A day trip to Delos: An island of great history

I’d never heard of the island of Delos before but it cropped up when I was researching Mykonos. It’s a small island just half-hour via ferry from Mykonos and it turned out to be a fascinating place.

I’d bought a Greek Islands travel guide and Delos had two pages devoted to it, but when we arrived at Mykonos, our hotel loaned us a book and Delos had 33 pages dedicated to it.

I determined it was my one must-see place while staying at Mykonos. Getting there was a laugh. The 9.15am ferry had been altered to 10.00am and they said it would return at 1.00pm or 1.30pm.

Lorraine, acutely aware of the time factor occurring due to our later exit to Santorini, pleaded with them for 1.00 or we wouldn’t make the transfer. They instantly decreed a 1.00 return – so much for timetables.

We eased from the harbour and into the morning wind, passing by Gerogios Island before we arrived at this fabled place. At first view, it seemed extraordinary that 25,000 people (our guide said 30,000) lived here at one time.

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This tiny windswept speck of just 6.85sq kms in the Aegean Sea has a history, and what a history it is. According to legend, Leto had sex with Zeus (she wasn’t alone there), which greatly upset Hera, Zeus’ wife.

Article source: https://travel.startsat60.com/articles/a-day-trip-to-delos-an-island-of-great-history