General
Located in the Aegean Sea, the Cyclades owe their name to the ancient Greeks, who thought they were arranged in a "circle"(kyklos in Greek) around the sanctuary island of Delos. In fact, the shape of the archipelago is more like a triangle, pointing towards Evia and Attica to the north and bordered by the Cretan Sea to the south. Covering 132,000 km2 of sea, the Cyclades comprise 220 islands, 24 of which are occupied. They have a total population of 120,000, 2,572 km2 of land and 15,000 km of coastline. Since 2011, they have been part of the Southern Aegean periphery (population 310,000), one of Greece's thirteen administrative regions, which also includes the Dodecanese islands (Rhodes, Patmos, Leros...). The town of Ermoupoli (pop. 12,000), on Syros, is the region's capital. The Cyclades are one of the 8 archipelagos of modern Greece, along with the two large islands of Crete and Evia and their islets, the Ionian Islands, the Sporades, the Dodecanese, the northern Aegean Islands and the Saronic Islands.
Finding your way
In the center of the archipelago, near the museum island of Delos (3.5 km2), a 4-5 hour ferry ride from Piraeus, are the three tourist islands of Mykonos (86 km2, pop. 10,000), Naxos (429 km2, pop. 19,000) and Paros (196 km2, pop. 13,700), as well as the capital island of Syros (102 km2, pop. 21,500), all with airports. Naxos rubs shoulders with the Lesser Cyclades, with less than a thousand inhabitants on four islands (Iraklia, Schinoussa, Donoussa and Koufounissi). To the northeast, near Evia and the port of Rafina, lie Tinos (195 km2, population 8,600) and Andros (379 km2, population 9,200). Below Athens lie the western Cyclades: Kea (131 km2, population 2,500), then Kythnos (100 km2, population 1,500), Serifos (75 km2, population 1,400), Sifnos (74 km2, population 2,600), Kilomos (35 km2, population 700) and Milos (160 km2, population 5,000). To the east of the latter are Folegandros (32 km2, 750 inhabitants), then Sikinos (41 km2, 270 inhabitants), Ios (109 km2, 2,000 inhabitants) and Amorgos (121 km2, 2,000 inhabitants). To the south, 8h30 by ferry from Athens (or less than an hour by plane), Santorini (76 km2, population 19,000) forms a mini-archipelago, with Thira as its main island and the volcanic islet of Nea Kameni. Finally, Anafi (38 km2, 270 inhabitants) is the most isolated, a 1-hour ferry ride to the east of Santorini.
Geology
The Cyclades are the peaks of the submerged Aegean massif, formed around 5 million years ago at the contact between the Eurasian, Anatolian and African tectonic plates. The archipelago itself belongs to the Aegean micro-plate, which also includes the Peloponnese, the west coast of Turkey and Crete. Between 120,000 and 10,000 BC, the subduction of the African plate towards the northeast (2.15 cm/year) gave rise to what is known as the Aegean arc: a series of volcanoes stretching from the Saronic Islands to the Dodecanese, via the Cyclades. Of the six main volcanoes, only Nyssiros (Dodecanese) and Santorini are still active. Famous for its immense submerged caldera (crater) surrounded by glowing cliffs, Santorini last erupted in 1925. Today, Santorini is made up of several islands created by an explosion around 1600 BC. Still in the Cyclades, Milos boasts thermal waters and fumaroles rising from the beaches on the south coast.
Landscapes and resources
The Cyclades are characterized by hilly, arid, garrigue-covered landscapes. Despite the presence of springs, the rivers are dry for most of the year, and water has to be imported from the mainland or desalinated locally to meet the needs of tourism. Everywhere except Naxos. Naxos is the largest, most mountainous and only island to be self-sufficient in water. It boasts the archipelago's highest point, Mount Zas (Zeus), at 1,004 m, as well as three coastal rivers on the eastern coast. There are also green areas on Amorgos, Paros, Andros and Kea, which was the cradle of silk cultivation in Europe in ancient times. As for the beaches, they are mostly made up of fine white sand. But on Santorini, bathers can enjoy a small red sand beach and a large black sand beach. Thanks to their volcanic past, the Cyclades have benefited from numerous resources, such as the white marble of Paros and Naxos, famous since the Neolithic age and still mined today, the obsidian of Milos, a glassy stone used to polish statues, and the now-abandoned gold and silver mines of Sifnos and Serifos. Santorini's volcanic soils, meanwhile, produce incomparable white wines thanks to the unique Assyrtiko, Athiri and Aidini grape varieties: here, vines grow low to the ground and survive solely on morning dew.
