Ios greece is a small island of the Cyclades between Naxos and Santorini, with a whitewashed hill village, a deep natural harbour and long sandy bays. Its ferry links and boat days sit beside the other tours in Greece that cross the Aegean.
The page covers the land and villages, the story from the early settlers to the union with Greece, Chora and the harbour, the beaches, the ruins, food and drink, how to reach the island, and the seasons.
What is ios greece, and where does it lie?
Ios Greece is a small island that belongs to the Cyclades, in the Aegean. Naxos lies on one side and Santorini on the other, and Wikipedia puts Ios at the halfway point. The land is largely hilly. Cliffs descend steeply to the sea along the larger share of its sides, as the same page describes it.
The official Greek tourism page places ios greece between Santorini, Paros and Naxos. The Greek Wikipedia names Naxos, Sikinos and Thira as neighbours instead. Thira is the Greek name of Santorini. Wikivoyage adds that the island is part of the Cyclades Islands, which lie in the south of Greece.
Wikipedia lists about 220 islands in the Cyclades and counts ios greece among the main ones. Wikivoyage locates the archipelago in the Aegean, below Athens and above Crete. Kyklos means a circle in Greek. The Cyclades are named for the islands that circle the sacred island of Delos.
Wikipedia gives the spellings Ios, Io and Nio for ios greece. It says the people of the Cyclades call the island Nio, and that this form goes back to Byzantine times. A map from fourteen twenty already uses Nio. The official tourism page says locals call their island Nios. English Wikipedia lists a local resident as a Niotis.
Wikipedia reports that Plutarch linked the name of ios greece to ia, the old word for violets. The flowers were said to grow on the island. Wikipedia calls this the view accepted widely. The official tourism page agrees that the name means flower. A Phoenician theory points to a word for a pile of stones.
Wikipedia gives the position of the island as about 36 degrees 43 minutes north and 25 degrees 20 minutes east. The Greek Wikipedia measures the sea distances of ios greece in nautical miles. Piraeus lies 111 miles away, and Heraklion on Crete lies 72. Ermoupoli on Syros, the seat of the old Cyclades prefecture, lies 55.
Wikipedia names the South Aegean as the region of Ios. It places the neighbour Sikinos midway between Ios and Folegandros. Wikivoyage counts 33 inhabited islands in the group, and Ios is one of them. Clocks follow UTC+2, and Wikipedia gives UTC+3 for the summer.
How big is ios greece, and what shapes its land?
Ios Greece is about 18 kilometres long and 10 wide, as English Wikipedia states in its opening lines. The island covers about 109 square kilometres. Its land is largely hilly, and the highest summit, Kastro, also called Pyrgos, sits at the middle of the island.
English Wikipedia gives ios greece an area of 109.024 square kilometres, or 42.094 square miles. The Greek Wikipedia estimates 108.713 square kilometres. The two metric figures differ by less than one square kilometre. The English page also lists a density of 21.09 people per square kilometre, based on the census it cites.
The geography section of English Wikipedia uses other numbers for ios greece. It calls the island roughly rectangular, about 15 kilometres long and 7 wide. The longest axis runs northwest, from Cape Karatza to the Achlades Peninsula, for 17.5 kilometres. A second axis, from northeast to southwest, measures about 14 kilometres.
English Wikipedia counts a coastline of 86 kilometres for ios greece, and the Greek Wikipedia counts 87. About 32 kilometres of the English figure are sandy beach. Wikivoyage gives a larger sand figure of 75 kilometres, so the pages do not agree. The Greek page names three leading bays: Gialos, Mylopotas and Manganari.
The Greek Wikipedia puts the largest farmable areas of ios greece on the west side. They are called Upper Kampos and Lower Kampos. The official tourism page describes the shore in other terms: it calls the island full of coves and sandy beaches. So the island has farmland on its west side and coves along its coast.
Kastro, also called Pyrgos, is the highest point of ios greece, with a height of 723 metres. The summit rises in the middle of the island, and three more peaks stand around it. Xylodema reaches 660 metres, Kostiza 586 and Prophetis Elias 490. Kastro leads the next peak by 63 metres, and all four summits rise above 480 metres.
