Best Greek Islands

Best Greek islands lie across the Aegean and Ionian seas. Outings with a host run there by land and sea. This overview starts in the Cyclades, with Naxos, Santorini, Mykonos, Paros and Milos. Ios, Sifnos, Andros, Syros, Tinos and Amorgos follow. It then turns to the Dodecanese, the North Aegean, the Ionian Sea, the Sporades and the Saronic Gulf. Related pages cover Greece island hopping tours, Milos tours, Naxos tours and Corfu tours. More trips appear under Greece tours.

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Which are the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Cyclades start with Naxos, the largest island in the group. The Cyclades are a cluster of islands south-east of the Greek mainland. Their sea, the Aegean, lies between Greece and the coast of Turkey.

Syros sits among the best Greek islands of the group. Its town of Ermoupoli is the chief town and the seat of the former prefecture. A prefecture was an older unit of regional government in Greece. The 2011 Kallikratis reform ended that prefecture. Its land was split into nine regional units inside the South Aegean region.

Before 4000 BCE, a culture of the Neolithic, the New Stone Age, took shape in the western Aegean. BCE marks dates that come before the Common Era began. It mixed ways from Anatolia, east of the Aegean, with those of mainland Greece. Its people grew emmer, an old wheat, raised pigs and goats, and speared tuna.

Cycladic figures are small carved human shapes left by early people of the best Greek islands. Interest in them was slow at first but grew in the mid-20th century. Collectors began to compete for the figures, which looked modern. To their eyes the figures seemed close to the sculpture of Jean Arp and Constantin Brancusi.

• Old digs: Archaeologists have excavated Chalandriani, Phylakopi, Skarkos, Saliagos and Kephala, a site on Kea.
• Farm soil: Naxos stands apart, since the soil of the other islands is not very fertile.
• Frying pans: The so-called Cycladic frying pans remain an intriguing and mysterious object of the islands’ past.

The Lesser Cyclades form a cluster of smaller islands, including Donousa, Irakleia, Koufonisia and Schoinousa. Lesser here means smaller in size. These four round out the best Greek islands of the Cyclades. Trips through Greece with a host take place across this island group.

Why does Santorini rank among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the southern Aegean include Santorini. No volcanic centre in the South Aegean Volcanic Arc is more active than this island. A volcanic arc is a bent line of volcanoes above a sinking plate of the earth’s crust.

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus reported that Phoenicians named the island Callista. They stayed on it for eight generations. The Phoenicians were seafaring traders of the eastern Mediterranean coast. After Alexander the Great, the island joined the Ptolemaic kingdom and became a major naval base. The Ptolemies were the kings of Egypt.

The Venetians came from Venice, an Italian sea power. Because of them, a sizable Catholic community grew up on Santorini. A Catholic bishop still has his seat on the island, leading a church district. In 1810 Santorini, one of the best Greek islands, owned 32 ships. That made it the seventh largest of the Greek fleets.

Pumice is a light stone full of tiny air holes. A quarry is a pit where workers cut or dig stone. On Santorini, among the best Greek islands, the pumice quarries have been shut since 1986. The closure was meant to preserve the caldera. A caldera is a vast basin left by a collapsed volcano.

• Lava beaches: Solidified lava forms the sand or pebbles of the Red, Black and White beaches.
• Kameni islands: The first of the Kameni islets in the lagoon broke the sea surface in 197 BC.
• Watchtowers: Viglio were small coastal towers, always manned, whose guards warned of pirate ships.

In late Ottoman times, the Monastery of Profitis Ilias ranked among the chief monastic centres in the Cyclades. A monastery houses monks, and Profitis Ilias is Greek for the Prophet Elijah. The Ottoman Empire was a large Turkish-led state. Hosted outings span the best Greek islands.

Which old stories give Mykonos its place among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands include Mykonos, which lies only 2 km from the island of Delos. Delos was where members of the Delian League, an ancient Greek alliance, met. That nearness turned Mykonos into a key stop for supplies and transit.

One theory on the name Mykonos comes from the ancient writer Hesychius of Alexandria. He traced it to the ancient Greek word Mykon. That word comes close to heap of stones or stony place in English. Herodotus names the Carians as the original people of the island. The Carians were an ancient people of western Anatolia.

Greek myth sets the Gigantomachy on Mykonos, one of the best Greek islands. The Gigantomachy was the great battle between Zeus and the Giants. In that tale, Heracles killed the giants after luring them away from Mount Olympus. Myth says the big boulders scattered across the island are their bodies, turned to stone.

On Mykonos, among the best Greek islands, the only Catholic church is that of the Holy Rosary. It was built in 1668. Bishop Leandros Zanthakis renovated it in 1677. A bishop is a senior priest who leads the churches of a district. Catholic churches answer to the Pope in Rome.

• Granite ground: The island is made mostly of granite, a hard rock formed deep underground.
• Church rule: For years, islanders were obliged to raise a church on their plot before any house.
• Ottoman years: Mykonos was Ottoman land for close to three centuries, from 1537 to 1830.

The Aegean Maritime Museum, a museum of sea history, was founded in 1983 and opened in 1985. It aims to preserve the study of Greek ships, above all merchant ships. Outings with a host are one way to travel the best Greek islands.

How do myths and old finds place Naxos among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands feature Naxos, famous as a source of emery. Emery is a rock packed with corundum, an extremely hard mineral. Until modern times, emery ranked as one of the finest abrasives, materials used to grind and polish.

Myths tie Naxos, one of the best Greek islands, to two gods. In Greek myth, Mount Zas held the cave where the young Zeus was raised. In another tale, Poseidon first saw his future wife there. She was the nereid Amphitrite, a sea maiden of Greek myth. He spotted her dancing from his chariot on the sea.

Stelida quarry, on one of the best Greek islands, lies south-west of Chora, the main town. It holds Mousterian tools from the Middle Paleolithic, part of the Old Stone Age. Mousterian names a style of flaked stone tools. Neanderthals were early humans, now extinct. The finds show Neanderthal activity on Naxos almost 200,000 years ago.

Herodotus described Naxos around 500 BC as more prosperous than any other Greek island. No peak in the Cyclades stands higher than Mount Zeus, at 1,001 metres. The mountain carries the name of Zeus, king of the gods in Greek myth. It tends to trap the clouds, so more rain falls on the island.

• Italian name: Under Venetian rule, Naxos went by the Italian name Nasso.
• Roof tiles: Naxian marble was shaped into roof tiles for the Acropolis of Athens and for ancient Olympia.
• Dwarf elephant: In the Late Pleistocene, the closing stretch of the Ice Age, a dwarf elephant, now extinct, roamed Naxos.

Within Greece, the island’s name is linked with Arseniko Naxou cheese, Kitron, potatoes and honey. Kitron is a local lemon-citrus spirit, a strong distilled drink. On the best Greek islands, bees on Naxos make honey mainly from thyme nectar. Thyme is a low, fragrant herb.

What does Paros add to a list of the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands hold Paros, which lies 8 km west of Naxos across a narrow channel. A channel is a slim strip of sea between two shores. A single mountain of 724 m shapes the island, sloping evenly down on every side.

