Windmills of Oía

The white-washed windmill towers with their rusted, motionless gears rise above the caldera edge. In the nineteenth century, these mills ground the wheat and barley that fed the village of Oia. Sailors arriving from the Aegean Sea used the row of circular structures as a landmark to navigate the cliffs. When steam power reached the island, the miller stopped turning the sails, but the stone shells stayed put. They remain as the most recognizable silhouettes etched against the sunset over the deep volcanic water.