Earthquakes
In the Cyclades, seismic activity is intense, but often without consequence, especially as houses are well designed to cope with this kind of risk. Small earthquakes are constantly being recorded in the archipelago and throughout the country. Indeed, the southern Balkans is Europe's largest seismic zone, with deadly tremors in Skopje in 1963, Thessaloniki in 1978, Athens and Istanbul in 1999 and, more recently, Tirana in 2019. In the Cyclades, the last major earthquake was on July 9, 1956: Amorgos was hit by a violent 7.5-magnitude quake that triggered a tsunami as far away as Crete, causing widespread destruction and 53 deaths in Santorini, Anafi, Naxos and Paros. With its quiet but still active volcano and its position at the crossroads of two underwater volcanic lines, Santorini is under constant scrutiny. Since 2012, "seismic swarms" (repeated tremors) have been frequently recorded here, raising fears that a major volcanic eruption is approaching.
In case of an earthquake
Here are the main tips provided by embassies. Before leaving, prepare and keep at hand an "emergency kit": flashlight, batteries, first-aid kit, bottles of water, energy bars, water disinfectant tablets, means of payment, metal whistle, etc. During an earthquake, if you're in a building: stay inside, take shelter under a heavy piece of furniture (table, desk, bed) or, if not, move away from doors and windows, and crouch down along a wall. If you're in an elevator: press the buttons on each floor and get out as soon as you can. If you're on the street: stay outside, taking refuge in an open area away from buildings and crowds. If you're in a car: stop away from buildings and bridges without blocking the road, stay inside the vehicle, listen to the radio for instructions from the authorities, don't get out of your vehicle, and wait for help if wires have fallen on your car. If you are in a bus: remain seated until it stops, then take refuge in a protected area or remain seated, lean forward and protect your head.
How to get there
Almost all the inhabited islands of the Cyclades are linked by ferry or hydrofoil to Piraeus, the main port of Athens. Here, boats depart mainly from gates E6, E7, E9 and E10 (opposite and to the south of the metro station). Kéa and Kythnos are not served from Piraeus, but from the port of Lavrio, near Cape Sounion, accessible by bus from the Pedion tou Areos bus station in central Athens. In summer, hydrofoils also leave Lavrio for Serifos, Sifnos and Milos. Still in Attica, the port of Rafina is very convenient, as it's close to Athens airport. It serves the neighboring islands of Andros and Tinos, as well as Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Ios and Santorini. Inter-island connections are numerous, but Syros, Mykonos, Paros and Naxos offer the widest choice. Some islands can also be reached by ferry from Piraeus to Crete or the Dodecanese. By plane, Naxos, Paros, Syros, Mykonos, Santorini and Milos have airports with national connections (Athens, Thessaloniki...) and with Europe in season, especially Mykonos, which has the best connections from France (Paris, Bordeaux...).
The effects of tourism
Over the past century, the Cyclades have been transformed by the development of tourism, which became the archipelago's primary resource in the 1960s. This has led to a decline in ancestral activities such as crafts, agriculture and fishing. For example, the terraced agriculture that had marked the Cycladic landscape since antiquity has been abandoned. Harbors have been developed to accommodate ferries, cruise ships and pleasure boats. Housing, meanwhile, was concentrated on the coast. As a result, the villages created inland to escape pirates since the Middle Ages are now deserted. On the coasts, dry-stone houses have been replaced by whitewashed dwellings: a measure imposed by Greek dictators for reasons of hygiene, but above all since the 1970s for aesthetic reasons. The most popular tourist islands, such as Santorini (more than 3 million visitors by 2024, including cruise passengers), Mykonos (more than 2 million visitors by 2022), Paros, Antiparos and Ios, have thus been hit by a veritable "white measles", with the chaotic proliferation of hotels and private villas since the 2000s. These same islands are now the hardest hit by water shortages, coastal erosion and the pollution generated by the summer crowds.