Paros sent out settlers to found colonies on Thasos and at Parium on the Hellespont. A colony was a new town planted by settlers from a home city. The Hellespont is the narrow strait now called the Dardanelles. Tradition holds that Archilochus, a poet born on Paros, joined the colony on Thasos.

The Delian League was a naval alliance of Greek states, led by Athens. Its members paid tribute, a regular payment owed to the alliance. Olympiodorus estimated in 429 BC that no island member paid more tribute than Paros. Its share came to 30 talents a year. A talent was a large ancient measure of silver by weight.

Marble is a hard stone that takes a bright polish. On Paros, among the best Greek islands, workers quarried marble by lamplight. That marble took the name Lychnites, from lychnos, the Greek word for a lamp. It was also called Lychneus or Lygdos. Quarrying means cutting blocks of stone out of the ground.

• Sculptors’ stone: Praxiteles and other ancient Greek sculptors worked in marble from Paros, one of the best Greek islands.
• Restoration only: What white marble remains is largely owned by the state and goes only to repairs of ancient sites.
• Mountain village: Lefkes is an inland mountain village, set 10 km away from Parikia, the capital.

From 1770 to 1775, Naoussa Bay served as home base for a Russian fleet. Count Alexey Orlov commanded it during a war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. A bay is a curve of sheltered coast. Outings with a host roam the best Greek islands.

In what ways does Milos stand among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands also count Milos, where the principal crater forms the hollow of the natural harbour. A crater is the bowl-shaped mouth of a volcano. That sea-filled hollow splits Milos into two fairly equal parts.

From the 6th century BC until 416 BC, Melos, the old name of Milos, issued its own coins. They were struck to the Milesian weight standard, a fixed rule for how much each coin weighed. No other island in the Aegean used that standard. Milesian refers to Miletus, an old Greek city on the coast of Anatolia.

An apple appeared on the bulk of Melian coins. This was a pun: the ancient Greek word for apple, melon, sounded like Melos. A pun is a play on words. In 480 BC the Melians declined to bow to Persia. From Milos, one of the best Greek islands, two warships sailed to fight on the Greek side.

Milos, among the best Greek islands, still yields volcanic minerals. Bentonite, perlite, pozzolana and a little kaolin come from its open pits. Buyers worldwide purchase them. Bentonite is a soft clay that swells in water. Perlite is a volcanic glass, and pozzolana is a volcanic ash for cement. Kaolin is a fine white clay.

• Sulfur source: Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer, named Milos the richest sulfur source of the ancient world.
• Port town: Adamantas, the port, began in 1841 as a town of refugees from a revolt on Crete.
• Highest point: Mount Profitis Elias, 748 metres high, crowns the rugged west of Milos.

The first Catholic bishop of Milos took office in 1253. Catholicism is the branch of Christianity headed by the Pope. A bishop is a senior cleric with charge over a church district. Outings with a host move across the best Greek islands of the Aegean.

Why do the best Greek islands include Ios?

The best Greek islands of the Cyclades count Ios, which sits halfway between Naxos and Santorini. Legend holds that Homer died on Ios. Homer was the great epic poet of ancient Greece. An epic is a long poem that tells of heroes and their deeds.

Plutarch was a Greek writer of Roman times. He linked the name Ios to ia, the ancient Greek word for violets. Violets are purple flowers. In the 3rd century BCE, Ios entered the League of the Islanders, a union of Aegean islands. For a time it took the name Arsinoe, after Arsinoe II, wife of Ptolemy II.

Under Ottoman rule, travellers at times called Ios, now one of the best Greek islands, Little Malta. The nickname came from its fame as a shelter for pirates. Pirates were sea raiders who robbed ships and coastal towns. Malta is a small island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

Ios has 28 known coins of its own. Those coins of one of the best Greek islands bear images of Homer, Athena or a palm tree. Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, and the islanders worshipped her. A palm tree is a tall, slim plant with a crown of large leaves at its top.

• Highest peak: Kastro, also called Pyrgos, rises to 723 m at the heart of Ios.
• Local cheese: Skotiri is a sour cheese of Ios that smells of summer savory, a garden herb.
• Island name: Cycladic islanders call Ios Nio, a name from the days of the eastern Roman Empire.

In the north of Ios lies Palaiokastro, a Venetian castle in ruins, dating from the 15th century. In Greek, Palaiokastro means old castle. A castle is a fortified building raised for defence. Outings with a host travel widely across the best Greek islands of the Aegean.

What gives Sifnos a spot among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Cyclades take in Sifnos, set between Serifos and Milos. Sifnos sits about 130 km from Piraeus, to the west of Delos and Paros. Piraeus is the chief port of Athens, the capital of Greece.

The main town, Apollonia, owes its name, it is believed, to an ancient temple of Apollo. On that temple’s old site now stands a church, Panayia Yeraniofora. Panayia is a Greek title of the Virgin Mary. The name of Artemonas, the second-largest town, is believed to recall a temple of Artemis. Artemis was Apollo’s sister in Greek myth.

The Siphnians were the people of Sifnos, one of the best Greek islands. In the 6th century BCE, they built a treasury at Delphi to house their offerings. A treasury of this kind was a small, temple-like building that held gifts. Delphi was a holy site of the ancient Greeks.

There are 237 churches on Sifnos, one of the best Greek islands. Among them, the monastery of Panagia Chrysopigi ranks first in importance. Chrysopigi means golden spring in Greek. Monastery life rests on religious vows, which are solemn promises. Hosted trips through Greece cross the best Greek islands of the Cyclades.

• Early people: Sifnos was home to human beings from at least 4000 BCE.
• Port: Kamares, the port settlement, sits on the island’s west coast.
• Island dish: Mastelo is lamb or goat soaked in red wine and dill, then cooked in a clay pot.

Nikolaos Tselementes, a chef from Sifnos, wrote a classic cookery book. Cooks in Greece still use it today. A chef is a trained cook who leads a kitchen. Sifnos, one of the best Greek islands, counts him among its notable people.

Where does Andros sit among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Cyclades stretch north to Andros, the group’s northernmost island. Euboea lies about 10 km to its north-west, and Tinos about 3 km to its south. Euboea is a long island close to the mainland of central Greece.

Palaeopolis, the ancient capital, rose on a steep hillside. Palaeopolis means old city in Greek. Its harbour breakwater still lies visible under the water. A breakwater is a barrier of stone that keeps rough water out of a port. At Apoikia village, the Sariza spring pours out through a lion’s head cut in stone.

Strofilas on Andros was the biggest planned Neolithic settlement among the best Greek islands of the Cyclades. Rock carvings appear on its walls. Goats, deer, jackals, dolphins and fish appear among them. One scene shows a flotilla, a fleet of small ships. Such carvings are images chipped into the face of the rock.

In the Komnenian period, Andros, one of the best Greek islands, flourished from silk. Its gossamer and velvet cloth went to buyers in Western Europe. The Komnenian period was the age of the Komnenos family of Byzantine emperors. Silk is a smooth thread from silkworms. Gossamer is a very fine, light cloth; velvet is soft and thick.

• Revolution flag: In 1821 Theophilos Kairis, a leading Greek thinker, raised the Greek flag over St George’s church.
• Shipping power: By 1914, shipping registered on Andros came second in all of Greece for capacity.
• Long shore: Along its 176 km of coastline, Andros has dozens of beaches.

