Andros is rich in local products. Of the famous local cheeses the most well known are the Armexia, Chloro, Manousos and Volaki. The island also produces tasty sausages and other pork titbits, such as Choiromourida and Sisira, lard or Paspala, Tsigarida, Sisiropita, Ziladia or Pichti. Also consider Choirosfagia, the process of preparing and storing pork, which in Andros begins in fall and last until the end of winter.

Photo: http: www.ennea-muses.gr

The marzipan cakes with flower water, kalisounia (sweet cheese pies) and nougat with local thyme honey are among the most famous products of the island. Other local sweets are the pastelaries (made with dry figs and cinnamon), pastitsakia and the spoon sweets made of lemon flower buds.

Photo: lithodomi-andros.gr

Andros produces fine quality wine in addition to foodstuffs from wine must, such as molasses, moustalevria (grape-must pudding), xeri and soutzoukia (spicy sausages). Out of the local drinks try the Soumada and the potzi (anis-based raki with honey).

Andros Routes, a non-profit organization, has done an excellent job of cleaning and signposting the hiking paths of Andros. Yet it’s also much more than simply opening hiking paths. The organization strives to protect and showcase the environmental, cultural and historical bounty of this stunning island. If you begin crisscrossing the island by foot, you’ll be passing by streams hidden in the valleys and dotted with old watermills, rocky landscapes with ponds covered by greenery, remote mountain paths with spectacular views of the sea, and so much more.

Today the hiking trails stretch over 300 km across the island, at least half of which have been signposted, with many running through designated nature spots and reserves.

You can see all the professionally marked hiking paths here as well as browse the sites to find out more about this noteworthy initiative, activities and people involved.

Photo: andros.gr

The Andros Nautical Club organizes an international open sea sailing race every year.

Photo: andros.gr

Visit Palaeopolis south of Batsi, built on the ancient capital of Andros on the slopes of the mountain Petalo, in the position of the ancient capital of Andros. This coastal settlement features a lot of green and is of great archaeological interest from Classical to Roman times with ruins, temples and streets. Objects from the market, jewellery, vessels, sculptures, etc. have been found, and are exhibited in the archaeological museum of Palaeopolis. The museum also contains ceramic and stone tools from the Geometric settlement of Zagora.

Also noteworthy is the archaeological site of Ypsili, which belongs to the Geometric period, at Kato Aprovatou with ruins of a settlement and a fortified citadel. A temple was excavated at the centre of the citadel, dating from the Archaic period (6th century B.C.). The double altar and the discoveries imply that the temple was probably a place of double adoration, perhaps of Dimitra and Persephone. The citadel also reveals evidence from four different phases in history, i.e. from the Geometric to the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The settlement was mostly abandoned by the end of the 8th century B.C., although there was some limited activity after that.

Another small, but appreciable ancient settlement was discovered in the place Mikrogiali, in the eastern coast of northern Andros. The ceramic findings show that it chronologically corresponds with another important settlement of the Cyclades in Kefala of Kea. Mikrogiali covers the very interesting transient phase from the Neolithic period to the period of Copper, in the early Cycladic era (3rd millenium B.C.), representing the beginning of the Cycladic Culture.

The Menites villages known as a valuable source of water are famous since antiquity as the sources of Dionysus the god of wine. According to mythology the streams of these villages were flowing with wine.

Photo: www.discovergreece.com

Andros has two Venetian castles. The first is found in Hora. A small stone bridge connects Hora with the island where in 1207 the Castle was built by the Venetian Marino Dandolo.The castle was destroyed in 1943, at the duration of bombardments of the island by the Germans and its ruins are saved till today. The second castle is the Castle of Faneromeni or Pano Castle, which is found north of the bay of Korthi at an altitude of 600 metres. It constituted the bigger fortified settelment of Andros, which housed 1.000 residents.

Photo: www.discovergreece.com

Andros Routes, a non-profit organization, has done an excellent job of cleaning and signposting the hiking paths of Andros. Yet it’s also much more than simply opening hiking paths. The organization strives to protect and showcase the environmental, cultural and historical bounty of this stunning island. If you begin crisscrossing the island by foot, you’ll be passing by streams hidden in the valleys and dotted with old watermills, rocky landscapes with ponds covered by greenery, remote mountain paths with spectacular views of the sea, and so much more.

Today the hiking trails stretch over 300 km across the island, at least half of which have been signposted, with many running through designated nature spots and reserves.

You can see all the professionally marked hiking paths here as well as browse the sites to find out more about this noteworthy initiative, activities and people involved.