Route E
One week starting and ending in Athens.
- Alimos
- Hydra
- Navplio
- Drepano
- Spetses
- Poros
- Alimos
Suggested islands
Kea
Κέα or Tzia - Τζια, the most westerly of the larger Cyclades, lies some 12 nm south-east of Cape Sounion. The island’s agriculture and the traditional harvesting of acorns for use in tanning have declined as a result of emigration. There is a certain amount of tourist traffic from the Greek mainland.
On the south side of Nikolaos Bay – which was a pirate stronghold in the 13th c. – is the little port of Korissia (also known as Livadi), built on the side of ancient Koressia. There are remains of the ancient town walls and a Sanctuary of Apollo. The Kouros (statue of a youth) of Kea (530 BCE) which was found here is now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
North of Korissia, at the seaside resort of Vourkari, stands the little Church of St Irini, amid the remains of a strongly fortified ancient city (3rd millenium BCE – 3rd c. AD), including the oldest temple found in Greece. (15th c. BCE).
The famous lion – carved from the native rock in the 6th c. BCE – can be seen just north-east of Kea town. And another highlight is the beautiful anchorage of Poleis.
Naxos
The largest and one of the most beautiful of the Cyclades, Naxos - Νάξος, is traversed from north to south by a range of hills which fall away steeply on the east but slope down gradually on the west into fertile rolling country and well-watered plains. The hills rise to a height of 1008 m and are cut by two passes.
Since ancient times the economy of the island has depended on agriculture, marble-quarrying, emery-mining and the recovery of salt from the sea, occupations which have brought it a considerable degree of prosperity. In recent years the tourist trade has been an additional source of revenue.
The island is not very equipped to cope with mass tourism, but it has much to offer visiting those on a sailing holiday - an equable climate, a wide variety of scenery, from the sandy anchorages of the west coast and monuments of both antiquity and medieval periods.