Andros is largely mountainous, cut by fruitful and well-watered valleys. Fruitful ground yields good harvests; well-watered ground has streams or springs. Valleys are low strips of land that lie between hills or mountains. Hosted outings unfold on the best Greek islands across the Aegean.

Which past does Syros bring to the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Aegean also hold Syros, set 144 km south-east of Athens. The philosopher Pherecydes, who taught Pythagoras, lived on Syros. Pythagoras was a Greek thinker famed for his work with numbers. A philosopher seeks wisdom through careful thought.

Ano Syros ranks as the second town of Syros, one of the best Greek islands. Ano means upper in Greek. The Venetians founded it early in the 13th century, on San Giorgio hill. San Giorgio is Italian for Saint George. Saint George, the town’s Catholic cathedral, dominates Ano Syros. A cathedral serves as a bishop’s home church.

Archaeologists date Kastri, a hilltop site on one of the best Greek islands, to 2800 to 2300 BC. It was among the first places in Greece guarded by stone walls with rounded bastions. A bastion is a part of a wall that juts out for defence. Archaeologists study old ruins and objects to piece together how people once lived.

Syros belongs to a short list of places where Catholics and Orthodox keep Easter together. Both churches mark the feast on the Orthodox date. Easter is the Christian feast of the rising of Christ from the dead. Orthodox here means the Eastern Orthodox Church, the main church of Greece.

• Homer’s swineherd: In Homer’s Odyssey, Syros is the home country of Eumaeus, a keeper of pigs.
• Captains’ quarter: The Vaporia quarter of Ermoupoli is where sea captains traditionally made their homes.
• Kastri town: Experts estimate that up to 300 people lived in fortified Kastri.

The church of Kimisis tis Theotokou holds a masterwork by El Greco, the painter. The name means the Falling Asleep of the Mother of God. El Greco is Spanish for the Greek. Outings with a host span the best Greek islands.

What sets Tinos apart among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Cyclades include Tinos, famous among Greeks for about 80 windmills. It also has about 1,000 artistic dovecotes, small towers that house pigeons. Fifty active villages dot the island, and Venetian forts crown the mountain Exomvourgo.

On Tinos, among the best Greek islands, Orthodox and Catholic believers share the island. Orthodox and Catholic are two great branches of the Christian faith. The island is also well known for its sculptors and painters. Nikiforos Lytras, Nikolaos Gysis and Yannoulis Chalepas are among them. A sculptor shapes figures; a painter makes pictures.

Anciently the island bore the name Tenos. It was also called Hydroussa for its springs and Ophioussa for its snakes. In 480 BCE, a Tenian trireme quit the Persian fleet and joined the Greeks before Salamis. Tenian means of Tenos. Triremes were warships driven by three banks of oars. Salamis was a sea battle near Athens.

The hills of Tinos, one of the best Greek islands, are terraced with stone walls. Each terrace forms a level step in a slope, made for farming. Stone walkways join every village to the villages closest to it. Each walkway runs between two parallel stone walls. Parallel lines run side by side and never meet.

• Top mountain: Tsiknias, at 750 metres, is the highest mountain on Tinos.
• Giant boulders: Around the village of Volax lie giant boulders, a number of them as big as multi-storey buildings.
• Green marble: To the west, the mountains around Pyrgos hold green marble.

Venetian rule on Tinos lasted until 1715, the year the Ottoman Empire took the island. Venice was a trading republic of north-east Italy, strong at sea. In a republic, no king rules. Trips through Greece with a host move between the best Greek islands.

Which old names and finds tie Amorgos to the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Cyclades end in the east at Amorgos, the group’s easternmost island. Amorgos is the origin of a long line of famous Cycladic figurines. Such a figurine is a small statue, carved here by early island sculptors.

Through history, Amorgos also went by the names Yperia, Platagy, Pagali, Psichia and Karkisia. From 1537 to 1829, in the Ottoman period, it bore the name Yamurgi. Yamurgi is a Turkish form of the island’s name. In 1830, on Greek independence, Amorgos became part of Greece. Independence here means the founding of a free Greek nation.

Kapsala figurines take their name from a find place on Amorgos, one of the best Greek islands. They date from around 2700 BC. They are the earliest of the canonical types, the standard shapes of these carvings. Each shows a reclining female with her arms folded. Reclining means lying back at rest.

Around 630 BC, Semonides, a poet, headed the founding of a colony from Samos on Amorgos. Samos is a large island of the eastern Aegean. Such a colony was a settlement founded overseas by people of another state. Samos and Amorgos both lie among the best Greek islands of the Aegean.

• Slender figures: Dokathismata figurines, from 2400 to 2100 BC, look slender and at times angular.
• Old harvests: The ancient writer Heraclides Lembus recorded much wine on Amorgos, along with olive oil and fruit.
• Ancient Minoa: The ancient city of Minoa lay close to today’s village of Katapola.

With 16 neighbouring islets, the largest being Nikouria, Amorgos forms one municipality. An islet is a tiny island. Each municipality is run by an elected local council. Trips through Greece with a host extend across the best Greek islands of the Cyclades.

Why does Rhodes lead the best Greek islands of the Dodecanese?

The best Greek islands of the Dodecanese chain start with Rhodes, the largest island of that whole group. Rhodes once served as the historical capital of all these islands. It also ranks as the ninth largest island in the whole Mediterranean Sea.

Among the best Greek islands, Rhodes holds three old nicknames. The Island of the Sun honours Helios, the patron sun god of Rhodes. A second nickname is simply the Pearl Island. The Island of the Knights recalls the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem. That order held power on Rhodes between 1310 and 1522.

In ancient Greek, the rose was called rhodon, a word close in sound to the island name Rodos. In modern Greek, the similar word rodi means the pomegranate, a red fruit full of seeds. Rhodes, one of the best Greek islands, counts the rhoda as a native plant. The rhoda is a pink hibiscus, a shrub with large open flowers.

Pindar, an ancient poet, wrote an ode, a poem of praise, on the birth of Rhodes. In his tale, the island came from Helios and the nymph Rhodos. Their sons gave their names to the cities. A nymph is a minor nature goddess of Greek myth. The Rhodians honoured Helios with a grand festival called the Halieia.

• Minoan link: The Minoans founded a settlement at Tiranda, in the north-west, during the 16th century BC.
• Seafaring: A common saying held Rhodian sailors to be the finest in the Mediterranean world.
• Highest peak: At 1,216 metres, Mount Attavyros forms the highest ground on all of Rhodes.

The interior of Rhodes, one of the best Greek islands, is mountainous and sparsely inhabited. Sparsely inhabited describes land with homes spread thinly and far apart. Forests of pine and cypress cover much of the inland ground of the island.

What story does Kos add to the best Greek islands?

Best Greek islands in the Dodecanese chain take in Kos, which ranks third in size within the chain. Only Rhodes and Karpathos cover more ground. Kos also holds the second largest population in the whole group, with only Rhodes ahead of it.