Wikipedia states that the island consists almost entirely of metamorphic rock, with limited deposits of the Quaternary period. Wikipedia’s Cyclades page calls the islands peaks of a submerged mountain terrain, apart from volcanic Milos and Santorini. It calls the climate of the group generally dry and mild. So the island belongs to the mountain-peak type, not the volcanic type.
How is ios greece divided into villages and districts?
Ios Greece has one main village, Chora, which is also the capital. English Wikipedia describes the other settlements as small clusters of houses set behind the main beaches. It names Theodoti, Kalamos and Manganari. The whole island forms one municipality, and Chora is its seat.
Wikipedia lists ios greece as one municipality, set up in the year eighteen thirty-five, with Chora as its seat. Wikipedia adds that nine regional units now divide the former Cyclades prefecture, all inside the South Aegean region. Ios belongs to the Thira unit, as does Sikinos. English Wikipedia explains that chora means a main settlement.
Wikivoyage names three major villages on ios greece. They are Ormos, also spelled Yialos, then Chora and Milopotas. Ormos is the site of the ferry port, and Chora is the main town. Milopotas is a beach settlement close to Chora. The official tourism page adds that Chora extends to the port of Ormos.
The Greek Wikipedia lists the other settlements. By the sea it names Ormos, Psathi, Agia Theodoti and Mylopotas. It calls Manganari remote, and it places Upper Kampos in the interior of the island. English Wikipedia also names Kalamos, which the Greek list leaves out. Together these places make the village map of ios greece.
English Wikipedia describes the small settlements of ios greece as clusters of houses behind the main beaches. Wikivoyage adds that Manganari, Psathi and Agia Theodoti have no shops, but have restaurants and accommodation. It advises a traveller to check in advance, and it puts Manganari on the southern coast.
Within ios greece, Mylopotas is a small settlement, and Wikipedia gives it 151 residents in the census it cites. The name comes from a stream of the same name. It literally means river of the mills, because the stream starts from the mills of Chora. Older sources write the name Mylopotamos.
The census that Wikipedia cites counts 2,299 residents on the island. It puts the count at 3,500 in the twentieth century. A steady drop ran from the nineteen-forties to the early seventies. The Greek Wikipedia counts 1,838 people in an earlier census, 1,632 of them in Chora. In that count, the large majority of ios greece lived in its capital.
Who lived on ios greece in the earliest times?
People lived on ios greece as early as the third millennium BC, as the island’s timeline states. The clearest proof is Skarkos, an early Bronze Age village on a hill just outside Chora. Its stone houses, narrow streets and storage jars show a planned settlement.
The first chapter of ios greece begins on Skarkos hill, close to the west coast. Archaeologists place the village in the Early Cycladic period, in its second phase. It covers 1.1 hectares, and the Skarkos article estimates 200 to 300 people lived there. It calls the site the largest of the Keros-Syros culture, in the finest state of preservation.
Builders at Skarkos set stone houses on terraces that follow the slope of the hill. Every house joined two levels to an enclosed courtyard. The preserved walls rise three to four metres. From the upper streets of Chora, the walls spiral round the hill like a snail shell.
Skarkos shows how daily life ran in ios greece in the Early Bronze Age. Archaeological evidence suggests the ground floor served for food preparation. The first floor held the living room, a store for pottery and goods and, at times, a workshop. Different house sizes reveal social differences in the community.
Objects from the dig tell the earliest story of ios greece in small things. The dig turned up marble figurines, seals, tools, shells and animal bones. Pithoi, the large storage jars, held farm goods. Clay seals on pottery point to control of farm output. Chora’s museum of archaeology displays part of the finds.
The hill has a second chapter in the story of ios greece. A cemetery of the later Bronze Age lies over the old houses. Excavators worked the north and east sides from the nineteen-eighties into the nineteen-nineties. Extensive conservation then opened the site to the public. The Europa Nostra Top Prize for Conservation rewarded its minimal, sensitive repairs.
Outside powers reached the island next. The main article on the island places ios greece under Minoan influence first and then under Mycenaean influence. The Phoenicians probably arrived as well and stayed until the ninth century BC. The Skarkos article puts the island at the crossroads of Cycladic sea routes, with a sheltered natural harbour.
