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> The weirdest thing about this island is that everything is built on a caldera rim, much higher than sea level. Extremely unusual for an island.

Most Greek islands have their Chora, the capital village, on a high point of the island. This was for defense reasons against pirates and other potential attackers.

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The famous villages on the rim (like Oia) were the houses of Greek sea captains. The donkeys still there today would have been hired then to carry their wares and treasures up the staircases from the ports when they returned home from sea.

There is an older Chora with a street maze also, but more in the middle of the island, in a much more defensible position.

> Most Greek islands have their Chora, the capital village, on a high point of the island.

Well, others are mostly at sea level, with only some high points. Thira has very little land at sea level.

True, it's rare to have that little low-lying land even on Greek islands. But the seaside towns are regardless a modern addition to the other islands, barring the biggest fortified ones. Too vulnerable.

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