On the map, Kos stretches 42.1 kilometres in length and 11.5 kilometres in width. In the era of the Knights Hospitaller, the island gained a new name. The Knights Hospitaller were a Christian military order. Under their rule, Kos was known as Lango. That name presumably came from the great length of the island.

Hippocrates, the Greek doctor, is believed to have been born on Kos, one of the best Greek islands. The centre of Kos town holds the Plane Tree of Hippocrates. Tradition says that the physician taught there, beside this tree. A plane tree is a tall shade tree with broad leaves.

Rock layers from the Quaternary period lie beneath Kos, one of the best Greek islands. The Quaternary is the latest period of Earth’s history and still goes on. These layers have given up fossils of elephants, hippopotami and horses. A fossil is the stony trace of a living thing from the distant past.

• Salad leaf: The salad plant called Cos lettuce, or romaine, takes its name from this island.
• Farming: Fields yield wheat and corn, while orchards and plots give grapes, watermelons, olives, almonds, tomatoes and figs.
• Silk: The philosopher Aristotle wrote of island women who wove silk on Kos.

The ancient market of Kos, one of the best Greek islands, centred on a rectangular yard. That yard stretched 300 metres in length, with a width of 50 metres. Such a market place was called an agora in ancient Greek. It served trade and public life.

How did Patmos rise from the sea to join the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Dodecanese reach far north to Patmos, among the northernmost of the chain. The Dodecanese chain fills the south-eastern corner of the Aegean Sea. Patmos itself covers a land area of 34.05 square kilometres.

Among the best Greek islands, Patmos has a legend that gives its first name as Letois. That name honoured Artemis, the daughter of Leto. In Greek myth, Artemis was a goddess and the huntress of deer. Settlers from nearby lands later chose the name Letois to honour her, as the tale tells.

In the old tale, Artemis met Selene, the moon goddess, in Caria across the sea. Caria was a region on the mainland facing Patmos. Selene cast her light on the waves and revealed the island sunk beneath them. Zeus gave his consent, and Patmos, now one of the best Greek islands, rose from the water.

The Patmians of the Classical period saw themselves as Dorians, a major branch of the ancient Greek people. They traced their roots to families from Argos, Sparta and Epidaurus. During the 3rd century BC, Patmos turned its settlement into an acropolis. A wall and towers improved its defence. An acropolis is a fortified hilltop town.

• Highest point: Profitis Ilias, at 269 metres, marks the highest summit on Patmos.
• Main places: Chora serves as the capital, while Skala is the only commercial port.
• Monastery: Builders began work on the monastery dedicated to Saint John in 1101.

Patmos, one of the best Greek islands, is named directly in the Book of Revelation. Revelation is the last of all the books in the Christian Bible. The Bible is the collection of holy writings of the whole Christian faith.

Why do scholars link Astypalaia, one of the best Greek islands, with the Cyclades?

The best Greek islands of the Dodecanese count Astypalaia among their number. The Dodecanese is an archipelago made up of fifteen major islands in the south-east Aegean Sea. An archipelago means a scattered family of islands set near each other in one sea.

Scholars count Astypalaia as an outlying part of the Cyclades. Its culture and its wild plants and animals fit the Cyclades better than the Dodecanese. The Cyclades are another group of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. Near Steno, a strip of land about 126 metres wide almost splits Astypalaia into two parts.

Astypalaia, one of the best Greek islands, was thought to take its name from Astypalaea. In ancient Greek myth, she appears as a mortal woman. Poseidon seized her while shaped like a leopard with wings and a fish tail. In Greek belief, Poseidon ruled over the sea and its waves.

A pair of Mycenaean chamber tombs lay at Armenochori, on one of the best Greek islands. Diggers found pottery, bronze weapons and stone tools inside them. The Mycenaeans were the Greeks of the late Bronze Age. A chamber tomb is a grave with a room for the dead. One case in the island museum holds these finds.

• Size: Astypalaia stretches for 18 kilometres, while its broadest part reaches 13 kilometres.
• Roman treaty: An inscription found on the island preserves its treaty with Rome from 105 BC.
• Venetian lords: The Querini family added Stampalia, the Latin name of the island, to their own surname.

At Tallaras on Astypalaia, one of the best Greek islands, lie the remains of a late Roman bath. Its mosaic floors showed Helios, the sun god, ringed by Zodiac signs. Mosaic art sets tiny cubes of coloured stone or glass into a floor or wall.

What old traditions does Karpathos keep among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Dodecanese include Karpathos, the second largest island of that chain. Karpathos lies in the south-east part of the Aegean Sea. This sea forms the long arm of the Mediterranean that reaches between Greece and Turkey.

In Greek myth, Karpathos, one of the best Greek islands, was the homeland of the Titan Iapetus. The Titans were the elder gods who ruled before Zeus. Proteus, a sea god gifted with prophecy and fathered by Poseidon, was also born on the island. Prophecy is the power to foretell the future.

Homer, the ancient poet of the Iliad, calls the island Krapathos. He swaps two letters in the first part of the name. Apollonius of Rhodes wrote the Argonautica, an epic poem. In that poem, the Argonauts stop at Karpathos on their voyage from Libya to Crete. The Argonauts were the crew of the ship Argo.

The Sea of Crete is a sub-basin of the Mediterranean Sea. Karpathos marks the eastern limit of that sea. A sub-basin is a smaller section within a larger body of water. The small island of Saria was once joined to Karpathos, one of the best Greek islands. An earthquake later split the two apart.

• Old ways: Its remote position preserved local dress and customs, plus speech resembling that of Crete and Cyprus.
• Summit: Kali Limni rises to 1,215 metres, the top of the island.
• Ottoman tax: Sultan Mahmud II let the island pay the maktu tax, a fixed yearly lump sum, from 1835.

The Panagia festival on the 15th of August ranks first in importance on the island. Panagia is a Greek name for the Virgin Mary. The feast marks her Dormition, or falling asleep. On that day, the population of Karpathos, one of the best Greek islands, peaks.

Which songs and stories give Leros a place among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Dodecanese include Leros, an island famous for an imposing medieval castle. The Knights of Saint John held this castle, which possibly rises on a Byzantine fortress. Those knights formed a Christian military order of the Middle Ages.

Leros, one of the best Greek islands, was known in ancient times as the island of Parthenos Iokallis. Parthenos is the Greek word for a maiden. Later Greek and Roman writings linked the island to Meleager and the Meleagrides. Meleager was a hero of Greek myth, and the Meleagrides were his sisters.

Local songs from Leros rank among the best known in nisiotika, the traditional music of Greece. Nisiotika means songs of the islands. One celebrated song is Proutzos. The local dance of Leros, one of the best Greek islands, carries the name Lerikos. The Issos dance is also noteworthy on the island.

The historian Thucydides stressed how much the harbours and bays of Leros mattered. He wrote of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. In that war, Leros sided with the democratic Athenians. No deepwater harbour in the Mediterranean Sea is larger than Lakki on Leros. A deepwater harbour is deep enough for large ships.

• Coastline: The shore of Leros runs for 71 kilometres around the island.
• Wedding sweet: Pougkakia is a dessert from Leros that is offered at weddings.
• Roman hostage: On Farmaco, east of Leros, pirates held Julius Caesar as a hostage for forty days.

