Tourist information -
Samothraki
Samothraki has one of the most dramatic profiles
of all the Greek islands its dark mass of granite rises abruptly
from the sea, culminating in the 1611-metre Mount Fengari. Seafarers
have always been guided by its outline, clearly visible from the
mainland, and in legend its summit provided a vantage point for
Poseidon to watch over the siege of Troy. The mostly forbidding
coastline provides no natural anchorage, but in ancient times the
island was colonized by settlers from Thrace, with more recent migrations
from Anatolia and Lesvos swelling the population. Landing is still
very much subject to the vagaries of the notoriously unpredictable
weather, but it did not deter pilgrims who, for hundreds of years,
journeyed to the island to visit the Sanctuary of the Great Gods
and were initiated into its mysteries. The Sanctuary remains the
main archeological attraction of the island which, too remote for
most tourists, combines earthy simplicity with natural grandeur.
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