Thassos

The island comes under the prefecture of Kavala and is the northern island of the Aegean sea. Thassos is an island with rich vegetation with lots of olive trees and pinewoods and its beaches have crystal waters and thin white sand. The settlements of the island have elements of traditional Thracian – Macedonic architecture and the traditional way of life in the villages is very interesting. Thassos has a very good tourist infrastructure, which is in harmony with the beautiful picture of the island.

Thassos is famous for its marbles and for the oil deposits in the undersea area. The most important monuments of Thassos are archaeological and they belong to the cluster of ruins of the ancient city. The new city of Thassos is built over the ancient city in a place of particular strategic importance. Today one can admire the ruins of the ancient walls (length 5 km), the ancient market with many sanctums (Zeus Agoraios, the grave of Glaukos, the monument of Thagenis and the altar of Gaios and Leykios Kaisara), the conservatoire, the theatre and the citadel. In the wider region are the sanctums of Hercules, hero of the island, Dionysos, Neptune and Artemida.

Beaches

• Near Limena are the beaches Limenas, Glyfada and Makryammnos.
• Other beaches of the island are Koinyra, Alyki, Astrida, Limenaria, Chrisi Ammoudia, Chrisi Akti, peykari and Psisli Ammos.

What to shop
Honey, olives, nut and fig conserves.

According to archaeological discoveries, the island of Thassos is inhabited since the Stone Age, while samples of human presence and marks of metallurgic action continue and in the prehistoric era. At the antiquity, the island had rich deposits of coper, gold, lead and iron. Sources report that in the island lived Thracians until the 7th century BC, when settlers from Paros founded in the northern part of the island a coastal settlement. During the Archaic and Classic period, Thassos exploiting its rich natural wealth and its important geopolitical position managed to develop into an important commercial and economic center of the Aegean Sea. Later the island appended to the Pan-Hellenic Macedonian state of Phillipos II and had a new period of prosperity during the Roman occupation. The island was attacked and raided from Slavs and Arabs, and at the Middle-Byzantine years it was other times the naval base of the Empire and other times the base of operation of pirates. Thassos was conquered from Venetians, Turks and Egyptians and was finally annexed with the Greek state in 1913.