Folegandros

Map of Folegandros

Folegandros is the 19th bigger island of Cyclades, with 32,384km² and 765 inhabitants. It's located between Milos(15 miles) and Sikinos. It also called Polukandros.

The sheer cliffs of Folegandros rise 300m from the sea in places and until the early 1980s they were as effective a deterrent to tourists as they had historically been to pirates. Folegandros was used now and then as an island of political exile from Roman times right up until 1969, and life in the high, barren interior was only eased in 1974 by the arrival of electricity and the subsequent construction of a road running from the harbor to Hora(capital) and beyond. Development has been given further impetus by the recent increase in tourism and the ensuing commercialization. The island is becoming so trendy that Greek journalists speak of a new Mykonos in the making, a fact that is reflected in its swish jewellery and clothes shops. Yet away from showcase Hora and the beaches, the countryside remains mostly pristine. Donkeys are also  still very much in evidence, since the terrain on much of the island is too steep for vehicles.

The island's real character and appeal are rooted in the spectacular Hora, the capital of Folegandros, perched on a cliff-edge plateau, a steep 3km from the port. Locals and foreigners mingle at the cafes and taverns under the trees of the five adjacent squares, passing the time undisturbed by traffic, which is banned from the village center. Towards the northern cliff-edge and entered through two arcades, the defensive core if the medieval castle (Kastro) neighborhood is marked by ranks of two-storey residential houses, with almost identical stairways and slightly recessed doors.

West of Hora, a paved road threads its way along the spine of the island towards sprawling Ano Meria. In the middle of the settlement stands the large church of Agios Georgios.

Milos

Map of Milos

Milos is the 5th bigger island of Cyclades. It has 158km² extension and 5.000 population approximately. Volcanic Milos is a geologically diverse island with weird rock formations, hot springs and odd outcrops off the coast. Minoan settlers were attracted by obsidian. This and other products of its volcanic soil made it one of the most important of Cyclades in the ancient world. Today the quarrying of many rare mineral has left huge scars on the landscape but has given the island a relative prosperity which today translates into several gourmet restaurants.

The Western side of Milos, as well the other islands around it, including Kimolos, is a nature reserve protecting three endemic species: like the extremely rare Mediterranean seal, the Milos viper and the Milos wall-lizard.

Capital of Milos is Plaka, the largest of a cluster of traditional villages that huddle beneath a small crag on the road Northwest of Adhamas., the lively main port of Milos, a small hamlet until it was populated by refugees from a failed rebellion in Crete in the 1840s.