Island Santorini, Greece
Cats in Oia and Fira
The caldera villages everyone photographs, and the cats on the walls in front of the view. A welfare association that has neutered them since 1992, tavernas that feed them, and a sunset crowd that mostly does not notice.
Where to find cats in Oia and Fira: The villages along the caldera rim of Santorini: Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli, and Oia at the northern tip. When: Morning, when the rim path is empty and the cats are on the warm walls. May, June, September, October. July and August are a queue. Why here: The cats of the most photographed view in Greece, and the people who have looked after them for thirty years.
The short version
- Where
- The villages along the caldera rim of Santorini: Fira, Firostefani, Imerovigli, and Oia at the northern tip
- When
- Morning, when the rim path is empty and the cats are on the warm walls. May, June, September, October. July and August are a queue
- How long
- A day for the rim walk from Fira to Oia. Two nights is the island
- What it costs
- The walk is free. Everything else on Santorini costs what it costs
- Why here
- The cats of the most photographed view in Greece, and the people who have looked after them for thirty years
What to bring
- Shoes for the rim pathFira to Oia along the caldera is three hours of steps, gravel and wind. The cats are on the walls the whole way.
- The morningOia at sunset is thousands of people. Oia at eight in the morning is a village with cats on the steps and the same view.
- A donation for SAWAThe Santorini Animal Welfare Association has neutered and treated the island鈥檚 cats since 1992. It is the reason there are not five times as many.
- Nothing for the catsThe tavernas feed them. Fish skin from your own plate is the correct gift.
Why there are cats everywhere
Every photograph of Santorini has a white wall, a blue dome and the caldera. Look at the wall again. There is usually a cat on it.
The villages of the caldera rim are built into the cliff of a volcano that blew up three and a half thousand years ago, whitewashed and stacked, with the sea five hundred feet below. Fira is the town; Firostefani and Imerovigli are its quieter neighbours along the rim; Oia is the village at the tip where everyone goes for the sunset. A path runs the length of it, and the walls along the path are warm from mid-morning, which is where the cats are.
Santorini has the cats every Greek island has, and it has had someone looking after them longer than most. The Santorini Animal Welfare Association was founded in 1992, runs a shelter, neuters and treats street cats and dogs, and is the reason the island鈥檚 population is stable rather than exploding on a diet of taverna scraps and tourists. Its volunteers are on the island year round, after the ships have gone.
The cats themselves are unbothered by any of it. They sit on the walls in front of the most photographed view in Greece and take the sun. They walk the rim path with you for a while and then stop. They live under the tavernas of Fira and in the cave houses of Oia, and they know, as the photographers do, that the light is best in the morning and that the sunset is for the crowds.
The walk
The rim path from Fira through Firostefani and Imerovigli to Oia. Three hours of walking, and cats on the walls the whole way. Bus back.
- From Santorini airportBus or taxi to Fira20 minBuses go to Fira; everything else changes there. Taxis are few in season; book ahead.
- From Athinios portBus to Fira30 minThe ferries land here. The road up the cliff is the first view.
- From FiraWalk the rim path, or bus, to Oia180 minThree hours on foot, twenty-five by bus. Walk there, bus back.
Fira
The town on the rim, with the cable car down to the old port and the tavernas along the edge. Cats under the taverna tables and on the steps. Start early and head north along the cliff path.
Fira. Under the table, over the caldera.davidjlee, CC BY-SA 2.0 Firostefani
Twenty minutes along, the quieter village with the blue-domed church everyone photographs and, in the photographs on this page, cats on the wall in front of it.
The wall at Firostefani. Sit down; the cat will share it.Mstyslav Chernov, CC BY-SA 3.0 Imerovigli
The highest point of the rim, with the rock of Skaros below it and the best view of the caldera. The path gets rougher from here. Cats on the last walls before the wild stretch.
Imerovigli. The last cats before the empty rim.davidjlee, CC BY-SA 2.0 Oia
The village at the tip, white and blue, cave houses and windmills. Sunset here is a crowd; morning is a village. Cats on the steps down to Ammoudi bay and under the tavernas at the bottom.
Oia. Arrive before the sunset does.Random_fotos, CC BY-SA 2.0
Same numbers as the list. Worth keeping open on your phone.
The cats you will meet
Cycladic cats: short-coated, ginger and black and tabby, fed by tavernas and neutered by SAWA, entirely used to being photographed against the caldera. Sociable at the tavernas, aloof on the walls, and gone in the wind.
Wall cats
On the warm walls of the rim path.
The photograph. Sit down near, not next to.
Taverna cats
Under the tables in Fira and Ammoudi.
Fish skin, please. Not the bread.
Cave cats
In the doorways of Oia鈥檚 cave houses.
Somebody鈥檚, in an expensive doorway. Photograph from the lane.
Everybody says The cats are wild.
Actually They are street cats with thirty years of a welfare association behind them: neutered, treated, and fed by half the island. Wild is the wind on the rim path. The cats are the locals.
How not to be the annoying one
- The rim path is narrow and the drop is real. Do not step back for a photograph of the cat.
- Oia鈥檚 lanes are people鈥檚 roofs. Do not climb on a dome for a picture, with or without a cat on it.
- Feed from your plate at a taverna, not from a bag on the path.
- Give to SAWA. Their shelter is a taxi ride away and they welcome visitors.
- The donkeys at the old port are a separate ethical question. Take the cable car.
