THASOS

Thasos is one of the best organised tourist islands. It combines the cool green of its trees spread all over, the golden colour of its beaches and the blue of its seas. Actually it is not a big island and it is very easy to go round it. Doing this round trip one comes across traditional villages, monasteries, sandy beaches and much more.

Thasos is very near Kavalla, about 16 nautical miles, and very near Keramoti, about 3 nautical miles. This makes it very easily accessible both to residents and to visitors to Northern Greece as there is continuous ferry traffic from both these ports all day at hourly intervals.

The road system is very good. A bus service goes round the island three times daily. There are of course rented cars, motor-bikes taxis etc.



    HISTORY


  • The first settlers were Pelasgoi and Thracians in the Neolithic ages. W e must say here that the Thracians inhabited Northern Greece up to the Danube, the northern parts of Asia Minor, Boiotia and Evoia. According to Apollodoros, Thasos was the son of Poseidon, and when Aginoras sent his children and his wife to search for Europa who Zeus abducted, Thasos went to search with them. As their search proved to be in vain Thasos stopped at this island and settled it and it took his name. At the end of the 8th century BC settlers from the island of Paros in the Cyclades arrived and in the archaic years the island's trade was substantial, particularly with the southern part of Greece and the Cyclades. During the Persian wars ,Thasos was forced to surrender to Darius, the Persian king. During the Peloponnesian war the island was contested by both Athenians and Spartans. In 340 BC Philippos the Second conquered Thasos and since then it has remained a part of Macedonia. The island consequently followed the history of the other islands and in 1459 AD was conquered by the Turks together with Samothraki, as a result of which it was almost deserted. It was freed in 1912 .
  • WHERE TO GO


    Thasos or Limenas

    This is the island's main port and capital with 2300 inhabitants. Here you can visit the ancient city, built in the 4th century BC, the agora with the sanctuaries of Theogenis and Agoraeos Zeus. Further to the south there is the Roman conservatory which is a small theater of the 2nd century AD, in the times of Emperor Adrianos. Then the Artemisio. Following a small road one reaches the shrine of Poseidon of the 4th century BC.

    The road then passes from the Gate of the Goddess on chariot , and the Gate of Hermes and the Charites. Following the route by the Walls we reach the ancient theater of the 3rd century BC. From the theater to the Acropolis to the temple of Athina and then to the cave -- a sanctuary of god Pan. After that we see the Gate of Hercules, the Gate of Dionysus, of Zeus and Hera, and the shrine of the Bear. A visit to the Archaeological museum completes the tour and the story.

    As previously said a tour by road of the whole island will take the visitor through a blue and green landscape, passing through traditional villages and exquisite sandy beaches, all in a few hours -- a real magical land. The visitor in Thasos feels comfortable, at ease, peaceful, complete, as the inhabitants are warm, polite, friendly, and the island has all the amenities and small luxuries a tourist requires. There is every kind of tourist resort from luxurious hotels to cheap clean rented rooms, to camping facilities. The sea is clean and the beaches are sandy, the sun is warm,the atmosphere on the whole is inviting. The people that come to Thasos come back again and again. In short it is one Hellenic island which keeps up both the characteristic Hellenic hospitality and the civilisation of 5000 years.

    By Lelia Mitsides
    Copyright: Hellenic Electronic Center
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