How did Ionians, Venetians and Ottomans rule ios greece?
Ios greece was held in turn by Ionian settlers, Athens, Rome and Byzantium. Then came Venetian lords of Naxos and the Ottomans. The island raised the flag of the Greek revolution in the first year of the war. It became part of Greece in the eighteen-thirties.
Ios greece turned Ionian after the Phoenician years. Its membership in the Delian Amphictyony is the proof. From 534 BC the island paid taxes to Athens. Its strongest years came in Classical and Hellenistic times, the main article says. Later it passed to the Macedonians and their successors, the Greek article adds.
Roman rule marked the start of decline for ios greece. Rome used the island as a place of exile. It lay in the Roman province of Insulae and became a bishop’s seat under the Metropolis of Rhodes. The decline went on in Byzantine times, and the bishop’s seat faded away.
Venetian rule reached ios greece in the early thirteenth century. The Duchy of Naxos, also called the Duchy of the Archipelago, then held the island. Byzantium won it back later in that century. Domenico Schiavi then conquered it, and it stayed in his family. The Duchy of Naxos took it a second time in the fourteenth century.
Under the Duchy of Naxos, the main article says, the island recovered. Francesco I Crispo took control in the fourteenth century, and his family kept it. Hayreddin Barbarossa occupied the island in the sixteenth century, yet the Crispo family stayed in charge. Then pirates attacked, and the larger part of the islanders moved to other islands.
After the last Crispo died in the sixteenth century, ios greece became Ottoman under the administration of Joseph Nasi. Albanian settlers, who came to repopulate the island, took up Greek speech by the late eighteenth century. In Ottoman years, the Greek article adds, French pirates made the island their lair.
Ios greece joined the revolt early, as the war of independence began. It had no strong navy, the article notes. Panagiotis Amoiradakis raised the flag on the first of March. The island joined the naval battle at Kusadasi in July of that year. In the eighteen-thirties it became part of Greece.
What is the story of Homer’s tomb on ios greece?
The story of Homer’s tomb on ios greece is a legend, and the sources label it so. Tradition says the poet died on the island, where his mother came from, and was buried there. A monument at Plakoto is shown as his grave, but nobody has proved it.
The legend begins at Delphi. According to Pausanias, Homer asked the oracle about his parents. The reply named his mother’s home: the island of ios greece, which will accept him when he dies. It also warned him to beware the riddle of young children. The poet, the article says, did not heed the warning and travelled to Ios.
On the coast of ios greece, children were fishing. Homer asked what they had caught. They answered that they left what they caught and carried what they missed. The answer was lice, and he failed to solve it. He ran off, slipped on the muddy road and hit his head. He died almost at once.
The article gives two other versions of the death on ios greece. In one, Homer died of sadness because he failed to solve the riddle. In the other, he was already seriously ill and went there, knowing he was dying. None of this rests on historical records, the same page adds. It comes from myths and oral tradition.
The Homer article adds that the majority of ancient accounts place his death on Ios. Two epigrams by Alcaeus of Messene mark his death and burial there. As a member of the League of the Islanders, ios greece minted its own coins. Their designs were Homer, a palm tree and Athena, who was worshipped on the island.
In the seventeen-seventies, Heinrich Leonard Pasch van Krienen came to ios greece to find the grave. He found three graves, and the last bore a line about the sacred head of Homer. Slips in the grammar of the inscription led him to question the find. He also found two graves at Agia Theodoti before he gave up.
Today a travel page puts the tomb at Plakoto in the north-east, on a cliff-top. A marble plaque there carries the line about the holy head of Homer. A Greek tourism page adds the ruins of a Hellenistic tower. In the eighteen-eighties, Theodore and Mabel Bent visited what Mabel’s notes call the supposed tomb of Homer.
What does Chora offer in ios greece?
Chora is the main village and the capital of ios greece. Wikipedia calls it a quintessentially Cycladic village. Its houses are whitewashed, its alleys narrow and its stairways steep, so cars can hardly enter. It rises on the hillside above the harbour, and its name means a main settlement in Greek.
