If you’ve never heard of Thassos, you’re missing out. Off the tourist trail, but well worth the trek, this pretty, pine-covered Greek island is one of the Aegean’s hidden gems, blessed with all kinds of natural resources and secret charms.
People have been travelling to Thassos, the northernmost of the Greek islands, for millennia. The Phoenicians came for gold; the Romans for marble; 16th-century pirates for plunder, which is why the older villages are hidden from sight in the mountains. These days, settlements stretch around the coast, and tourism is the main trade, but it’s genial, low-rise, take-it-or-leave it stuff. Wandering the island’s little towns and tavernas, you’re more likely to receive hugs and handshakes than the hard sell.
Situated 100km from Thessaloniki, and, improbably, even closer to Bulgaria, Thassos is just a short hop from coastal Keramoti on the mainland by car ferry. This means you’ll first experience the island like its historical interlopers did: with Mount Ipsarion emerging from the heat haze, hidden coves poking out of the endless trees, and miles upon miles of olive groves. You can see why they call it the Green Island.
Thassos Island
Our first port of call is Limenaria, a sleepy capital of 2,500 people on the northern tip. Behind a peaceful Roman harbour hugging calm Aegean waters is the fascinating Archaeological Museum (+30 25 9302 2180), which gives some context to the island’s complex comings-and-goings. Next door is the Ancient Agora (or marketplace), a meadow littered with Roman ruins. More mercenary folk than the Thassians would charge to enter, but that isn’t their style. After a relaxing stroll in ancestral footsteps, we stop for refreshments at Simi (+30 25 9302 2517), the buzziest of the many seafront fish restaurants, where excitable Bulgarian Vangelis Dimou greets us. “This is my talent,” he tells us as he glad-hands customers old, new and as-yet-undecided from all over Europe. “I am hot stuff.”
Port in Limenaria, Thassos
If you can stand the heat, head up the hill to the Ancient Theatre, an open-air auditorium where gladiatorial displays were once held. Sitting on the uneven slabs it’s easy to imagine Russell Crowe fending off a big cat here, although the only felines in evidence today are curious strays. Above is a lonely Byzantine acropolis from which those pesky pirates could be spied. Instead of traipsing back the same way, head right towards the sea, where a Mamma Mia! style chapel sits above blinging beach bar Karnagio (+30 69 3248 4454). Further along, at laidback Drift (+30 25 9302 2113), co-owner “Pako” Dermentzoglou explains Thassos’ charms. “It’s nature – the trees. Mykonos is a dry island, it’s scary, like a rock. Here we have forests, we have waters, you see the pine trees growing, literally, through the sand.” Pako chainsawed down the one in front of his bar months ago, but it’s already creeping back. “It’s gifted, really gifted,
this place, because of nature.”
Marble beach and beyond
The next day, we make our way to Marble Beach, whose white sands are revealed, on closer inspection, to be rounded marble pebbles. The intense white of the stone makes the water look even bluer and more inviting, but it’s so quiet that nobody but the taverna owner sees us swim. Further south, we find picture-postcard Aliki, a double bay dotted with Roman ruins on one side and ultra-relaxed fish restaurants on the other. Stop for lunch at this idyllic spot and you’ll be tempted to stay all day. But press on to Archangel Michael, a 13th-century nunnery perched on a clifftop like a Lord Of The Rings citadel. Entry, once again, is free, but your clothes must be nun-appropriate. Beside an ornate chapel, the terrace is as good a place as any to contemplate eternity. Not least because, looking out over the ocean, you can almost see it.
Marble beach also known as Saliara beach
Monastery of Archangel Michael , Thassos, Greece
View from Archangel Michael Monastery
Back on the winding coastal road – and boy does it wind – we pass ramshackle residences with their own vines, and coloured beehives humming with industry. In a layby we meet Tasos Bachalais, who sells the island’s dark, distinctively flavoured pine honey from a knackered old Peugeot. Further along, at Skala Sotiros, Christos Giannakis offers his family’s peppy wines for tasting (greeknaturalwines.com) in honour of Dionysus, “the drunk god”, beloved on the island. Their vintages are organic because: “We want it to be authentic. We don’t want to change anything.” The vineyard is named after Christos’ late dog, Milo.
