TILOS
The quiet island of Tilos has almost been forgotten by time. It has around 500 inhabitants that are mostly farmers who survive thanks to the few tourists who come here every year in search of contact with nature. The island has abundant water reserves from valleys, which has allowed cultivation. There is also plenty of flora and fauna and the presence of some rare species of endangered birds.
History
Tilos, like the other islands of the Dodecanese, has been invaded many times since antiquity, by the Minoans, Cretans, Romans, the Knights of Rhodes from 1306 and the Ottoman Turks in the sixteenth century. Then in 1912, the Italians took possession of the entire Dodecanese. The most recent occupation was by the Nazis during the Second World War.
Places to visit
Tradition is present all over the island there are little stone houses, villages built around the church, the ancient port of Eristo and fishing villages such as Aghios Adonis. The Agios Panteleimon is an abandoned monastery from the 15th century and a beautiful place to visit. The castle of the Knights of St. John who settled here in the fifteenth century, has a wonderful panoramic view of the island. Tìlos, like Kasos, is also famous for its thousand-year-old caves. In 1971 excavations uncovered artefacts and tools from the Neolithic period, together with skeletons of elephants and deer.
Beaches
The island is an ideal destination for those who want to relax and escape mass tourism. It is a place where you can spend a wonderful holiday in contact with nature doing activities like trekking, diving, underwater fishing, windsurfing, and other outdoor sports along the coast. The beaches are both pebbly and sandy, with bays and coves that can be explored on foot and by boat. The beach of Eristos is long and sandy and Livadia has multi-coloured pebbles. You can reach the beaches of Skafi and Lethra by boat to explore the caves and take some shelter from the blinding Greek sun.