Bright shades of white and blue, diverse natural and architectural landscapes, gorgeous sandy beaches, architecture in white and blue, traditional lifestyle, folk music, warm, hospitable people and barren landscapes with isolated chapels turn a trip to the Cyclades into a lifetime experience. All these unique islands, are situated in the heart of the Aegean Sea.
Its most important ones being, Mykonos, Amorgos, Anafi, Andros, Antiparos, Delos, Ios, Kea, Kimolos, Kythnos, Milos, Naxos, Paros, Santorini, Serifos, Sikinos, Sifnos, Syros, Tinos, Folegandros, as well as the “Minor Cyclades” comprising Donousa, Irakleia, Koufonisia and Schinoussa, they are considered one of the best sailing vacation destinations worldwide.
Welcome to Greece’s most famous cosmopolitan island, a whitewashed paradise in the heart of the Cyclades.
A barren island, arid, scorched by the sun, full of golden beaches and crystal waters. The white colour, the stone and the scattered mountains are indelible memories in the mind. The natural elements are vivid and strong, filling you, guiding you in new sensations; the air, the sun, the moon are the eternal guides.
Set out on a journey to discover a fascinating world where glamour meets simplicity.
Welcome to Greece’s most famous cosmopolitan island, a whitewashed paradise in the heart of the Cyclades.
A barren island, arid, scorched by the sun, full of golden beaches and crystal waters. The white colour, the stone and the scattered mountains are indelible memories in the mind. The natural elements are vivid and strong, filling you, guiding you in new sensations; the air, the sun, the moon are the eternal guides.
Set out on a journey to discover a fascinating world where glamour meets simplicity.
Welcome to Greece’s most famous cosmopolitan island, a whitewashed paradise in the heart of the Cyclades.
A barren island, arid, scorched by the sun, full of golden beaches and crystal waters. The white colour, the stone and the scattered mountains are indelible memories in the mind. The natural elements are vivid and strong, filling you, guiding you in new sensations; the air, the sun, the moon are the eternal guides.
Set out on a journey to discover a fascinating world where glamour meets simplicity.
The small island of Kythnos is mainly mountainous but full of pretty little bays which relieve the harshenees of the bare earth. Hora or Messaria is the island’s capital noted for the beautiful churches with their fine wood-carving, sanctuary screens and icons.
According to tradition, the island was named after Kithnos, the leader of the Driopes, its first settlers. It was also called Driopis at that time. Driopes settled the island around the 12th-11th century BC. During classical times, they founded such a perfectly organised autonomous state that Aristotel mentioned it in his “About the Kithnians’ State”, which has not been preserved.
Like the rest of the Cyclades, Kithnos joined the Athenian League and was subjugated by the Macedonians, Ptolemies and Romans, who used it as an exile. During Byzantine times, it belonged to the Theme of the Aegean. After the fall of Constantinople, it was conquered by Marco Sanudo and was ruled by Venetian families. In 1617, the Turks placed the island under the jurisdiction of the Sultan, ousting the last Venetian ruler, Angelo Gozadino. All through the Turkish domination, the island was scourged by pirate raids and epidemics alike. In 1823, plague decimated the island’s inhabitants. “Kithniaka” is another bloody page of the island’s history. In February of 1862, rebels from Siros who attempted to liberate the exiles clashed with the army at Agia Anna Bay. They were violently defeated and only after the Otto’s dethronement, their bones were transferred to the 1st Cemetery of Athens.
Naxos island, is the largest of the Greek Cyclades islands. The island’s highest point is Mount Zeus, which is about 1,003 m in elevation.
The 428-square-kilometre island forms an eparkhia (“eparchy”). The capital and chief port, Naxos, on the west coast, is on the site of ancient and medieval capitals. In ancient times, Náxos was famous for its wines and was a centre of the worship of the god Dionysus.
According to legend, Dionysus found Ariadne asleep on the island’s shore after she had been deserted by Theseus. the earliest Greek colony in Sicily, founded by Chalcidians under Theocles (or Thucles) about 734 BC. It lay on the east coast, south of Tauromenium (modern Taormina), just north of the mouth of the Alcantara River, on what is now Cape Schisò.
Naxos sits at the heart of the main central Cyclades group of Greek islands. Its position puts it at the heart of the Greek island ferry system and Naxos, along with its neighbour Paros, is often thought of as the hub for Greek island ferry hopping. Naxos is a big island but most tourist accommodation is confined to the south west coast.
Santorini (Thera) is a unique experience… Included in all tarvel guides this island is the tip of a volcanic crater… It’s capital is bulit high on the rim… Breathtaking views and amazing sunsets…
Modern Greek Thera, also called Santorini, island, the southernmost island of the Cyclades group, Greece, in the Aegean Sea, sometimes included in the Southern Sporades group. The island has an area of 76 square km and, together with other islands, forms an eparkhia “eparchy” of the nomos department of Cyclades. Geologically, Thera is the remaining eastern half of an exploded volcano. Its bow-shaped rim and the remnant isles of Thirasia and Aspronisi form an open lagoon that measures 60 km in circumference. In the centre of the lagoon are two active volcanic islets, Nea Kameni (“New Burnt Island”) and Palaia Kameni (“Old Burnt Island”). Thera proper consists largely of lava and pumice, the latter of which is the island’s main export. Red-wine grapes are also grown. The lagoon is rimmed by red, white, and black striped volcanic cliffs rising to almost 300 m.
The summit of Thera is the 566-metre limestone Mount Profitis Ilias in the southeast. The chief town, Thira (locally called Fira), was badly damaged by earthquake in 1956. Other settlements include Emboríon and Pírgos to the south and the port of Oia at the north entrance to the lagoon, which was destroyed by the 1956 earthquake. Known as Calliste (“Most Beautiful”) in antiquity, Thera was occupied before 2000 BC.
One of the largest volcanic eruptions known occurred on the island. This is thought to have occurred about 1500 BC, although, based on evidence obtained during the 1980s from a Greenland ice-core and from tree-ring and radiocarbon dating, some scholars believe that it occurred earlier, during the 1620s BC. Ash and pumice from the eruption have been found as far away as Egypt and Israel, and there has been speculation that the eruption was the source of the legend of Atlantis and of stories in the Old Testament book of Exodus. During the Bronze Age the island of Crete, some 110 km south of Thera, was the centre of Minoan civilization. About 1450 BC most major settlements in central and southern Crete were destroyed by fire and abandoned. In 1939 the Greek archaeologist Spyridon Marinatos suggested that the eruption on Thera had led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization; his theory was widely accepted. During the 1980s, however, archaeologists found evidence that Minoan culture continued to flourish for some time after the eruption. Archaeological evidence also indicated that the amounts of ash from the eruption that fell on Crete were not enough to cause significant damage to crops or buildings. About the beginning of the first millennium BC, Dorian settlers from the mainland landed on Thera. About 630 the important Theran colony of Cyrene was settled on the north coast of Africa, in accord with a command of the Delphic oracle.
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