The village is also situated on top of an impressive cliff and offers a spectacular view over the volcano of Palia and Nea Kameni and the island of Thirassia.

Oia is situated on the north of the island, 11 km away from Fira.
  It is a traditional village with charming houses in narrow streets, blue domed churches, and sun-bathed verandas. Its streets have plenty of tourist shops, taverns, cafés, and other shops.

Oia has several cultural attractions like the Maritime Museum which houses a small library, items from the maritime life of the area, and the vestiges of a Venetian fortress.
Many artists fell in love with the area and settled there. For that reason, the village of Oia has many art galleries.

Oia is a historical village that was strongly connected with the maritime life of the Santorinians.
 Oia, thanks to its port, was involved with seafaring and this resulted in an amazing development as far as this specific field is concerned. This rise started in late eighteenth century and lasted until the mid-twentieth century, reaching its peak in 1880s. According to the historical sources, the Greek fleet consisted of 2,500 sailing vessels. A large number of them, 170, belonged to Santorini, while seventy of these Santorinian vessels were large overseas sailing brigs.
 
Oian ships crossed the seas transporting merchandise from and to the Western Europe. They connected the small port of Oia with the cities of the Mediterranean Sea, the Black, the White and the Red Sea as well as with the Atlantic Ocean, beyond the Gibraltar Straits.

The maritime daily life of Oia village is obvious even thanks to the architectural style of it. The “hyposkafa”, cave houses, were nestled in the rocks of the cliffs and one could see only their arched entrance. In this way, their habitants, who were sailors, managed to hide themselves from pirates.

 Some meters higher, on the top of the rim, the captains and the ship owners had built their mansions which were bigger and more comfortable than the cave houses.

Oia was inhabited by seafarers and shipwrights who repaired the ships when needed. Undoubtedly, it played a very important role in the shipping of Greece and it was widely famous for it in the past.
Nowadays, it is a village that have been damaged seriously by the earthquake, yet rebuilt in absolute respect to its traditional style. So, it is a picturesque settlement where the visitor can admire the old cave houses and the mansions, the blue-domed churches and the white washed modern houses that make Oia unique and amazingly pretty.

from:  oia-santorini. net
   &  greeka. com