clausar

On Santorini you can visit the archaeological site of Akrotiri,
you can go to Ancient Thira, visit the old village of Pyrgos for the amazing view, take the boat for the volcano tour and go to the island of Thirassia, which is just opposite of Santorini, behind the volcano, but no one ever visits it.....

You can also visit some of the wineries of Santorini, the teen could try a tiny bit of Vinsanto wine, which is a local high quality sweet wine, made of sun dried grapes.

You can go on a photo tour in Oia, the teen can take some pictures as well, trying to spot the best places....

Santorini is not that boring as some others believe, it's what you do out of it.

travelerjan

long2travel, you say you cannot go to greece without going to see those "white cliffside houses", as if they exist only in Santorini. ALL the Cycladic islands have the "white Houses" with blue shutters, etc and many many house are on cliffs and mountainsides descending to the sea. Among the islands where u can see the same dwellings are Ios, Paros, Naxos, Mykonos, Antiparos, Tinos, Sifnos, Serifos, Milos, Kythnos, Folegandros, Amorgos, Andros, SIkinos, Syros and Tzia. Of course Santorini is truly beautiful but its housing style is not unique. Here's a website with dramatic photo highlights of all the above. http://www.greek-islands.us/

clausar

The Santorini houses follow a different architecture than the rest of the Cyclades.

In villages on the cliff you will see the traditional cave houses, that make Santorini so unique, and houses poor people in the past. ( now Oia is amongst the 3 most expensive places of Greece regarding realestate)

There are the rich peoples houses, that were located on the highest spots of the villages, the 1800 restaurant in Oia is a good example of such a house.

Locals are building their houses not in the traditional shape of all the other Cyclades, but they use a rectangular shape with vaulted roofs, that make Santorini unique.

Have a look at http://users.ntua.gr/kamy/reconstruction.pdf

Heimdall

I see travelerjan is back, giving incorrect information as usual. ;-)

clausar

I also forgot to add that also Andros and Kea ( Tzia) have a different architecture from the rest of Cyclades.

On both islands the common type of houses has ceramic tiles ( which the other islands didn't have because of poverty - on Mykonos i can only recall 1-2 buildings with a tiled roof).

These islands had a rich naval tradition, the neoclassicl houses of Andros are still reminding it.

The capital of Syros - Ermoupolis ,is a typical example of this kind of architecture, based on the prosperity of the past

Heimdall

And the churches of Mykonos have red domes rather than blue. Lots of little differences from island to island.

mariha2912

On my experience all of Cyclades have a generic similar architectural sytle. Key word here is *generic*. Of course there are differences among each island and even location, but I do not think this makes so much difference to a first time visitor unless he has a specific interest/knowledge on all things architecture. And of course cavehouses in Santorini were unique, but nowadays they are mostly a hotel attraction than an every day thing (or I might be worng, I do not know.)
That said, it is true that due to volcanic nature of Santorini, landscape of the cladera is quite different than any cliff or hill side on other islands. On my opinion there are no must-sees or must-dos on a trip though. I suggest to the OP to make some research on other islands before deciding automatically on Santorini. Key word here is *automatically* lol

mariha2912

BTW interesting read clausar, thank you. I had a quick look and will read in depth later. It seems like someone's intergrated project or something? Who wrote it?

clausar

Mariha
I found it after a little research on the internet following the advice of a friend of mine, who is an architect specialized in τηε restoration of traditional protected houses. (διατηρητέα) ...
It is very interesting indeed