FOLEGANDROS-GREECE

Folegandros, or Pholegandros, is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea which, together with Sikinos, Ios, Anafi and Santorini, forms the southern part of the Cyclades. Its surface area is about 32 square kilometres (12 square miles) and it has 667 inhabitants. It has three small villages, Chora, Karavostassis, and Ano Meria, which are connected by a paved road.
Little is known about the ancient history of Folegandros. Its inhabitants were Dorians. Later it came under Athenian rule. The island was conquered in 1207 by the Venetian Marco Sanudo and remained under the rule of Venice until 1566, when it was taken by the Ottoman Turks. The Greeks reclaimed it in the 19th century.
Folegandros' landscape is varied, and includes tall cliffs and a large cave. The "capital" of the island, Chora, is built on the edge of a 200-metre high cliff. The port of Folegandros is the small town of Karavostassis. The village of Ano Meria contains a small but interesting Ecological and Folklore Museum. Among the notable beaches on Folegandros is Katergo, accessible only by boat from Karavostassis.
Folegandros is one of many secluded Greek Isles that offer nature in its most pristine settings. With its clean blue ocean waters it was named by the Travel Channel, as one of the Top 10 Beaches in the World.

ACROCORINTH (GREECE)

Acrocorinth (Greek: Ακροκόρινθος), the acropolis of ancient Corinth, is a monolithic rock overseeing the ancient city of Corinth, Greece. It was continuously occupied from archaic times to the early nineteenth century. The city's archaic acropolis, already an easily defensible position due to its geomorphology, was further heavily fortified during the Byzantine Empire as it became the seat of the strategos of the Thema of Hellas. Later it was a fortress of the Franks after the Fourth Crusade, the Venetians and the Ottoman Turks. With its secure water supply, Acrocorinth's fortress was used as the last line of defense in southern Greece because it commanded the Isthmus of Corinth, repelling foes from entry into the Peloponnesian peninsula. Three circuit walls formed the man-made defense of the hill. The highest peak on the site was home to a temple to Aphrodite which was Christianized as a church, and then became a mosque. The American School began excavations on it in 1929. Currently, Acrocorinth is one of the most important medieval castle sites of Greece.


Map of Acrocorinth.In a Corinthian myth related in the second century CE to Pausanias, Briareus, one of the Hecatonchires, was the arbitrator in a dispute between Poseidon and Helios, between the sea and the sun: his verdict was that the Isthmus of Corinth belonged to Poseidon and the acropolis of Corinth (Acrocorinth) to Helios.

The Upper Pirene spring is located within the encircling walls. "The spring, which is behind the temple, they say was the gift of Asopus to Sisyphus. The latter knew, so runs the legend, that Zeus had ravished Aegina, the daughter of Asopus, but refused to give information to the seeker before he had a spring given him on the Acrocorinthus."
(Copyright Photo Kelly Linardou)