Tourist information -
Andhros
Andhros, the second largest and northernmost of
the Cyclades, has a number of fine features to offer the visitor
and is a great place for serious walkers. Thinly populated but prosperous,
its fertile, well-watered valleys have attracted scores of Athenian
holiday villas whose red-tiled roofs and white walls stand out among
the greenery. Some of the more recent of these have robbed many
of the villages of life and atmosphere, turning them into scattered
settlements with no nucleus, and creating a weekender mentality
manifest in noisy Friday and Sunday evening traffic jams at the
ferry dock. The island doesn't cater to independent travellers,
and it can be difficult to find a bed during high season, especially
at weekends. On the positive side, the permanent population is distinctly
hospitable; traditionally working on ships, they are only too happy
to try out their English on you. Together with some of the more
idiosyncratic reminders of the Venetian period, such as the peristereónes
(pigeon towers) and the frakhtes (dry-stone walls, here raised to
the status of an art form), it is this friendliness that lends Andhros
its charm.
Ferries connect the island with Rafína on the mainland,
only an hour from Athens on the bus, and you can loop back onto
the central Cycladic routes via Mykonos, Tinos or Syros. A bus usually
meets arriving ferries and runs to Batsi and on to Hóra at
least six times a day in the high season.
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