To the south of Emporio village on Santorini there is a hill called Gavrilos. It is only 170m high and there is a road leading to the top of the hill with eight historic 19th century windmills along the way. They are an example of the traditional rural architecture of Santorini. Their height reached 16 metres and they were built with local, freely available materials, including volcanic stones. All of them have been included in the list of protected monuments of Santorini. Some of the windmills have been restored, and some have fallen into disrepair but thanks to this one can “sneak a peek” inside and learn about their construction. However, it is not recommended as some of them are on the verge of collapse.
At the top of the hill stands a small white church of Prophet Elias. From its courtyard there is beautiful view of the southern part of the island of Santorini.
On the south-eastern slope of the Gavrilos hill there is another interesting site – ancient tombs once belonging to the ancient city of Eleusis.
