Skyros Island

Skyros is the largest island in the Sporades and the southernmost of the group, lying opposite Evia, to which it belongs administratively. Situated 22 sea miles from Kymi, it has won fame for its handicrafts, especially embroideries and furniture. It is also a place whose manners and customs have come down through the centuries virtually unchanged to our own day. This island in the middle of the Aegean, with its bright sunshine and pleasant climate, offers much more than just sand and sea.

Skyros's chief settlement, simply named Horio or "Village", lies above the coast in the north part of the island. It spills down the slopes of an enormous rock, whose peak once housed the castle of a Homeric king, Lycomedes.

The island also boasts a rare species of pony no more than a metre high. Some years ago, there were as many as 2,000 of these ponies on Skyros but, gradually, as machinery replaced them in carrying out agricultural tasks, their numbers dwindled and only about 150 are left now. The municipality of Skyros and the state are currently involved in a breeding drive to prevent the species from dying out altogether.

From the mythological point of view, Skyros is one of the most interesting islands. Mythology tells us that two major events concerning ancient heroes took place there Achilles, disguised as a girl was sent by his mother, the goddess Thetis, to the court of Lykomedes, However, Odysseus who had been charged with finding the warrior, brought gifts of swords and dolls. When Achilles impulsively picked a sword he was discovered and went on to become one of the great protagonists of the Trojan War.

Theseus also sought sanctuary in the court of Lykomedes, who treacherously pushed the Athenian king off a cliff while they were on a walk. The Athenian general Kimon conquered the island in 476 B.C. and discovered the remains of the hero which he brought back to Athens to be enshrined in the Theseion.

Skiathos Island

The present city is built in the area where the ancient one was built. During the Persian Wars, at the port of the ancient city, were mooring the ships that patroled the area after dicision of the Athenians. In BC 220, it was desolated by the Macedonians and for ages it was an unimportant city. In 1204, Sporades islands were given to the authority of the Venetian family of Gizi. In 1538, Skiathos was conquered by the Turks. The Skiathians left their homes and settled at the north-east end of the island, in the impregnable castle, till 1829. During the revolution of 1821, Skiathos was the hiding place of the chieftains from Olympus and Thessalia. By the foundation of the free Greek State, the castle was abandoned and the inhabitants returned in the city -after 300 years- and rebuilt it from the start (1830). Alexander Papadiamantis, the chief of the Greek prose, was born here, in 1851. Alexander Moraitidis the writer of short stories was Skithian as well.

Beautiful city which despite the big number of houses built every year, preserves its old appearance. All the new buildings follow the lines of insular architecture. In this way, even the new built houses have roofs of tiles, traditional rooms, balconies and small yards paved with flagstones. Skiathos was leveled by the German air force during the years of the Germans`s domination. It was built again after the end of the war. In the last years it has seriously been extended because of the tourism.

Skopelos Island

The name of the island in the ancient times was Peparithos. It was changed to Skopelos in the Hellenistic Times, in the years of the Ptolemies` domination. In the Byzantine Times it was used as a place where the banished people were sent. In the years of the Franks` domination it was given to the rule of the Venetian family of Gizi and it was appended in the ducat of Naxos. In 1538 it was pillaged and desolated by the dreadful pirate Barbarossa. It was appended in the free Greek State after the end of the Turks domination.

Chora of Skopelos, the capital -characteristic insular city- has been proclaimed preserved group of houses. Its houses, with two and three floors, lean on each other, with balconies full of flowers and roofs of tiles. Inside the houses, characteristic are the levels connected to each other by stairs, the wove carpets, the embroideries and the sculptured furniture. In such a house, in the neighbourhood of Agios Ioannis, lived his childhood the writer Paul Nirvanas. Nowadays this house is a museum. Up, in the neighbourhoods of the area of "Paliomachala", a lot of castle-houses are saved while out of the city there are "kalyvia", two floors cottages, where the Skopelians stay during the time of the olives and plums`s harvest.

Alonissos Island
Alonnesus and the eleven around islets, among them uninhabited ones, constitute the homonymous community of Skopelos of Magnesia prefecture.
The island was inhabited since the Prehistorical Times. Myceneans settled there in the 14th century. In the Classic Times, two towns were developed and enriched by the export of wine. In the 4th BC century, the Athenians founded on the island a naval station. Later, it was conquered by the Romans but it was given back to Athens in BC 42. In the Middle Ages, it was pillaged by the famous pirate Barbarosa. In 1538, it became island of the Ottoman Empire. The earthquake of 1965 caused great damages in Old Alonnesus or else "Chora" and many inhabitants moved in the coastal areas or emigrated.