Welcome to Thassos Island

Thasos. Verdurous. Deep blue. Scenic and unpredictable. Thassos Island long-suffering and glorified. Thasos Island which gave birth to sculptures, painters, thassosrhetoricians and famous athletes, but mostly to simple men of the sea and earth, men who suffered and fought for their land. Rich forests of Thassian pines, black pines and Macedonian pines cover the entire island. Scenic small villages are revealed among the forests or nearby the seaside. Feast of colors and sceneries vary from the green-blue of the sea, to the white of the houses and marbles, or the green of the pines. Lacy seashores, rough rocks, unsighted caves and natural ponds offer the chance for thrilling experiences. Herodotus refers the occurrence of "intrinsic" gold, even if this has not been verified until today. However, the small paradise that you can discover in Thassos, reminds you that there are things in life much more valuable than the entire gold of the world. Discover it!

Thassos Island International version

Limenas, (Thassos town)

The small town of Thassos (or Limenas, as it is called by the Thassians) is build in the recess of a gulf, between capes Evreokastro to the east and Pachi to the west.

Limenas is the administrative and commercial center of Thassos. There are many hotels here, restaurants, tourist and other kinds of shops, banks, the customhouse, the police, phone company and post office buildings and the bus station. The town of Thassos also presents a great interest from an archeological point of view, so much for the remaining ruins that were unearthed, as for the rich findings that are exhibited in it’s museum.

Panagia

Panagia is a classic village with a rich history and, unfortunately, many unknown aspects. It is one of the richest and most important villages in the island. It was built around 300 years ago, yet in the Byzantine era there was a settlement here called “Anastasion”.

We do not know when it got its present name. Shortly after the revolution of 1821, it became the capital of the island. Its location, a gorge on the side of the mountain, makes it invisible from the open sea. The houses have covered balconies, schist roofs and are covered in wood from the inside. The village church is large and has ancient stones enwalled.

Limenaria

Driving the coastal road, leaving behind the steep and greenery cape of Kefala, someone arrives in the small picturesque bay of Tripiti, which is a beautiful beach with very clean sea and fine sand, and then finds the town of Limenaria with the settlement Kalivia which are in a high touristy development. According to the last census the residents of Limenaria are almost the same number as these of Limena, the capital of Thassos.

Natural Resources

Thassos has some of the richest soils between the Aegean islands. Fruits, honey, olives, olive oil and wine are some of the most famous products, not only in Greece, that the island has to offer. The big forest fires in the 80s, destroyed the largest part of the pine forests resulting in the extinction of the wolf and the jackal, whose numbers were already zero. Nowadays in Thassos you can find foxes, hares, badgers and few smaller mammals (May 2010: emails-argue recieved, from local people that they say there are no foxes in island ).

Potamia - Skala Potamias

Potamia is one of the most known small villages of the island. Build on the foothills of the tallest mountain of Thassos, it offers a spectacular verdurous scenery with intense vegetation. The lovers of hitchhiking will find in this village an ideal path, literally stuffed in green, leading up to the mountain and to the conquest of it’s tallest peek, Ypsario.

Location

Thassos is the northest island of the Aegean Sea located 8km. across the coast of East Macedonia -from Keramoti and the Nestos river delta- in Longitude of 40° 34' - 40° 48' and Latitude of 24° 31' - 24°47 and around 10 nautical miles from Kavala.

Mythology

According to Greek mythology, the first inhabitant and founder of the island, was a namesake man called Thassos. Thassos was either the son or the grandson of Aginoras, King of Phoenicia, who turned up in Thassos while trying to find Europa who had been kidnapped by Zeus in virtue of his passionate love.