A Greek tourism page describes the shape of the village in ios greece. Cube-shaped houses are built in tiers like an amphitheatre, with churches on the slopes. The same page adds that Chora stands on top of the ancient town. Its lanes hold whitewashed steps, flowers in the courtyards, arcades and children in the squares.
Windmills and churches give the skyline of ios greece its look. The national tourism site counts twelve windmills and notes churches with arched bell towers and blue domes. Greek Wikipedia pictures the church of Saint Catherine in Chora. The English article shows the windmills of Chora among its main pictures.
The tourism site counts more than 300 churches in ios greece. It names Panagia Gremiotissa, the Virgin of the Cliff, as the leading one. Its site is the summit of the village, right on the cliff edge, with the view out to sea. A second page puts it beside the Venetian castle.
On the fifteenth of August, ios greece celebrates a traditional festival of this church. The icon travels in a procession through Chora, and island songs and dancing go on until dawn. Another church tells a different story. The only Catholic church on Ios stands near the primary school and dates from the fourteenth century.
A modern landmark of ios greece crowns the hill. The plans for the amphitheatre came from Peter Haupt, a German architect. Wikipedia counts it among the works supported by European Community funds. The Greek tourism page names it the Odysseas Elytis Theatre. It seats 1,100, follows ancient Greek models and carries the name of the Nobel poet.
Daily life shows in the cafes. Wikivoyage describes the daytime scene: locals sit in the cafes, chat and play backgammon, and the village stays quiet. It places the tourist information kiosk of the municipality at the central bus station. Wikipedia adds that Chora holds a kindergarten, a high school and a senior high school.
What does Ormos harbour offer in ios greece?
Ormos, also called Gialos or Yialos, is the ferry harbour of ios greece. Wikivoyage lists it as one of the three major villages of the island. Wikipedia says the island’s port sits on the northern side of Ormos harbour, below the hill of Chora.
The harbour of ios greece has a sheltered setting. Greek Wikipedia says the island has one of the safest harbours of the Cyclades, on its west side. The same page lists Gialos, Mylopotas and Manganari as the three main bays of the island. Gialos, the port bay, comes first on that list.
The west side of ios greece also holds the largest farmland of the island, as Greek Wikipedia states. The farmland has two named areas, Epano Kampos and Kato Kampos, which mean upper and lower. The same page lists Epano Kampos as a settlement in the interior, away from the sea. Harbour and fields share one coast.
From the harbour of ios greece two ways lead up to Chora. Wikipedia describes a footpath on the hillside. Wikivoyage calls it a long stair and the direct way. It says buses and cars take a much longer, winding road uphill. The stair is the short way up, and the road is the long way round.
Taxis wait close to the boats. Wikivoyage places a taxi station in Yialos right in front of the ferry boat pier. A second station stands in Chora at the central bus station. The pier of ios greece and its taxi stand sit side by side. Greek Wikipedia’s picture of Chora shows the port in view at the right.
The harbour is also a place for sea sport. Wikivoyage says that in Milopotas, Yialos and Maganari you can dive, windsurf, water-ski or ride inflatable donuts behind speed boats. Greek Wikipedia names the same places and adds jet ski, wake-boarding and kitesurfing. Organised businesses run these sports at the port.
A sandy beach lies close to the port. Wikivoyage names Yialos Sandy Beach, near the port, as the alternative way to a quiet holiday. That puts a swim within easy reach of the pier in ios greece. One travel page calls the island largely undeveloped and names only Chora, Mylopotas and the port.
How do the nightlife and the quiet side of ios greece fit together?
Ios Greece holds two moods in one island. One is a night scene gathered in Chora. The other is a calm side of beaches, paths and small villages. A Greek tourism page gives the island the title Sleepless Island of the Cyclades. It calls the island a pole of attraction for young people.
The tourism pages show both sides plainly. One page speaks of an international reputation for nightlife. Another describes an island with two faces, the Ios of fun and the Ios of light. It places the second face on the morning after the party. Wikivoyage says the island was long a party island but now offers something for all ages.
The night scene of ios greece is not new. Wikivoyage says hippies flocked to the island for their summer solstice in the nineteen-seventies. One travel page says backpackers began to discover the island in the same decade. Wikipedia adds a newer story: from the nineteen-nineties the island tried to draw visitors of more than one kind.