A legend from Leros, one of the best Greek islands, tells how the last surviving knight saved it. That young knight was barely 18 years old. A legend is an old story handed down over time, though no record proves it.

How did a volcano shape Nisyros, one of the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Dodecanese also include Nisyros, which has a roughly round shape. Its diameter is about 8 kilometres, and its area is 41.6 square kilometres. Diameter means the distance across a round shape, passing through its middle.

Nisyros has a caldera 3 to 4 kilometres wide. A caldera is a great hollow left when a volcano collapses. This one took shape during the last 150,000 years. The volcano is still active, though it is not erupting. Fumaroles, vents that let out hot volcanic gas, are found at its craters.

Greek myth explains how the island came to be. Poseidon, the sea god, sliced off a piece of Kos. He hurled that piece onto the giant Polybotes, who was trying to flee. The giants were huge beings of Greek myth. In ancient times, Nisyros, one of the best Greek islands, was called Porphyris.

Below Nisyros, one of the best Greek islands, lies a geothermal field of high enthalpy. It ranks among the leading fields of its kind in Greece. Geothermal energy is heat that rises from deep inside the Earth. High enthalpy means that the water and steam underground carry a great deal of heat.

• Last eruption: A blast of steam in 1888 was the latest eruptive activity of the volcano.
• Millstones: Nisyros was a source of millstones, heavy grinding stones, for early watermills.
• Terraces: The island once fed itself, with crops on terraced slopes cut into flat steps.

On Nisyros, one of the best Greek islands, the force of the wind bends trees towards the south. The bent trees stand on the eastern and western flanks of the volcano. These are the etesian winds, strong and dry north winds of the Aegean summer.

What links Lesbos, one of the best Greek islands, with poets and thinkers?

The best Greek islands of the North Aegean include Lesbos, the eighth largest island in the Mediterranean. Samos, Chios, Ikaria and Lemnos also belong to the North Aegean region of Greece. Lesbos itself lies in the north-east of the Aegean Sea.

Lesbos, one of the best Greek islands, has an area of 1,633 square kilometres. Its coastline runs for about 400 kilometres. The narrow Mytilini Strait divides Lesbos from Asia Minor. At its narrowest point, the strait is about 5.5 kilometres wide. Asia Minor is an old name for Anatolia, the Asian part of Turkey.

Lesbos is sometimes called the Island of the Poets. The name honours native poets such as Alcaeus and Sappho. Both wrote lyric poetry, verse meant to be sung to the lyre. Pittacus of Mytilene earned a place among the Seven Sages. Those sages were wise men of early Greek times.

The philosopher Aristotle lived on Lesbos for a time, as did Epicurus. On Lesbos, one of the best Greek islands, Aristotle began systematic zoological investigations. Zoology is the science of animals and how they live. Systematic means that the study followed a careful, ordered method. A philosopher is a thinker about life and knowledge.

• Twin peaks: Mount Lepetymnos reaches 968 metres and Mount Olympus 967 metres on Lesbos.
• Olives: Olive groves with eleven million trees cover 40% of the island of Lesbos.
• Name: The origin of the name Lesbos is obscure, though it possibly first meant forested or wooded.

Lesbos, one of the best Greek islands, counts among the top places in the world for bird watching. Bird watching is the pastime of finding wild birds and studying them in nature. Those who follow it note each species they spot, with its calls and habits.

Why is Chios famous among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands in the northern Aegean Sea count Chios, the fifth largest of all Greek islands. In the Mediterranean Sea as a whole, Chios is the tenth largest island. The Mediterranean is the inland sea between Europe, Africa and Asia.

Chios, one of the best Greek islands, has a crescent or kidney shape. It runs 50 kilometres from north to south and 29 kilometres across at its widest. A crescent is a curved shape like a thin moon. Its two largest peaks rise in the north. Pelineon reaches 1,297 metres, and Epos reaches 1,188 metres.

Vrontados, a large suburb with about 4,500 residents, stands north of Chios town. The suburb, on one of the best Greek islands, claims Homer as a native son. Homer is the poet who, by tradition, composed the Iliad and the Odyssey. A suburb is a district on the edge of a town.

In ancient times, no other place shipped out more Greek wine than Chios. Chian wine was noted for its fairly high quality. Chian means coming from Chios. Chian amphoras carried a sphinx emblem and bunches of grapes. An amphora was a two-handled pottery jar for carrying wine and oil.

• English name: In English, Chios has also been known by the name Scio.
• Fortified villages: Southern villages from the 14th to 16th centuries have fortified gates against pirate raids.
• Trade reach: Chian wine jars have turned up in Gaul, Upper Egypt and Southern Russia.

Chios, one of the best Greek islands, was the home of Hippocrates of Chios. He was a notable mathematician, geometer and astronomer. A geometer is an expert in geometry, the study of shapes, lines and angles. An astronomer studies the stars and the sky.

Which great minds came from Samos, one of the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the eastern Aegean include Samos, which lies off the coast of western Turkey. The Mycale Strait, about 1.6 kilometres wide, separates it from Anatolia. Such a strait is a slim channel of water that divides two shores.

The landscape of Samos, one of the best Greek islands, is dominated by two large mountains. The Ampelos range, which locals call Karvounis, fills the centre and rises to 1,095 metres. Mount Kerkis covers less ground but stands taller. Its summit, at 1,434 metres, is the highest point of Samos.

Pythagoras, the thinker and mathematician, came into the world on Samos, one of the best Greek islands. The Pythagorean theorem, a rule about right-angled triangles, carries his name. Aristarchus of Samos, an early astronomer, came from the same island. He was the first known person to propose that the Earth moves around the Sun.

Samos had a school of sculptors and architects. One member was Theodorus, a sculptor and inventor. He and Rhoecus are said to have devised the method of casting statues in bronze. Casting means pouring hot liquid metal into a mould, where it cools and hardens. Bronze is an alloy, a blend of copper with tin.

• Dimensions: Samos stretches 43 kilometres by 13 and covers 477.395 square kilometres.
• Word origin: Strabo traced the name Samos to a Phoenician word meaning high.
• Mountain link: The Samian peaks carry on the line of the Mycale mountains of mainland Anatolia.

From 1835, Samos, one of the best Greek islands, formed the Principality of Samos. It was semi-autonomous, which means that it governed itself in part under the Ottoman Empire. This lasted until Samos joined Greece in March 1913. A principality is a state led by a prince.

Why is Ikaria, one of the best Greek islands, linked with long lives?

Best Greek islands such as Ikaria hold a middle place among the isles of the eastern Aegean Sea. Ikaria covers 255.303 square kilometres, with 164 kilometres of coastline. Coastline means the full length of shore wrapped around the land.

Ikaria, one of the best Greek islands, counts as one of the five blue zones of the world. A blue zone is an area where people regularly live to an advanced age. Panigyria are traditional festivals with dances, music and local food. On Ikaria, these festivals still rank among the largest of all the Aegean islands.

Ikarian boat-makers earned a good name. They built boats from the island’s fir forests. They sold the boats and timber in nearby Chios for coin and grain. Over the centuries, Ikaria also became famous for its charcoal. It was known as Carbon Cariot, or Ikarian charcoal. Charcoal is a black fuel made by burning wood.

