6 Best Sights in Skyros Town, The Sporades

Built after Greek Independence by a wealthy family (who still owns the museum), this house is one of the most impressive in Skyros Town and is nearly overflowing with rare books, costumes, photographs, paintings, ceramics, local embroideries, Greek statues, and other heirlooms. Of particular note are the embroideries, which are famed for their flamboyant colors and vivacious renderings of mermaids, hoopoes (the Skyrians' favorite bird), and mythical human figures whose clothes and limbs sprout flowers. Top treasure among the museum's historical documents is a handwritten copy of the Proclamation of the Greek Revolution against the Ottoman Empire. The informative guided tour is well worth the extra euros.

The best way to get an idea of the town and its history is to follow the sinuous cobbled lanes past the mansions of the Old Town to the Kastro, the highest point, and this fortified monastery founded in AD 962 and radically rebuilt in 1600. Today it is inhabited by a sole monk. A white marble lion, which may be left over from the Venetian occupation, is in the wall above the entrance to the monastery. The once splendid frescoes of the Monastery of St. George are now mostly covered by layers of whitewash, but look for the charming St. George and startled dragon outside to the left of the church door and, within, the ornate iconostasis. An icon of St. George on the right is said to have been brought by settlers from Constantinople, who came in waves during the iconoclast controversy of the 9th century. The icon has a black face and is familiarly known as Ayios Georgis o Arapis ("the Negro"); the Skyrians view him as the patron saint not only of their island but of lovers as well.

These two small rooms (on the way to Magazia Beach as you begin to descend from the town) contain rare weapons, pottery, and jewelry, mostly from graves dating from Neolithic to Roman times. Especially alluring are the pony motifs and the vase in the shape of a horse.

Take the vaulted passageway from St. George's Monastery courtyard to this ruined church, the former seat of the bishop of Skyros, built in AD 895 on the ruins of a temple of Athena. The complex was the center of Skyros's religious life from 1453 to 1837. You can continue up to the summit from here.

It'd be hard to miss the classical bronze statue, "To Brooke," an honorary tribute to the heroic Edwardian-era English poet Rupert Brooke, whose nude and very masculine depiction created quite a stir when unveiled in 1931. Every street seems to lead to the statue, with a 180-degree view of the sea as a backdrop. In 1915, aged 28, Brooke was on his way to the Dardanelles to fight in World War I when he died of septicemia in a French hospital ship off Skyros. Brooke was a socialist, but he became something of a paragon for war leaders such as Winston Churchill.

At the northwest side of Skyros, above Ayios Petros, this is a relatively secluded beach reachable by dirt road followed by a little stroll down a goat path. Nearby is the off-limits military base. Amenities: none. Best for: nudists; snorkeling; solitude; swimming; windsurfing.