foundations, but the 550-metre path out from the Agios Georgios chapel ends on an exposed rock platform with a near-360-degree view of the caldera, Fira and the volcanic islets, with far fewer crowds than Oia at sunset.