Behind the long, spilling sands of Golden Beach, a favourite with the watersports crowd, we stop at immaculate Nisi Island (+30 25 9306 1704). Here, Christina Trikoupi and her husband, Vasili, make the most of the natural resources, serving tasty Thassian spring rolls filled with cheese, home-grown herbs and local honey; all shapes of seafood; and pilaf made of foraged mountain mushrooms. A returnee from Germany, Christina can’t get enough of her new home: “It’s just… wow!” she says. “In winter, spring, summer it’s always green, it never goes brown. The nature is spreading, everything you can think of grows here, you put it in the ground and it grows.” When we leave, she hugs us goodbye like long-lost friends.
View from the top of Mount Ipsarion
On a 4×4 tour with self-appointed minister of the interior Stavros Ladis, we drive into the mountains, the lushness of the lower slopes giving way to epic vistas. At 700m sits Kastro, a town of inquisitive goats and scattered ruins. While we explore, Stavros points out the supposed outline of Dionysus on the distant hills. “He ate a lot, drank a lot and now he is sleeping!”
In convoy we climb Mount Ipsarion, the 1,200m peak that gives Thassos its greenery. “From here you can see the whole island,” says Stavros. “It’s my favourite place. When you’re here and you sit down, you’ll think you’re on an aeroplane, you can forget about everything.” He’s not wrong. From the summit, we glimpse Golden Beach far below and, in the distance, the mainland. Around us sit piles of stones placed by visitors as wishes. “Small stone, small wish; big stone, big wish,” explains Stavros. “Small stone: Fiat, big stone: Ferrari!” The 360-degree views are staggeringly beautiful, but what’s even more staggering is that most people have never seen them. But then that’s Thassos through and through. The producers are modest, the loveliest beaches and villages are hidden, and you have to unwrap the layers to get to the good stuff. As Pako says, “Thassos lets you discover it. It doesn’t jump in your face and shout, ‘Look at me!’”
Mountain view, Thassos, Greece
Mountain sunset at Thassos, Greece
Scattered ruins on Thassos
Bay and ruins at Alyki, Thassos
Natural sea pools
Chief among the island’s charms is the “Giola” in the south, whose visitors were once sworn to secrecy regarding its whereabouts, like the travellers in Alex Garland’s The Beach. Between the Archangel Michael and the lively town of Potos we turn off towards a quiet beach, then follow the handpainted signs along a dirt track to find a perfect sea pool set in a natural rocky amphitheatre. Word, it’s fair to say, has now got out – there are more selfies being taken here than at a 1D concert. Teenagers backflip into the blue.
One little boy, who can’t be more than six, plunges in unaccompanied. Another diver is 65 if he’s a day. As we leap a modest 5m into the depths, a brave lady jumps the full 10m from the top to resounding whoops. She is Radina, a double-hard cliff diver from coastal Bulgaria. “It was really adrenalising,” she tells us, catching her breath. “My legs are shaking, but it was totally worth it – I might go again in a minute.”
A natural sea water pool located on Thassos island, Greece
Of course, we’d love to follow Radina’s lead, but instead we drive to Maries, one of many mountain villages that bear further scrutiny if you can drag yourself away from the beach. Amid higgledy-piggledy streets and ageing honey sellers, we follow the sound of a bouzouki (a Greek mandolin) to a gorgeous, tree-filled square where Eugenia Drakonti and her family serve unpretentious local fare at Taverna Irene (+30 25 9304 2341), named after Eugenia’s mother, the cook. With its potted geraniums and Victorian lamps, it’s almost indecently pretty, but it’s the warmth of the welcome that stays with us. Before we leave, Irene gives us free loukoumades – honey- and cinnamon-doused doughnuts – and yet more hugs. We’re starting to see a pattern here: go somewhere busy on holiday and nobody cares, but venture off the beaten track and everyone is pleased to see you. Having barely scratched the surface, its easy to see why people – whether Phoenician, Roman, or pirate – first came to Thassos. But nowadays there’s a crucial difference: they come back.
by Matt Glasby
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