In ios greece the evening scene centres on Chora. Wikipedia says the central path of Chora is lined with places to eat, boutiques, bars and discotheques. Wikivoyage calls the nightlife cosmopolitan yet traditional and names the main square as the meeting point. Wikipedia adds that Mylopotas, close to Chora, also has night clubs.
The calm side of ios greece starts the same evening. Wikivoyage says Yialos, the port, and Mylopotas beach are places to escape the crowds. It adds that regular buses or boats take travellers to other beaches, where peaceful areas wait. Two travel pages describe September as a quieter month on the island.
The footpaths belong to the quiet side of ios greece. Greek Wikipedia explains that they formed the road network of the island for centuries. They lie at a low altitude, walking them is not hard, and they stay open all year. Volunteers have cleaned and marked a large part of the six routes.
Beyond Chora and the port, the settlements of ios greece are small. Wikipedia pairs Theodoti, Kalamos and Manganari, three main beaches, with small clusters of houses set behind them. Wikivoyage sends walkers from Chora or Mylopotas to the peaks of Profiti Ilias and Pyrgos. It also reminds walkers that a large area of Ios is protected as a nature reserve.
Which beaches stand out in ios greece?
The beaches that stand out in ios greece are Mylopotas, Manganari, Koumbara, Kalamos and Psathi. Mylopotas lies closest to Chora and draws the biggest crowd. Manganari in the south and Psathi on the east side lie far from the main village.
Mylopotas sits about two kilometres from Chora by road, as the national tourism page states. The name means river of the mills, after a stream whose source lies by the windmills of Chora. Greek Wikipedia calls it the busiest beach of ios greece.
Older sources call the place Mylopotamos, Wikipedia notes. The beach is organised, with cafes and restaurants less than 40 metres from the sand. Two travel pages count more than 30 beaches around ios greece, and Mylopotas is the first stop on that list.
Manganari is the south-coast bay of ios greece. Wikivoyage calls it private yet not cut off. By car or taxi the distance from Chora is 26 kilometres, which the national tourism page puts at 45 minutes. One travel page counts four beaches in the bay, and a second page describes four pools along the shore.
Koumbara sits on the north-western shore of ios greece, past the port, as two travel pages state. One page links its popularity with the short distance to Gialos and adds sunset views. Another names the beaches of Lorentzena and Diamoudia north of Koumbara, both reachable by car.
Kalamos lies on the east side of ios greece, set in a nature reserve, one travel page says. The page advises snorkelling gear. The water is clear, and the rocks at the end of the beach hold marine life. Papa, a cove, lies south of Kalamos, and Greek Wikipedia lists it among the beaches.
Psathi lies 17 kilometres from Chora, a 30-minute drive, on the national tourism page. Two travel pages name it as a spot for windsurfers on windy days. One of them warns that the rough road to the beach is hazardous for motorcyclists. Psathi is the east-side beach to try in a breeze.
Greek Wikipedia names the Three Chapels as a small beach with a hard approach. Pikri Nero, in the south-west, is a bay of three beaches. One travel page says boats from the port of Gialos reach it. Two travel pages note that certain coves of ios greece can be reached only by boat.
Which ruins and sights lie beyond the towns of ios greece?
The ruined Venetian castle of Paleokastro lies in the north, beyond the towns of ios greece. A cobbled path leads to it along the cliff edge, 300 metres above the sea. Hill chapels, a stone lighthouse and the Skarkos hill add more stops.
Wikipedia dates the castle to the fifteenth century and sets it in the north. The church of Panagia Palaiokastritissa stands within the castle. That makes Paleokastro the stone landmark of the countryside in ios greece. A photo on Greek Wikipedia looks south-west from Paleokastro.
The national tourism page describes the cobbled path along the cliff edge. A second travel page describes a steep path from Chora toward Psathi. Wikivoyage lists the old castle, Paleocastro, among the sights of ios greece.
Wikivoyage describes a four-day walk around Mount Pyrgos in ios greece. It passes Klima, Manganari, Kalamos, Psathi and Agia Theodoti, then Kalamos Monastery and the Paleokastro ruins. Two travel pages report traces of walls and old buildings inside the castle.
