Seeking Wanderland

Donoussa is a small picturesque Greek island in the Small Cyclades, it is located between Naxos and Amorgos, and together with Schinoussa, Irakleia, and Koufonisia, provides a feeling of serenity and the ambiance of a laid back way of life. The island took its name from the God of wine and pleasure, Dionysus. According to the Greek mythology Dionysus abducted Ariadne from Naxos to conceal her from Theseus, a hero and the king of Athens during the prehistoric period.

According to archaeological findings the island was inhabited as far as about the 3,000 BC, while in the Roman times it was considered to be a location of the exile. During the later years Donoussa was a popular refugee for the pirates who reaped the Mediterranean and over time was governed from the Venetians and the Turks.

Stavros, the island’s capital and primary harbor, is the epicenter of Donoussa and provides the majority of the island’s taverns, cafés, restaurants, stores, and other facilities and amenities. Some of the charming traditional villages scattered in the island are Mersini, Haravgi and Kaloritissa, the trail network that runs across the island, allows wanderers to visit almost all the villages and beaches on foot. The curch of Timios Stavros, the island’s patron saint, as well as Panagia and Agios Ioannis churches are offering wonderful sunset views.

Donoussa’s most notable feature is its sandy beaches and coves, for the most part unstructured and unspoiled. Kedros beach is one of the most popular, where a German ship wreck was discovered on the bottom of the sea, Vathi Limenari, where remnants from the Bronze and the Geometric era have been discovered, Livadi, and Fykio are some of the beaches providing loungers. Some of the most amazing beaches of the island can be found on the northern part of the island at the location of Kalotaritissa, with amazing landscape and turquoise waters. There are also wonderful caverns such as “Spilia Tichou” in the northwest, and “Fokospilia”, the seal cave, on the island’s eastern shore, that can be easily explored by boat.