Oia is one of those places where the timing of the visit is almost as important as the visit itself. Sunset is the event. People arrive for it, restaurants sell tables around it, and photographs of white buildings and blue domes against the evening sky have become shorthand for Santorini.
We missed the whole thing.
We were staying at Magma Resort on the other side of the island and did not leave for Oia until around 8:45 on Sunday evening. An Uber cost about €40, and by the time we arrived at roughly 9:15, the sun was long gone. That wasn’t a clever attempt to beat the crowds. It was just when we happened to go.
One of Oia’s churches framed through an arch during our evening walk.
Oia was still busy. There was a continuous stream of people along the principal pedestrian routes throughout the evening, with restaurants and bars open and plenty of people doing exactly what we were doing: walking around.
The photographs can give a slightly different impression. Point a camera through an arch or into one of the church squares just off a busy pathway and it is surprisingly easy to make Oia look empty. It wasn’t. The crowds were simply concentrated along particular routes, while the architecture created plenty of quieter-looking views immediately alongside them.
A church square just off one of Oia’s busy pedestrian pathways.
What had changed was the light. Without the sunset, the churches and whitewashed buildings stood against a black sky, illuminated by streetlights, restaurants and hotels. We wandered without much of a plan, following the lanes rather than trying to find any particular viewpoint.
Walking through Oia after dark, past Skiza Pizzeria Cafe.
There were a few cats along the way, including one making its way along the top of a whitewashed wall.
One of the few cats we encountered while walking through Oia.
And then, a few steps later, we would be back among people.
Oia’s pedestrian pathways remained busy throughout our evening visit.
That contrast continued as we moved around Oia. At street level it remained lively, but the elevated position of the town meant that every so often the buildings would fall away and the view would open up.
Oia’s whitewashed buildings illuminated along the hillside after dark.
Oia Without the Sunset
We didn’t get the view for which most people time their visit. Instead, Oia itself provided most of the light. Hotels, restaurants, pools and terraces were scattered down the hillside below us, with individual pockets of blue and yellow light picking out the shape of the cliffs. Beyond them was mostly darkness: the Aegean, distant lights and, later, the moon reflecting on the water.
After dark, the pools and terraces created their own version of the Santorini view.
The caldera from Oia at night, with the moon reflecting on the Aegean below.
It was a different way of seeing a place whose daytime appearance is so familiar that you almost know what the photographs are supposed to look like before you arrive.
We kept walking.
An Unexpected World Cup Stop
Eventually we found ourselves looking a very long way down toward Lycabettus Restaurant at Andronis. Its terraces sit far below Oia’s main pedestrian streets, close to sea level, and from above they looked almost detached from the town.
Most of the way down toward Lycabettus Restaurant, far below Oia’s main pedestrian streets.
We made our way down and stopped for drinks. There was no particular plan to spend the rest of the evening there, but the Football World Cup final was on and we ended up sitting with an American couple who also wanted to watch it.
The terraces at Lycabettus Restaurant, where we eventually stopped for drinks and the World Cup final.
There was one problem: our phones couldn’t get onto the Wi-Fi. The bartender came up with a solution. He pulled out his own iPhone and streamed the match for us from behind the bar.
Mythos, a cocktail and a few bar snacks while we watched the World Cup final at Andronis.
So part of our one evening in Oia ended up being spent with a Mythos, a cocktail and a few snacks, watching a World Cup final on a bartender’s phone at Andronis. It was not something we had gone to Oia expecting to do.
Our bartender at Andronis eventually solved the World Cup problem by streaming the match from his phone.
After Midnight
We stayed in Oia well beyond the time we had originally imagined. By the time we finally left, it was after 1am.
Looking back across Oia after dark, with the town still glowing along the hillside.
The match was still going when we eventually left Andronis and made our way back up through Oia. Normally, we were told, there is one bar toward the end of the pedestrian route that remains open after most of the town has shut down. A World Cup final apparently changes the rules. Restaurants along the walkway were still open, with people inside watching the football.
The late-night bar in Oia, where we stopped for one drink and to catch the end of the World Cup final.
We reached the late-night bar and stopped for one more drink. By the time the match finally ended, Oia really was winding down. From there we walked to the pickup point Uber had suggested, outside a closed bodega of sorts on a street corner. Even at that hour a car was available, although the estimated wait was around 10 to 15 minutes.
While we waited, a dog wandered over.
Our late night chaperone.
He didn’t simply pass through. He spent the next few minutes alternating between standing with us and darting across the street to investigate whatever was happening over there, before returning to check on us again. By the time our Uber arrived, it almost seemed as though he had decided that watching the two strangers waiting outside the closed shop was temporarily his responsibility.
Then our car arrived, his shift apparently ended, and we headed back to Magma.