On Ikaria, one of the best Greek islands, people kept their strong red wine in pithoi. Pithoi are large storage jars of terracotta, or baked clay. Islanders sank them up to the rims in the earth. This method kept the wine safe from tax collectors and pirates. The method dated back to the Bronze Age.

• Mountains: The Aitheras range crosses Ikaria from east to west, peaking at 1,037 metres.
• Northern forests: The greener north side holds large forests, mainly of Aleppo pine and oak.
• Wildlife: Small wild animals on Ikaria include martens, European otters, scorpions and green toads.

Greeks from Miletus, a major city and naval power of Asia Minor, colonised Ikaria around 750 BC. Their settlement grew at fertile Kampos, in the north of Ikaria, one of the best Greek islands. It later became Oenoe, the ancient capital of the island.

What does Lemnos, sacred to Hephaestus, bring to the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the northern Aegean take in Lemnos, an island of 477.583 square kilometres. With that area, Lemnos ranks as the 8th largest island in Greece. One square kilometre equals a plot one kilometre long on every side.

To ancient Greeks, Lemnos was sacred to Hephaestus, the god of metallurgy. Metallurgy covers the skills of smelting and shaping metal. Zeus hurled him out of Olympus, and he fell on Lemnos. The forge of Hephaestus was said to lie on the island. With the old name Aethaleia, it hints at the volcanic nature of Lemnos.

A legend ties Philoctetes, a Greek hero, to Lemnos, one of the best Greek islands. The Greeks left him on the island while they sailed to Troy. There he suffered ten years of pain from a wounded foot. Odysseus and Neoptolemus persuaded him to join them at Troy. Troy was the city of the Trojan War.

In antiquity, Lemnos, one of the best Greek islands, was famed above all for its medicinal earth. Medicinal means used to treat illness. Its Latin name, terra sigillata, came from the stamp pressed into each piece. Terra sigillata means sealed or stamped earth. In ancient times, that stamp showed the head of the goddess Artemis.

• Location: Lemnos sits midway on a line from Mount Athos to the west coast of Turkey.
• Oldest settlement: The oldest human settlement yet found in the Aegean islands came to light on Lemnos.
• Cheese: Kalathaki Limnou, a local cheese, blends the milk of goats with that of sheep.

Pliny the Elder told of a remarkable labyrinth on Lemnos, one of the best Greek islands. He described it in his Natural History. No one has identified this labyrinth in modern times. Labyrinth means a puzzling network of twisting passages.

Why does Corfu, the castle city, rank among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Ionian Sea start with Corfu, northernmost on the Greek west coast. Only its small satellites, the Diapontian Islands, sit further north. A pair of castles encircles the capital, and no other Greek city has such a ring.

Officially, the Greek government calls the capital a kastropolis, a Greek word for castle city. In ancient times the island bore the name Korkyra. Thucydides ranked Korkyra beside Athens and Corinth as a great naval power of the fifth century BCE. Ruins of old temples from Korkyra survive at Palaiopolis.

Among the best Greek islands, Corfu gave modern Greece its first university, the Ionian Academy. The first theatre and opera house of modern Greece began on Corfu. Ioannis Kapodistrias was born on the island. After the revolution of 1821, he served as the first governor of an independent Greece. He won renown as a European diplomat.

The name Corfù is the Venetian and Italian form of a Byzantine Greek name, Koryphō. Koryphō means city of the peaks. The peaks are the two summits of Palaio Frourio, the Old Fortress. On Corfu, one of the best Greek islands, olive trees dominate. Mixed with cypress trees, the olives shape a scene typical of Corfu.

• World heritage: In 2007, UNESCO added the old town of Corfu city to its World Heritage List.
• Highest summit: Mount Pantokrator rises to 906 metres, the highest point anywhere on the island.
• Plant life: Records list more than 1800 plant species growing across Corfu.

Of the best Greek islands, Corfu covers an area of about 592.9 square kilometres. It runs about 64 kilometres long and about 32 kilometres at its widest. Its shape recalls a sickle, a curved blade for cutting crops. People in ancient times drew the same comparison.

Which myth places Paxos among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Ionian chain include Paxos, the smallest of its seven main islands. It covers 25.3 square kilometres. Paxos lies about 15 kilometres off the southern end of Corfu. The mainland town of Parga lies at a similar distance.

In Greek myth, Poseidon, god of the sea, formed Paxos with a blow of his trident on Corfu. A trident is a spear with three points. He wanted peace and quiet on the new island with his wife, Amphitrite. Tradition names the Phoenicians as the earliest settlers of Paxos.

The name Paxos is thought to come from pax, a Phoenician word meaning trapezoidal. Trapezoidal describes a four-sided shape. Among the best Greek islands, Paxos gave its name to a sea battle in 229 BC. That clash, part of the First Illyrian War, set Greek fleets against Illyrian fleets.

Paxos, among the best Greek islands, measures roughly 10 kilometres by 3 at its broadest. Its hilly ground lies largely under olive groves. Gaios, Lakka and Longos, the three main settlements, sit on the east coast. Steep white chalky cliffs line the west coast. The sea has eroded them at its level, leaving blue caves.

• Neighbour island: Antipaxos lies about 5 kilometres further to the southeast of Paxos.
• Change of trade: In the mid-1960s, tourism replaced olive oil, soap making and fishing as the main industry.
• European network: Paxos belongs to a European network of places called Cultural Village of Europe.

Venetian rule over Paxos began in the late 14th century. On 13 February 1814, the island surrendered to a British Royal Navy frigate. A frigate is a fast warship. Paxos, one of the best Greek islands, became Greek in 1864, as did the other Ionian Islands.

How does Lefkada, joined to the mainland, fit among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Ionian Sea include Lefkada. It reaches the mainland over a long causeway and a bridge that floats. Causeway means a road on a bank across water. The island measures 35 kilometres north to south and 15 kilometres east to west.

In antiquity, a bridge tied Lefkada, one of the best Greek islands, to the mainland. It was the longest stone bridge in ancient Greece. In the 7th century BC, the Corinthians cut a trench across its isthmus. An isthmus is a slim land bridge. Ancient sources describe Leucas, its old name, as a colony of Corinth.

Among the best Greek islands, Lefkada once held a cult of Apollo Leucatos at its southwestern cape. White cliffs stand there, one suggested source of the island’s name. Records first use the name Santa Maura for the island and its main town in 1292. Santa Maura is Italian for Saint Maura.

In 1564, builders finished an aqueduct 3 kilometres long, running from inland areas to the town. This aqueduct was a channel that fed water to the town. In 1825, an earthquake wrecked much of the town, the aqueduct included. The town then rose again in wood, a choice meant to prevent such damage.

• Highest point: Mount Stavrota, at the centre of the island, rises to 1,158 metres.
• Windsurfing: Vasiliki, 20 kilometres south of Nidri, is a centre for windsurfing.
• Famous son: The writer Lafcadio Hearn was born on Lefkada and took his name from it.

Lefkada, one of the best Greek islands, has the beach of Porto Katsiki on its west coast. Its southern tip is Cape Dukato, a name sometimes given to the whole island. Its land covers about 302 square kilometres, without the smaller islands of the municipality.

