Samothraki Island Greece
Frequently Asked Questions
At Kamariotissa, the island's only port, where the generally small ships land their passengers. It is a waterfront village, with taverns serving the morning catch and goats wandering about with disarming ease.
One of the most mysterious sites in Greece, six kilometres from the quay. For over a thousand years, pilgrims from across the Greek and then Roman world were initiated here into mysteries whose secret never reached us.
At this very sanctuary, in 1863. The winged statue now crowns the main staircase of the Louvre; the site museum displays a cast and tells the story of the excavation.
The Sanctuary of the Great Gods and its museum first, then Chora, the hill village five kilometres away. If time allows, the Fonias canyon walk is a fine substitute for one of the two.
Yes. Distances are short, but the terrain sets the rules: a taxi or an organised excursion is the way to link the sites without rushing.
It is an old precaution against pirates. The capital was built five kilometres inland, in an amphitheatre beneath the ruins of a medieval castle raised by the Genoese Gattilusi family.
A path following a canyon shaded by century-old plane trees on the north coast. Three quarters of an hour of easy walking leads to the first vathra, a clear pool carved at the foot of a waterfall, where the bravest swim in the running water.
Yes, at the hamlet of Therma on the north coast, named for its hot baths known since antiquity. This is an island of springs and torrents, a rarity in the Aegean.
No. The island has no large hotels or luxury shops, and tourism has standardised nothing here. It offers something else: a Homeric mountain, waterfalls, and pebble beaches often deserted even in summer.
The euro and Greek. English gets by at the port and the sites, but bring cash: the island sits well off the main circuits and cards are not accepted everywhere.