The oldest church of ios greece stands in the north-east, as the national tourism page states. The sixteenth century saw it rise over the remains of an old temple of Apollo. The page calls the church Agia Theodoti.
Tradition counts 365 churches and chapels on ios greece, a number that matches the days in a year. A travel page says residents care for them, and that feasts honour the saints through the year. Another places the monastery of Agios Ioannis Prodromos on the summit of the island.
A stone lighthouse stands at the harbour entrance. Greek Wikipedia says visitors reach it on a route from the Koumbara area. Another travel page places the lighthouse at the port of ios greece, which fits that route.
The hill of Skarkos lies near the port, in the Campos area, and a prehistoric village once stood there. The archaeological museum in Chora sits in a neoclassical mansion that it shares with the town hall. The national tourism page lists Cycladic artefacts, Hellenistic and Roman sculptures, and Middle and Late Bronze Age relics.
Which foods and drinks belong to ios greece?
Cheese leads the foods of ios greece. It comes mainly from the municipal creamery, made with goat or sheep milk. Skotiri, a soft white cheese with the scent of summer savory, is the cheese the island is known for.
Skotiri gets its name from the goat skin, called askos, in which the cheese once ripened. It mixes sheep and goat milk with aromatic herbs, mainly savory. Today tin boxes replace the skins, as a Greek food page states. Sheep and goats are the main herds of the island, with cattle besides.
Four more cheeses belong to ios greece. The national tourism page describes myzithra as soft and white. It calls kefalotiri yellow and spicy, and ksino creamy and bitter. One travel page adds graviera to the list. It also notes a shop at the port that sells cheese from local producers.
Two dishes of ios greece come from the garden and the field. Tsimedia are flowers stuffed with rice, and the national tourism page links them with springtime. Mermitzeli is handmade barley, as Wikipedia lists it. One travel page sums up the cooking as traditional Cycladic, built on olive oil, legumes, fish, cereals and vegetables.
One travel page lists chickpea soup and fried chickpea balls among the local dishes. Another page calls chickpeas with sun-dried fish, baked in the traditional oven, the typical food of ios greece.
Bees feed on thyme, and the island honey comes mainly from it. A variety from the flowers of late spring stands out for its aroma, taste and colour, one travel page states. The national tourism page also mentions the local honey.
On the hills of ios greece grow oregano, sage and thyme, together with capers and fennel, on one travel page. A second page lists pennyroyal too and says visitors can pick the herbs in season.
Pasteli is a sesame bar bound with honey, and two travel pages list it. Mizithropitakia are small cheese pies with honey poured over them. Watermelon pie, dried figs and amygdalota, marzipan macarons, round off the sweet table of ios greece. Avgokalamara, a cousin of the Christmas treat diples, joins the list.
Fresh fish reaches the port of Gialos by boat nearly every day, one travel page states. The same page says small producers make wine on the island. New vineyards grow Assyrtiko and Mandilaria grapes. The island also has its own distilled spirit, Nios tsikoudia.
How do travellers reach ios greece by sea?
Ios greece has no airport, as two travel pages state. A traveller arrives by sea at the port of Ormos. Wikivoyage names Santorini, Naxos, Heraklion and Piraeus as the places to sail from. Daily sailings leave Piraeus for the island, by ordinary ferry or by fast catamaran.
The Greek Wikipedia page for Ios gives its sea distances in nautical miles. The island lies 111 nautical miles from Piraeus, 72 from Heraklion and 55 from the port of Ermoupoli. Ermoupoli is the seat of the Cyclades, and Wikivoyage places it on the island of Syros. Of the three, the sea road to ios greece is longest from Piraeus.
One travel page gives the crossing from Athens to ios greece as four to seven hours. The time depends on the route and the type of ferry. Another page calls the high-speed ferry from Piraeus a five-hour trip. The Cyclades page on Wikivoyage puts the fast boats at half the journey time of the ordinary ferries.
Piraeus is not the only mainland port for ios greece. The same travel page says Athens ferries sail to the island from Piraeus and from Rafina. Wikivoyage’s Cyclades page names Piraeus, Rafina and Lavrio as the mainland ports of the island group. It adds that Rafina can suit a traveller who has just landed at the Athens airport.
