Greekislands.com: Andros Greece, virtual tour of andros island

ndros is the most northerly island of the Cyclades and the second largest after Naxos. It is an extremely verdant and irrigated island with plentiful running water.

Andros island is 89 nautical miles from Piraeus and 36 from Rafina. It has an area of 373 sq. km., a coastline of 177 km. and a population of 9,000.

t can be reached from Rafina by ferry, and in summer by hydrofoil.However, it is advisable if you have a car to take it with you, since this is a big island with many places of interest, a good road network and, a sound tourist infrastructure.

According to mythology, Andros took its name by the grandson of Apollo, Andros. The island was inhabited from the early prehistoric times. When the Ionians came to Andros around 1000 BC, the island's prosperity increased. It became a major sea power, established colonies in Chalkidiki, Thrace and Asia Minor and minted its own coins.

he god worshipped here was Dionysus. Tradition says that at the festivals in his honor -the Dionysia- wine flowed from a spring on the island. Andros quarreled with Athens after the Persian Wars, but afterwards became a member of the First (476 BC) and Second (376 BC) Athenian League. After the Battle of Chaeroneia, the Macedonians became masters of Andros. In 200 BC, the Romans attacked the island, forcing all the inhabitants to flee and settle at Delius in Attica, and laid it waste, before handing it over to Attalus, king of Pergamos.

uring Byzantine times, Andros was a flourishing cultural center. Michael Psellus, taught at its famous academy of philosophy in the 9th century. It was also prosperous, thanks to the silk production which was developed in the 11th and 12th century. The Venetians took Andros in 1207 and remained rulers of the island until 1556, when it was conquered by the Turks. In around 1789, the sea off Andros was the scene of the activities of the heroic freedom-fighter Lambros Katsonis. With Kea as his base, he became the terror of the Turkish fleet.


is feats, however, came to an end in 1790, with the famous sea battle which took place in the straits between Andros and Euboea, at which most of his nine vessels, were destroyed by 16 Turkish and 12 Algerian ships. Andros made a major contribution to the uprising of 1821, while many Andriots were members of the so- called "Philiki Etaireia", the secret society for promoting the Revolution.