Cubism, Cyclades Style

Cubism, Cyclades Style

One of the real draws of the Cyclades is the sight of miragelike, white clusters of houses appearing alongside blue waters or tumbling down cliffs and hillsides. Ia and Fira, the two caldera-side towns on Santorini, are the best places to see this typical Cyclades style of architecture, where cubical, whitewashed houses are built one atop another.

Mykonos town, a warren of square, white houses arrayed along mazelike streets to confound invaders, is another architectural delight. Distinctive architecture will catch your eye throughout these islands: the stone walls and fanciful dovecotes on Andros; the marble squares in the town of Pirgos, on Tinos; Venetian landmarks in Naxos town.