Flying part of the way is the other plan for ios greece. The national tourism page pairs a 50-minute flight from Athens to Santorini with a 35 to 45 minute ferry. By way of Mykonos, it pairs a 45-minute flight with a ferry of one hour and 25 minutes. Both routes end at the harbour of Ios.
The harbour is the front door of ios greece. The Greek Wikipedia page calls it one of the safest harbours of the Cyclades, on the island’s west side. English Wikipedia locates the Port of Ios on the northern side of Ormos harbour and notes an organised marina. Wikivoyage gives Yialos as the second name of Ormos.
Wikivoyage’s Cyclades page says a number of boat services stop by the close of October and start again by April. It warns of weather delays and cancellations. The Ios page advises booking the ferries of a multi-island trip together, since pickup and arrival times can change. Check the official timetable before the ios greece plan is fixed.
How do travellers move around ios greece?
Three villages shape every trip around ios greece: Ormos (also called Yialos), Chora and Mylopotas. Wikivoyage says buses join the three in summer. Taxis wait at the central bus station in Chora and at the ferry pier in Yialos.
The first move on land is the climb from the port. Wikivoyage calls the direct way from the port to Chora a long stair. Buses and cars take a much longer, winding road uphill. Wikipedia also describes a footpath that leads uphill from the harbour to Chora. A traveller does well to carry light bags.
Inside Chora the way is on foot. Cars largely cannot reach the heart of the village, as Wikipedia describes narrow alleys and steep stairways there. Two travel pages add a summer tip for ios greece. One calls the walk up the hill a workout. The other finds summer afternoons too hot for village lanes and saves Chora for after dinner.
Wikivoyage calls Chora the main town and Ormos the home of the ferry port. Mylopotas lies close to Chora. For the other beaches, the page names regular buses or boats. It adds that boats run between the major coastal towns, which gives ios greece a second road on the water.
Wikivoyage says cars and motorcycles can be rented in Chora. A number of the rental places ask for a driver of 25 years or older with valid identification. The page rates a moped or an ATV as the top choice on ios greece. With an ATV a traveller can go up a mountain and find a secluded beach.
Wikivoyage advises extreme caution when driving at night and calls the bus the wise choice after dark. Its Cyclades page gives one more tip for any rental on the islands: check the vehicle before making any decision. English Wikipedia notes that the island has an adequate road network, with new roads paved since the nineteen-nineties.
Walkers have a third road. The Greek Wikipedia page says the old paths of ios greece served as the island’s road network for centuries. They lie at a fairly low height, and walking on them is not especially hard. They stay open all year, and volunteers have cleaned and signposted a large part of them.
The same page lists six routes for ios greece. One climbs from Chora past the theatre to Profitis Ilias. Another links Chora with the beaches of Katsiveli and Mylopotas. Wikivoyage adds day walks from Chora or Mylopotas to the peaks of Profiti Ilias and Pyrgos. Wikivoyage also reminds walkers that a nature reserve covers a large area of Ios.
When do travellers visit ios greece, and what do they pack?
Ios greece has a hot semi-arid climate, as Wikipedia states. Its climate table shows an August average high of 29.3 degrees Celsius. The Cyclades page of Wikivoyage favours two windows for the island group: late spring with June, and September to mid-October.
Summer is the hot, dry and busy season. The table gives average highs of 29.2 degrees in July and 29.3 in August. Rain totals 0.1 millimetres in July and none in August. Wikipedia says an almost constant north breeze, the meltemi, moderates the heat of ios greece.
Three travel pages point to the shoulder months. One puts the party season of ios greece from mid-June to mid-August and calls the island much quieter after it. Another recommends late spring and June, or September and October, for fewer people and good weather. The third says local residents pick September, when the sea is still warm enough to swim.
The shoulder months of ios greece show up in the numbers. September sits at 26.8 degrees for the daily high and 22.4 for the low, with 1.6 millimetres of rain. In October the high is 24.6 degrees and rain rises to 33.7 millimetres. Wikivoyage’s Cyclades page says rain starts to fall in October.
