Wednesday 13 November 2013

Oia the lifestyle before tourism and it's buildings

The houses here were mostly built into the earth which  housed their animals towards the back  leaving the front section for sleeping cooking and resting after hard days working from  before sunrise to sunset in the fields for the landlords who lived in the houses set behind the high walls .   

After the last earthquake in the 50's the government encourage the local people to return to the island by building houses and new  roads with the intention of developing Santorini as a number one place for tourism .They built the classic shelter housing style of houses that you can see towards the opposite side of the road on the Caldera which were once just fields and giving plots of land to the less wealthy to develop again the agriculture which was one of the main income sources for the people.        



I show you this building as one of the many mills that you can find on the island. But for me is was the first time i met Ms Anne a lovely old lady who would love to sit outside in the summer evening and we would chat about life as i worked in a hotel as an evening  receptionist 15 years ago and from then till today i always pass-by to see if she is ok and have a little chat .   

The village also had a big connection with the sea life where men and  landlords went to sea to fish or sailed far distances on  the cargo ships as captains or sailors  travelling all over the world For more information go to :   https://www.facebook.com/MaritimeMuseumOiaSantorini/info.
Nowadays a few of the men in oia go fishing and selling their catch on the main road of Oia or the port of  Baxedes  selling their fresh catch of fish of the day .