Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Northeastern Aegean Islands Highlights
Challenge your brain cells at Ikaria's annual
international chess tournament
(
Click here
)
Enjoy the Aegean's best lobster from a waterfront taverna while the sun sets over
the
Fourni Islands
(
Click here
)
Wade through the river to wooded waterfalls in northwest Samos, followed by a
swim and a drink on chilled-out
Potami Beach
(
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)
Wander along the winding medieval alleyways of
Mesta
(
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) in southern
Chios
Gaze out over Lesvos from the elevated Byzantine monastery of
Moni Ypsilou
(
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)
, home of medieval manuscripts and ecclesiastical treasures
Contemplate the mysteries of the 10th-century-BC
Sanctuary of the Great Gods
(
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)
on Samothraki
Cycle through lush old-growth forests at Thasos' annual
international mountain
biking race
(
Click here
)
IKARIA & THE FOURNI ISLANDS ΙΚΑΡΙΑ & ΟΙ
ΦΟΥΡΝΟΙ
Ikaria and the Fourni archipelago are arguably the most magical of the northeastern Ae-
gean Islands. Ikaria's dramatic and varied terrain comprises deep, forested gorges, rocky
moonscapes and hidden beaches with aquamarine waters, while the bare, sloping hills of
Fourni's islets graze the horizon, surrounded by a lobster-rich sea.
As a former hideout for nefarious pirates and other scallywags, Fourni was a source of
frustration for Byzantine and subsequently Ottoman rulers. More recently, Ikaria (ih-
kah-
ree
-ah) became a dumping ground for Communist sympathisers during Greece's
1946-49 Civil War and again during the infamous 'time of the colonels' from 1967 to
1974.
Ikaria is named for Icarus, son of Daedalus, the legendary architect of King Minos'
Cretan labyrinth. When the two tried to escape from Minos' prison on wings of wax,
Icarus ignored his father's warning, flew too close to the sun and crashed into the sea,
creating Ikaria - a rocky reminder of the dangers of overweening ambition.
Greek myth also honours Ikaria as the birthplace of Dionysos, god of wine; indeed,
Homer attested that the Ikarians were the world's first winemakers. Today travellers can
