Antikythera

Thirteen kilometers to the South of Kythera, the tiny, wind-blown 22-square-kilometre island of Antikythera is linked to its bigger sister by a sporadic ferry service.  A rocky and poor island which received electricity in 1984, but it has one remarkable claim to fame: the Antikythira Mechanism, a complex mechanism for navigation, which now is in National Archeological Museum in Athens. Local attractions include good birdlife (a bird observatory has been built in the old school at Laziana) and rich flora, but it's not the place if you want company, with only 45 residents divided among a scattering of settlements- mainly in Potamos, the harbor, and Sohoria, the village. Ferries-permitting, the festival of Agios Myron is held here,on August 17- an annual reunion jamboree for the Antikythiran diaspora.

Recent excavation work above Xeropotamos has revealed the site of ancient Aigila, a 75-acre fortress city of the Hellenistic period. At the harbor below are the remains of one of ancient Greece's best-preserved warship slipways, a neosoikos, carved out of the rock.

Transportation

By ferry: Antikythera has, theoretically, a twice-weekly summer connection with Kythira (2hrs) on the Pireas-Kythera-Kastelli(Crete) run, but landings are often impossible due to adverse weather.

Useful Phone Numbers

Community Antikythera: 27360 31930

Regional Medical Center: 27360 33213

Police Station: 27360 33767

Post: 27360 38143

Port: 27360 33280