Alonnisos, Ikos, Evonymos, Liodromia, Hiliodromia - over the course of the centuries the island has been called by many different names, but very little else has changed. Alonnissos, a stopping-place on the sea routes from the Northern Aegean to Crete since the 9th millennium BC, has its own secrets in the age-old arts of ship-building, seamanship and pottery, and exercises over the visitor its own special charm. As you gaze out over the sea, the whole history of the island seems to parade before your mind's eye, like a long pageant stretching back into the early Christian era. And earlier still, as the imagination catches a glimpse of Jason in the Argo, sailing to the Black Sea to recover the Golden Fleece, and the great fleet that carried the Greek warriors to Troy. From yesteryear into the present, in the same incomparably beautiful natural setting.
Nature And Tradition
Renowed for its wines and vineyards since ancient times, the island has preserved a marvellous harmony between nature, production and development. Its soil still nourishes the wonder-working herbs that made it famous and fostered the development of folk remedies, a tradition that is reflected in the establishment here of the International Academy of Classic Homeopathy. Today, the natural cycle of a local economy based on ecologically friendly fishing, farming and stock-raising helps keep the environment unullied by the -temptations- of excessive and anarchical tourist development.
Marine Park
The island of Alonnisos provides shelter for one of the rarest of the Mediterranean's mammals: the Mediterranean, or -monk-, seal (monachus monachus), classified as an endangered species, has found an ideal refuge in the Alonnisos Marine Park. Thanks to this government initiative and the sensitive awareness of the local fishermen, the Mediterranean seal can continue to live in the same waters that have known it for thousands of years. The Alonnisos Marine Park is today a unique bio-habitat, not only for the Mediterranean seal but also for many other creatures.
Beaches
With its countless beautiful beaches and uninhabited small offshore islands, Alonissos provides its visitors with ideal opportunities to 'get away from it all' into the boundless blue of the Aegean.
A perfect Spot for relaxing holiday, this hospitable island has something for every taste, in the natural environment that its people have so carefully preserved and exploited.
Useful telephone numbers:
Town Hall: 24240 65.555
Port Authority: 24240 65.595
Police: 24240 65.205
More about Sporades islands