Greece: Delos Yachts & Charters

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 in pilgrimage to what was, for a thousand years or so after the ninth century BC, the political and religious centre of the Aegean.

The archaeological site covers almost the entire island, starting on the west side, where the sacred harbour was.

From the harbour, a majestic sacred way led to the Sanctuary of Apollo, where there were temples, buildings. There are ruins of four temples to Apollo, one of them known as the Temple of the Athenians.

To the eas 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 north-west 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 norht is the region of the sacred lake, with the Terace of the Lions, the Letoon, the Agora of the Italians and the Institution of the Poseidoniast of Berytos.

A little further along are some fine examples of houses and a palaestra. To the norht-east 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.