What does Kefalonia, the largest Ionian island, bring to the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the west include Kefalonia, biggest of all the Ionian Islands. Across Greece, it ranks sixth in size, after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. The largest towns on the island are Argostoli and Lixouri.

Legend links the name of Kefalonia, among the best Greek islands, to Cephalus from Greek myth. Cephalus helped Amphitryon of Mycenae in a war against two peoples, the Taphians and the Teleboans. As a reward, Cephalus was given Same, an island later known as Cephallenia. Older forms of the name include Kefallinia and Kephallenia.

Four city-states divided the island between them from the 6th century BC. City-state means a self-ruling town together with its farmland. They were Pale, Cranii, Same and Pronnoi, and each one minted its own coins. In 582 BC, a Kefalonian named Melampous took first prize for lyre and song at the Pythian Games.

Hadrian, a Roman emperor, made a gift of Kefalonia to Athens. In 1596, the Venetians built Assos Castle on Kefalonia, one of the best Greek islands. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, Kefalonia ranked among the world’s largest currant exporters. Its towns and villages rose high on hilltops, away from pirate raids.

• Olive groves: Olive trees, over one million of them, cover almost 55% of the land.
• Birdlife: More than 200 different bird species have been seen on the island.
• Sea turtles: Loggerhead turtles, an endangered species, lay eggs on beaches of the southern coast.

Kefalonia, one of the best Greek islands, also has a long winemaking tradition. It is home to dry, white wines with a lemon flavour, made from the Robola grape. Argostoli alone is home to a third of its people. The main island covers 773 square kilometres.

Which Homeric story ties Zakynthos to the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands within the Ionian Sea count Zakynthos, an island known to Homer. The ancient poet names the island in the Odyssey and in the Iliad. In the Odyssey, 20 of the 108 suitors of Penelope are nobles from Zakynthos.

Hyrie is said to have been the earlier name of the island, before Zakynthos. Zakynthos, today among the best Greek islands, took part in the Trojan War. It appears in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships, a list of the Greek forces. If accurate, the list shows how power was divided in early Greece.

Among the best Greek islands, Zakynthos once gave ancient Athens a source of tar. Tar guards ship planks better than pitch, a resin made from pine trees. Workers dredged the tar from the bed of a lake known today as Lake Keri. The tools were poles with leafy myrtle tied at the ends.

During the Axis occupation of Greece, Mayor Loukas Karrer and Bishop Chrysostomos Dimitriou refused a German order. The order demanded a list of the town’s Jews. Instead, the two men hid them in rural villages. By certain accounts, all 275 Jews of Zakynthos survived the war. Both men were later named Righteous among the Nations.

• Earthquake: A 7.3-magnitude earthquake on 12 August 1953 destroyed the greater part of the island’s buildings.
• Shape: Zakynthos has the outline of an arrowhead, with its tip at Cape Skinari pointing northwest.
• Poets: Ugo Foscolo, an Italian poet, was born on Zakynthos and wrote a sonnet to it.

Zakynthos, one of the best Greek islands, also produced the poet Dionysios Solomos. He belonged to the Heptanese School of Literature, named after the Seven Islands. Its poetry was mainly lyrical and satirical, in the spirit of Romanticism. The school also helped shape modern Greek theatre.

Where does Skiathos stand among the best Greek islands of the Sporades?

The best Greek islands of the Sporades begin with Skiathos, the westernmost island of the Northern Sporades. Pelion, a mainland peninsula, lies to its west, and Skopelos lies to its east. The island measures about 12 kilometres long and about 6 kilometres wide on average.

In 480 BC, a storm struck the fleet of the Persian king Xerxes off Skiathos. The ships were badly damaged on its rocky coast. The Greek fleet then blockaded the nearby seas. A blockade cuts an enemy off by sea. The aim was to stop the Persians invading the mainland or supplying their army.

Among the best Greek islands, Skiathos gained a fortress in 1207, built by the Ghisi brothers. They had seized the island and set the small Bourtzi fort on a nearby islet. In the mid-14th century, the people moved their capital to Kastro, high on a rock in the north. Kastro means castle in Greek.

In 1704, Athos monks founded the Evangelistria Monastery on Skiathos, one of the best Greek islands. A monastery is where monks live and pray. Greece’s first flag was made and raised there in 1807. Military leaders, among them Theodoros Kolokotronis and Andreas Miaoulis, swore an oath to it. The local bishop led the oath.

• Beaches: Over 60 beaches, mostly sandy, line the 44 kilometre coastline of Skiathos.
• Pine woods: Aleppo pines clothe large parts of the island, and a small grove of stone pines grows at Koukounaries.
• Boatbuilding: A small shipyard north of the town still builds traditional Greek boats called caiques.

Skiathos, one of the best Greek islands, became an important Aegean shipbuilding centre in the 19th century. Its rich pine forests supplied the timber. The island’s pine woods were then almost wiped out. Steamboats, powered by steam engines, later brought this trade to a halt.

Why is green Skopelos counted among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Sporades include Skopelos, among the greenest of all Aegean islands. Its area of 96 square kilometres makes it slightly larger than Mykonos and Santorini. To its west stands the Pelion peninsula, and to its south lies Euboea.

In legend, Staphylos, a son of Dionysus and the princess Ariadne, founded Skopelos. Dionysus was the god of wine. His name, Staphylos, means grape in Greek. In the Late Bronze Age, the Minoans of Crete settled the island, then called Peparethos. They brought the craft of growing vines with them.

Among the best Greek islands, Skopelos won fame across the ancient Greek world for its wine. A play by Sophocles, first staged in 409 BC, calls Peparethos rich in grapes and wine. In 1936, digs at Staphylos uncovered a royal tomb from Mycenaean times. Mycenaean refers to the late Bronze Age culture of mainland Greece.

Skopelos, one of the best Greek islands, is a matrilineal society. Wealth there passes down the female line. By custom, each bride’s parents must provide the couple with a home and property at the least. The house and property stay in the bride’s name. On the mainland and Crete, by contrast, wealth passes through the male line.

• Shape: Skopelos has the outline of a saxophone, with its neck pointing to the northwest.
• Churches: More than 360 churches and chapels stand across the island.
• Island goat: Skopelos has its own recognised breed of goat, which carries the island’s name.

In 1978, the main town of Skopelos, one of the best Greek islands, gained an official title. It reads Traditional Settlement of Outstanding Beauty. New buildings there can have no more than two storeys. Roofs must slope and use ceramic or stone in the traditional style.

How does Alonnisos, home of a marine park, join the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Sporades include Alonnisos, third in the northern group after Skiathos and Skopelos. It lies 3 kilometres east of Skopelos. The Mediterranean monk seal is common in the seas around the island. The island is mostly limestone.

Until the 19th century, this member of the best Greek islands went by the name Liadromia. It became Alonnisos in 1838, after a mistaken link with ancient Halonnesus. The ancient Greeks knew the present island as Icus, or Ikos. Under that name, settlers from Knossos on Crete are said to have colonised it.

Among the best Greek islands, Alonnisos keeps an old village in the south, known locally as Chora. Chora means the town. Signs call it The Old Village. Until 1965, closely built stone houses gathered there inside a small fortress against pirates. On 9 March 1965, an earthquake left the island and the village badly damaged.

