156 Best Sights in The Cyclades, Greece

One of Greece’s most prestigious rembetika (urban Greek folk music) artists, Markos Vamvakaris hails from Syros, making this a fitting location for a museum in his honor. The composer is a legend in Greek folklore music hailing from the 1930s and is widely known for his rembetika songs, especially the Frangosyriani. In the little museum you’ll see many of his personal items, vintage photographs, and a passport he never managed to use, all donated by his family.

The small beach's fine sand is protected from the sometimes harsh summer Cycladic winds, making its calm water a favorite with local families. Considered an organized beach, beach chair and umbrella rentals are available, and a street lined with tavernas and cafés is within walking distance for any visitors that need a good meal after a day of beach lounging. Amenities: food and drink. Best for: sunsets; swimming.

Close to the port you’ll find yourself walking into the pedestrian paths of Antiparos Town, lined with whitewashed shops, restaurants, and cafés. Farther up, the arched stonework entrance to the historical center, known as the camara, leads to the centuries-old Venetian kastro, or castle, of Antiparos. Like other Cycladic islands, this architecture reflects the construction of fortresses built between the 13th and 16th century when Venetian and Ottoman influences took over the islands. You can walk the whitewashed streets of this small village, where Antiparians still live in small homes built on top of each other as one continuous block construction within the stone walls. There are also four churches within the settlement.

Filoti is the starting place for several walks in the countryside, including the climb up to Zas Cave where obsidian tools and pottery fragments have been found. Mt. Zas, or Zeus, is one of the god's many reputed birthplaces; on the path to the summit lies a block of unworked marble that reads Oros Dios Milosiou, or "Boundary of the Temple of Zeus Melosios." (Melosios, it is thought, is a word that has to do with sheep.) The islanders say that under the Turks the cave was used as a chapel, and two stalagmites are called the Priest and the Priest's Wife, who are said to have been petrified by God to save them from arrest.

The Orthodox cathedral of Mykonos is dedicated to the life-giving spring of the Virgin Mary, as its icon was found inside a well ("pigadi"). The church is also known as Angelohtismeni---built by angels; however, more prosaically, it was probably founded in the 1600s.