Five Fascinating Facts About The Greek Islands

Home to some of the world’s most fascinating buildings, monuments, and historical sites, Greece is bursting with an alluringly rich history and culture just waiting to be explored. With so much to uncover on a sailing getaway in Greece, here are five fascinating facts about the Greek Islands that you might not have known.

The Significance of Turquoise Blue

You’ll see the same turquoise blue colour a lot throughout the Greek islands, with many church domes, windowsills, doors, and furniture painted in this beautiful shade because of an ancient belief that it has the ability to deter evil. The colour is known as kyanos, from which both the words ‘cyan’ and ‘cyanide’ derive.

Magnificent Marble

Paros was renowned for its fine, brilliantly white marble from the 6th Century BC, and it is believed that the marble used for the Venus de Milo came from Paros. The mines and quarries are now abandoned, with the marble that remains owned by the state and only used for important archaeological restorations.

Central to Greek Mythology

According to myth, Zeus, the god of sky and thunder, was raised on the island of Naxos, in a cave on Mount Zas. Naxos is also said to be where Theseus abandoned Princess Ariadne of Crete, following their successful attempt to kill the Minotaur.

Mysterious Caves

Antiparos is home to one of the world’s most mysterious caves. Used as shelter from the Neolithic period, it was also used as a place of worship to the goddess Artemis. There have been many notable visitors throughout the centuries, including Archilochus of Paros, who is thought to have made an inscription there, Lord Byron, and Otto, Greece’s first King.

Europe’s Second Longest Coastline

With a little help from its 2,000 islands, Greece can claim to boast Europe’s second-longest coastline, as well as the title of eleventh longest in the world. Frequently described having some of the world’s best beaches, Naxos’ Agios Prokopios beach and Mykonos’ Super Paradise beach are regarded as two of Greece’s top shoreline spots on which to relax.