Ia

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Ia (or Oia) is the one of the towns on Santorini island in Greece.

	oia Travel Guide : 1 Understand 2 Get in 3 Get around 3.1 By foot 3.2 Car rental 4 Eat 5 Sleep 5.1 Western side 5.1.1 Splurge 5.2 Eastern side 5.2.1 Splurge 6 Stay safe 7 Contact 8 External links

Understand

Ia is a picturesque town beloved by artists and the tourists alike. Being a destination for all those cruise ship passengers the town so is very busy in the afternoons. It is far better to arrive in the early evening, allowing plenty of time to meander, shop and take photographs, then have a relaxing meal in a Caldera restaurant while watching one of the most beautiful sunsets.

But the full flavour and spirit of the town (and the island) can be enjoyed only after staying for several days.

Ia overlooks two sides of the sea, western with Ammoudi bay, eastern with Armeni bay; only western one faces sunset.

Ia is a popular place for shooting local TV series, sometimes in a nighttime.

Get in

Easily reachable by bus from the central bus station in Thira. The road to Ia is not for the faint hearted! The bus driver seems to derive great pleasure from scaring the living daylights out of his passengers and a word of warning about the conductor... always have the correct fare or be prepared to face his wrath!

Taxi from port in Thira costs around ?20 per group; ?25 if you don't want driver to take people from other groups into the car.

Road between Fira and Ia is meandering -- keep in mind if you choose between taxi and a rented car when you arrive exhausted after a ferry.

Get around

By foot

Most part of the village is reachable by-foot only. Even garbage is taken away by donkeys.

Donkeys can be rented on the staircase connecting Armeni bay to Ia -- especially when you're food with fresh seafoods from a tavern :-)

Car rental

• Drossos: one of the largest selections of cars on the island (esp. cabrios); Russian-speaking owner Zurab. Owner may be gaming you with driver license restrictions for pushing towards more expensive options.

• Auto Europe is not flexible enough to rent a car for extra half a day (at least, it wasn't in Oct 2001)--always operates with full days, despite low season.

Eat

There are three taverns in Armeni bay serving fresh grilled fish. This is the best place for enjoying seafood in Ia.

• Slow Food. Open 18-23. http://www.oia-1800.com

  Pro: High-flying cuisine: some local-inspired dishes, otherwise international. Great place for romantic dinner. Overall, waiters are well-trained and speak English very well. Amusing thing: once you're done with meals, waiter picturesquely sweeps away grit into a small scoop.

  Contra: The only sort of tea available proves Lipton Yellow Label. While regular wine is served in an ice bucket, no napkin around the bottleneck is used. During a medium-load evening waiters may forget to bring the dessert you ordered. You may need asking twice if you want to take the rest of wine bottle with you (at least if wine bottle is ?29 and the bill for two is ?110), and not offered any plastic bag so you leave with a bottle in hands.

• Lotza tavern. Large souvlaki; tzadziki is bit too hot. Potato salad may be without declared beetroot, but rich in mayonnaise. White salad is with tuna.

Sleep

According to Delfini personnel, no new hotels are opened in Ia for few years -- only new rooms / caves etc. are added to existing hotels.

Western side

Splurge

• Fanari Villas: fanarivillas.gr (http://www.fanarivillas.gr), fanarivillas.com (http://www.fanarivillas.com); fanari@otenet.gr (mailto:fanari@otenet.gr). Phones: +30 2286 071007 / 071008 / 071147 / 071321. Fax: 071235. Recommended by Dorling Kindesley's Eyewitness Travel Guides: Greek Islands, 2001. Owners: Alexandra Darzentas and Manolis Darzentas.

About a dozen villas/suites styled as traditional cavehouses. One of the choice places for celebrating a wedding, alone or with few friends (ask at reception for photo album of previous marriages celebrated at Fanari). Runs its own restaurant. All personnel is dressed in white. From 2001 to 2005: expanded in number of rooms and space in them; prices doubled; level of service improved slightly. Prices make think it's 5-star luxury, but it's not -- you're paying for a great view and for quiteness. Season/off-season: two-person villa ?310/?260; suite ?360/?310. Ask for 10% internet discount; no cases of receiving greater discount known so far.

Features:

• shared swimming pool with a jacuzzi, sauna and bathroom, a bar. Pool is open 10am to sunset time (closed for cleaning before 10am) -- so you can make photo with a pool in a sunset, and then it's closed. Jacuzzi is cold-water only, and not always cleaned well. Bar not seen working, at least in a daytime.
• space for sunbaths with umbrellas ~5 chaise-longues.

For suites:

• bottle of champagne (Freixenet) and plate of fruits (apples, nectarines, oranges) in the room upon arrival
• notebook upon request (not tried so far; no internet found in suites); safebox
• kitchen with full set of dishes, microwave, small electric stove

Room details: #12 (suite): two(!) double beds; no mobile coverage anywhere in the room; a church and personnel-only room from "private" terrace (and personnel walking in couple of times a day), otherwise one of the most isolated terraces in the hotel. Church (St. Catherine's) is quite small still beautiful. Opened only on Nov 26 (birthday of St. Catherine) -- and can be showed for few minutes upon a kind request, if you catch the keeper.

#4 and #6: overlooking the sunbath space.

Eastern side

• Delfini Villas: delfinivillas.com (http://www.delfinivillas.com). ?50 for double with backside view; ?70 for double with balcony and seaview (breakfast included).

Splurge

• Perivolas Traditional Houses +30 22860 71308 1 (http://www.perivolas.gr), 2 (http://www.santorini-hotel.net) Famous (http://www.perivolas.gr/thepool.htm) for its shared pool with its edge visibly continues as a see (as seen on the photo (http://www.santorini-hotel.net/images/main.jpg). Some studios or suites feature black-coloured private outdoor pool or even outdoor jacuzzi (?).
• Konaki Traditional Guest Houses (http://www.santorini-konaki.com/)

Stay safe

If you plan to get around Ia beyond walking from parking lot to your room, please wear travel boots or sandals: most pavements are covered with cobblestone, and there are lots of stairs in the town as you walk around.

Contact

• EasyInternetCafe 3 (http://www.easyinternetcafe.com/map/sant.html). 10 PCs; minimal charge is ?3. Open daily 8am, till midnight.

External links

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• Photographe aix en provence Daniel Weiss
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