The
Cyclades are a group of islands of varying sizes scattered over
the deep blue waters of the Aegean. Some
of them are well-known both to the public at large and the
international 'jet-set', while others remain little known and
scarcely figure on the tourist scene. Taken as a whole, they make
an ideal holiday destination for the visitors of the most varied
tastes. A fusion of stone, sunlight
and sparkling sea, the Cyclades lie to the east of the
Peloponnese and south-east of the coast of Attica; they stretch
as far as Samos and 
Ikaria to the east, and are
bounded to the south by the Cretan Sea. According
to the most likely tradition, they owe they name to the notional
circle which they appear to form around the sacred isle of Delos.
Delos
The
sacred island of Delos was, in the myths, the birthplace of
Apollo and Artemis. Today the island is uninhabited: it is a vast
archaeological site whose superb monuments draw thousands of
visitors. Delos, for a thousand years or so after the ninth
century BC, was the political and religious center of the Aegean.
The archeological site covers almost the entire island, starting
on the west side, where the sacred harbor was. From the harbor,
majestic sacred way led to the Sanctuary of Apollo, where there
were temples, altars, votive offerings and other buildings. There
are ruins of four temples to Apollo, one of them known as the
Temple of Athenians. To the east is the Sanctuary of the Bulls,
an oblong building, and to the north are the Treasuries and the
long, narrow Stoa of Antigonus. In the northwest corner is the
much smaller Sanctuary of Artemis, with an Ionic temple to the
goddess, and the Tomb of the Two Hyperborean maidens. Still
further north is the region of the sacred lake, with the Terrace
of the Lions, the Letoon, the Agora of the Italians and the
Institution of the Poseidoniasts of Berytos. A little further
along are some fine examples of houses and a palaestra. To the
northeast of the lake are the Stadium and the Gymnasium, Some of
the houses yielded superb mosaic floors with representations of
Dionysus, a dolphin and a trident. A narrow channel separates
Delos from Rhenia, where there is an important burial ground. The
Museum of Delos has sculptures of the Archaic, Classical,
Hellenistic and Roman periods, together with a collection of
vases from various periods The Cyclades have
exercised a powerful charm since ancient times, even though
access to them then was not particularly easy. This was the
birthplace of one of the Mediterranean 's most important
civilizations, one which took its name from the islands: the
Cycladic civilization (3000-1000 BC). Geologists
attribute the peculiar form which the Cyclades take today to a
succession of geological upheavals - earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions, movements of the earth's crust - which resulted in the
submergence of large chunks of land. Many believe that one such
stretch of land was the lost continent of Atlantis.
The diverse outlines of the
islands as they protrude from the blue waters of the Aegean,
bathed in the dazzling sunlight and embellished with little white
houses, resemble, in the words of the Nobel Prize-winning poet
Odysseas Elytis, "stone horses with rampant manes".
Above all, the people who live here, with their own individual
approach to the world, bring to life the narrow alleyways of the
villages and the pathways of the countryside, the countless tiny
chapels, the windmills, the dovecotes or the wind-bitten
hillsides and are themselves a basic feature of the charm which
this possess. 
Yet, in spite of the
characteristics which the islands have in common -sparkling sea,
sun, the landscape and the austere line of the architecture -
each retains its own individual features, which visitors can
discover as they explore them one by one. The
Cycladic islands enjoy a Mediterranean climate, with an average
temperature for the year of 18-19°C. The winters are mild and
the summers - by Greek standards - cool, thanks to the beneficial
effects of the seasonal winds known as the 'meltemia'.