After the quake, a large share of the people moved to the port of Patitiri instead. Patitiri, in the southeast, is the main port of the island. The old village has since been restored. Its rebuilt houses now serve visitors. Tourism is now the main industry, though fishing remains a popular trade.

• Size: Alonnisos runs 20 kilometres at its longest and 4.5 kilometres at its widest.
• Farm produce: Almonds, grapes, figs and olives are the main crops grown on the island.
• Nearby islets: The municipality also takes in Gioura, Kyra Panagia, Peristera, Piperi and other nearby islands.

In 1992, the Alonnisos Marine Park was created to shield the seals and other animals. A marine park sets aside a stretch of sea for protection. On the north side of Alonnisos, among the best Greek islands, wild habitats stay in good shape.

What does Aegina, an island of early coins, add to the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Saronic Gulf include Aegina, which lies 27 kilometres from Athens. Tradition takes its name from Aegina, mother of the hero Aeacus. Aeacus, by the same tradition, was born on the island and became its king.

In ancient times, Aegina was a strong city-state that for a time rivalled Athens. The ancient writer Ephorus says Pheidon of Argos set up a mint on the island. A mint is a workshop that makes coins. Aegina thus became the first city-state in Europe to issue coins.

Among the best Greek islands, Aegina gave its name to the Aeginetic stater, its silver coin. One stater split into two drachmae, smaller coins of 6.1 grams of silver each. Mints struck staters bearing a sea turtle up until the late 5th century BC. A land tortoise took the place of the sea turtle by 456 BC.

Aegina, one of the best Greek islands, has a roughly triangular shape. It measures about 15 kilometres east to west and 10 kilometres north to south. An extinct volcano accounts for two-thirds of the island. The volcanic south rises to the cone-shaped Mount Oros, 531 metres high. Paliachora was the main town in Byzantine and Venetian times.

• Old churches: More than 35 churches survive at Paliachora, now an abandoned town.
• Pistachios: In 1896, the physician Nikolaos Peroglou began the systematic growing of pistachios on Aegina.
• Seat of power: In 1826-28 the Tower of Markellos served as headquarters of the temporary Greek government.

In 1996, pistachios from Aegina, among the best Greek islands, gained a protected name tied to the island. On the hill of Colona, north of Aegina town, stood a sanctuary of Apollo. Venetian sailors gave Colona its name, using its temple columns as a landmark at sea.

Which artists’ story gives Hydra a place among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Saronic area include Hydra, off the Peloponnese coast. A narrow strip of water divides it from the mainland. The island itself covers 49.6 square kilometres. In 2011, its one main town, Hydra port, counted 1,900 residents.

Farmers and herders settled Hydra in the later half of the third millennium BCE. Each millennium lasts one thousand years. Obsidian from Milos has also turned up on the island. Obsidian is a natural glass that forms when lava cools fast. Aqueducts from the Mycenaean era supplied ships with water.

Hydra, among the best Greek islands, owes its name to springs known in ancient times. The island today is nearly dry. Its water now arrives by boat from the Greek mainland. Residents also gather winter rain in cisterns, or tanks, beneath their houses. They keep this water for drinking later in the year.

The Athens School of Fine Arts now holds the Tombazis mansion. Lazaros Kountouriotis’s mansion now serves as a branch of the National Museum of History. In the 1950s and 1960s, artists from abroad made a home on Hydra, among the best Greek islands. They included the Norwegian novelist Axel Jensen and the Canadian singer Leonard Cohen.

• Top rating: In 2007, a travel panel of 522 experts rated Hydra highest of all Greek islands.
• World ranking: The same panel placed Hydra 11th among 111 islands across the world.
• Summer festival: The Miaoulia Festival, in the last week of June, marks sea victories won under Admiral Miaoulis.

Bare rocky hillsides and pine-forested valleys mark Hydra, one of the best Greek islands. Cypress and olive trees grow there as well as pines. Wildflowers include poppies and the rare spentzes, another name for cyclamen. Partridges, quails and migrating birds also live there.

In what way does Spetses, home of Bouboulina, belong among the best Greek islands?

The best Greek islands of the Saronic group also take in Spetses. It was home to the war heroine Laskarina Bouboulina. Her life-sized statue stands at the main dock. In 1821, Spetses became the first Greek island to raise the flag of revolution.

Its ancient name was Pityussa. That name describes a forested place full of pine trees. The Greek noun spetses means spices and herbs. It comes from spezie, the Italian and Venetian word for spices. The Venetians called the island Spezia in the 15th century, for its place on a major spice route.

Among the best Greek islands, Spetses gained its first settlers during the Mesolithic Age, about 8000 BC. That age is also called the Middle Stone Age. At that time an isthmus joined the island to the mainland of Argolida. The joining point lay at a place now called Kosta. Flint pieces from that time were found near Zogeria.

On Spetses, one of the best Greek islands, wealthy captains stored their gold in wells. That fortune helped pay for the Greek war of liberation. The island’s merchant fleet helped besiege the fortresses at Nafplion and Monemvasia. To besiege is to surround a fortress and force its surrender.

• Car-free town: No private cars are allowed inside the limits of Spetses town.
• Island trails: Footpaths ring the island, with a total length of about 25 to 30 kilometres.
• Pine planting: In the hills of Spetses, Sotirios Anargyros had pine seedlings planted.

This member of the best Greek islands holds the Armata festival on the second September weekend. It commemorates the battle of 8 September 1822. Events end with a re-enactment of the battle in the harbour. A re-enactment is a staged replay of a past event.

What do travellers ask about Best Greek islands, and what are the answers?

Best Greek islands in the west form the Ionian group, which lies in the Ionian Sea. That sea stretches west of mainland Greece. To the east, the Northern Sporades lie off the Greek coast, northeast of Euboea. They sit in the Aegean Sea.

Among the best Greek islands, what are the Ionian Islands?

The Ionian Islands bear the traditional name Heptanese, which means the Seven Islands. Even so, the group also takes in a host of smaller islands. Venetian rule over the centuries kept them outside Ottoman control. It also gave them their own culture, marked by Italian influences. In 1864, they joined the modern Greek state.

What does the name Sporades mean for the best Greek islands?

The word Sporades means those scattered, and it shares a root with the English word sporadic. Since ancient times, the name has covered Aegean island groups outside the Cyclades. The Northern Sporades count 24 islands. Four of them have people living there all year: Alonnisos, Skiathos, Skopelos and Skyros.

Which best Greek islands make up the Saronic group?

In geography, the Saronic Islands also count as the Western Sporades. Under that name, the group takes in Salamis, Aegina, Poros, Hydra and Spetses. Technically, Hydra and Dokos lie between the Saronic Gulf and its Argolic neighbour. They are only sometimes counted as Saronic Islands. Today the group falls under the administration of Attica.

Why do the best Greek islands of the west carry the Ionian name?

Ancient Greeks called the sea between Epirus and Italy by the name Ionios. The name came from a myth in which Io swam across that sea. The Ionian Sea has no link with Ionia, a region of Anatolia in modern Turkey. In Greek, the Ionian name takes the letter omicron, while Ionia takes omega.