Theme Week Cyclades – Sifnos

24 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Artemonas © Margaritaprounia/cc-by-sa-3.0

Artemonas © Margaritaprounia/cc-by-sa-3.0

Sifnos is an island municipality. The main town, near the center, known as Apollonia, is home of the island’s folklore museum and library. The town’s name is thought to come from an ancient temple of Apollo on the site of the church of Panayia Yeraniofora. The second-largest town is Artemonas (800), thought to be named after an ancient temple of Apollo’s sister-goddess Artemis, located at the site of the church of Panayia Kokhi. The village of Kastro (118), built on top of a high cliff on the island’s northwestern shore on the site of the ancient city of Siphnos, today has extensive medieval remains and is the location of the island’s archeological museum. The port settlement, on the west coast of the island is known as Kamares.   read more…

Theme Week Cyclades – Paros

22 January 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Paros Collage © Dimorsitanos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Paros Collage © Dimorsitanos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Paros is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about 8 kilometres (5 miles) wide. It lies approximately 100 mi (161 kilometres) south-east of Piraeus. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets totaling 196.308 square kilometres (75.795 sq mi) of land. Its nearest neighbor is the municipality of Antiparos, which lies to its southwest. Historically, Paros was known for its fine white marble, which gave rise to the term “Parian” to describe marble or china of similar qualities. Today, abandoned marble quarries and mines can be found on the island, but Paros is primarily known as a popular tourist spot.   read more…

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