Fira is the island's capital and its liveliest town. It sits on the caldera rim about midway along the crescent, with the same vertiginous cliff-edge position as Oia but considerably more going on — shops, restaurants, bars, and the island's two best museums are all here. The main square and the lanes running off it towards the caldera edge are the centre of activity.
The Museum of Prehistoric Thera, just off the main square, holds the original frescoes from Akrotiri and the best collection of Cycladic artefacts on the island — a small museum but a very good one. The Orthodox Metropolis Cathedral and the Catholic Cathedral sit at opposite ends of town, a legacy of Venetian occupation.
From Fira, the cable car drops 220 metres to the old port (or you can walk the zigzag path, sharing it with the donkeys that have been carrying passengers up and down since long before the cable car existed). The port is where day-trip boats to the caldera depart.