The
Cyclades Islands
The Cyclades are a group of islands of varying sizes scattered over
the deep blue waters of the Aegean. Some of them are well known both
to the public at large and the international 'jet-set', while others
remain little known and scarcely figure on the tourist scene. Taken
as a whole, they make an ideal holiday destination for the visitors
of the most varied tastes.
A fusion of stone, sunlight and sparkling sea, the Cyclades lie to
the east of the Peloponnese and south-east of the coast of Attica;
they stretch as far as Samos and Ikaria to the east, and are bounded
to the south by the Cretan Sea.
According to the most likely tradition, they owe they name to the
notional circle which they appear to form around the sacred isle of
Delos.
The Cyclades have exercised a powerful charm since ancient times,
even though access to them then was not particularly easy. This was
the birthplace of one of the Mediterranean 's most important civilizations,
one which took its name from the islands: the Cycladic civilization
(3000-1000 BC).
Geologists attribute the peculiar form which the Cyclades take today
to a succession of geological upheavals - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
movements of the earth's crust - which resulted in the submergence
of large chunks of land. Many believe that one such stretch of land
was the lost continent of Atlantis.
The diverse outlines of the islands as they protrude from the blue
waters of the Aegean, bathed in the dazzling sunlight and embellished
with little white houses, resemble, in the words of the Nobel Prize-winning
poet Odysseas Elytis, "stone horses with rampant manes". Above all,
the people who live here, with their own individual approach to the
world, bring to life the narrow alleyways of the villages, the pathways
of the countryside, the countless tiny chapels, the windmills and
the dovecotes or the wind-bitten hillsides. They are themselves a
basic feature of the charm which this possess.
Yet, in spite of the characteristics which the islands have in common
- sparkling sea, sun, the landscape and the austere line of the architecture
- each retains its own individual features, which visitors can discover
as they explore them one by one.
The Cycladic islands enjoy a Mediterranean climate, with an average
temperature for the year of 18-19°C. The winters are mild and the
summers - by Greek standards - cool, thanks to the beneficial effects
of the seasonal winds known as the 'meltemia'. |