Winter on ios greece looks different. In January the table gives 14.7 degrees for the daily high and 10.1 for the low. It is the wettest month, with 74 millimetres of rain. Wikivoyage’s Cyclades page calls the beaches warm from late spring to the middle of October. In certain years the first and last weeks can turn unseasonably chilly.
Packing follows the steps, the sun and the wind. Wikipedia says Chora has steep stairways, so shoes with a firm grip suit them. For walks, Wikivoyage lists plenty of water, a hat, sun protection and good boots. It adds wind protection for late July and August. Pack light for ios greece, as the lanes of Chora are steep.
Evenings cool down in the shoulder months. The table gives an April low of 14 degrees and a November low of 16.5. A light jacket suits the evenings of ios greece then. In August the average low is 24.5 degrees, so a jacket matters less in the height of summer.
What else do travellers ask about ios greece?
What are the dry-stone paths of ios greece?
The Greek Wikipedia page calls the footpaths of ios greece a part of the history of the place. They formed the road network of the island for centuries, and today they are an important part of its tourism.
The page ties the paths to dry-stone walling, a craft that passes from parents to children. Greece listed that craft as its sixth item on the UNESCO list for the intangible heritage of humanity. The page names the paths of Ios as the typical case.
The page lists six walking routes on ios greece. One runs from Chora past Skarkos, Elinika and Agia Triada to Agios Prokopios. Another joins the beach of Agia Theodoti with the beach of Paleokastro. A third climbs from Chora past Agios Dimitrios, Agios Ioannis Prodromos and Agios Georgios to Pyrgos.
Can a traveller fly from Thessaloniki to ios greece?
Not directly. The island has no airport, so the flight lands on a neighbouring island and a ferry finishes the trip. The official tourism page for ios greece lists two routes that start at Thessaloniki Airport in Macedonia.
The first route flies to Santorini Airport and takes one hour and 30 minutes. The ferry from Santorini to Ios then takes 35 to 45 minutes. The page gives each leg its own travel duration.
The second route flies to Mykonos Airport and takes one hour and 10 minutes. The ferry from Mykonos to Ios then takes from one hour and 25 minutes to two hours and 40 minutes. The page gives a range for this leg, so a traveller checks the timetable of the chosen day.
One travel page adds that Santorini, Paros and Naxos all have airports. It says they can join Ios in an island-hopping plan.
Which island lies next to ios greece on the way to Folegandros?
Sikinos lies there. It is a Cycladic island with a municipality of its own. Wikipedia sets it against ios greece and other nearby islands, because Sikinos is quiet and relatively less developed.
Sikinos has two villages. Allopronia on the south side is the port, and the chora stands higher up in the hills. The chora is made of two settlements side by side, Castro in the west and Chorio in the east. The beach at the harbour is one of two large sandy beaches.
Ancient Greeks called the island Oinoe, which means the island of wine. Old terraces from the days of large-scale farming cover almost its whole area. The page counts three paved roads and seven mapped footpaths. It adds that the terrain makes much of the island hard to reach.
What other names has ios greece carried?
The island has gone by different names over time. Wikipedia says the Phoenicians named it Phiniki, after themselves. Pliny the Elder gave another origin for the name Ios. He tied it to the Ionians who once lived on the island.
A map from the early fifteenth century already uses the name Nio for ios greece. The Greek page credits that map to Cristoforo Buondelmonti.
A short renaming came in the third century BC. For a time the island carried the name Arsinoe, a tribute to Arsinoe II. She was married to Ptolemy II. The page ties the change to the entry of ios greece into the island league.
In Ottoman years, the names Anza and Aina were in use. Wikipedia says Ios was fixed as the official name in the nineteenth century. People had used the word for two thousand years by then.
Where can the ancient coins of ios greece be found?
During the years of the island league, in the third and second century BC, Ios issued coins of its own. Wikipedia notes that 28 different coins are known.
As the page states, the larger share is in the Berlin Archaeological Museum and the British Museum. Greek letters on the larger part mean “of the people of Ios”. So each coin names the island that struck it, and a coin lover looks in those two museums first.
The timeline of the same page gives other dates. It puts the first coin with Homer at 350 BC and the entry into the league at 314 BC. Both numbers sit earlier than the third century, so the page keeps two versions of the story of ios greece.