By Nicolas Bard

Donoussa, a magnificent and wild island of the Little Cyclades, along with Amorgos, are the easternmost islands of the Cyclades. It is 14 nautical miles from Aegiali, the port of Amorgos, 4 nautical miles northeast of the islets of Makares and 8 nautical miles from Naxos. Its area reaches 13,652 square kilometers, has several stony hills, and its largest peak reaches 385 meters. Today in Donoussa there is about 150 residents permanently inhabited.

The island is surrounded by many Skopelos, but it has a clean entrance channel in the port located in the southwestern bay, on the side of the Makaros Islands. According to the president of the island’s professionals, Donoussa is “clean” of plastic since 2019, first of all the Aegean islands!

Still, Donoussa has many capes and bays, such as the bay of Roussa, northwest between the far good, the northernmost edge of the island and the far Moschonari (of the northwestern limb). About 1.75 miles southeast of the north side is the rocky island “Skylonisi” or “Triangle”, surrounded by many rocks, in front of the only east bay of Donoussa.

Between the far Kalotta and the extreme white is the largest bay of the island, only for southern winds, where in the north there is a large cluster of goat. To the southeast of the white white and 2.5 miles are the two bays, Stavros and Tree where there is a sandy beach. The gull is the southernmost tip of the island. At a distance of 1.25 miles south of the tree bay, the southernmost bay of “pirate” is formed and shortly thereafter the “vain” bay.

Brief historical backlash

Due to its location, Donoussa has occasionally been an inevitable station in a variety of sea passages: Virgil mentions it in the course of Aeneas from Troy to Italy, while travelers of the 18th and 19th centuries, sailing from Naxos to Patmos or vice versa. According to legend, Dionysus hid Ariadne on the island, so that Theseus would not find it, and there are traces of habitation from the time of early Cycladic culture (3000 BC).

This rock had more than one first Cycladic settlements. Above the ruins of one of them, in the north -south -east side, on a steep cape with a deep anchorage, the “deep plot” was excavated a very interesting but short -lived, fortified facility dating back to the 9th and 8th century. The Dodecanese elements of pottery, in addition to the Cycladic-Naxian, testify that this settlement was a trade station in a sea passage, which united Attica and Euboea with the eastern Aegean. In the 1st century BC Markos Antonios granted the island to the Rhodes, while in the imperial times there was a place of exile. In the Middle Ages, Donoussa became the center of pirates, at that time ruled by the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire.

It will become known in Greek political events by the fact that its inhabitants learned the eviction of King Otto 14 years later, when the island visited George I. Later it became known in the history of World War I because of the “carbonation”, namely the charcoal supply of the German cruiser Gaiben, deciphered behind Cape White, thus escaping English and French warships. During World War II, Donoussa became known by the shipwreck of the Orion warship, whose debris still exists today at the bottom of the beach of Kedros. On September 23, 1944, the controlled ship by the German “Orion” sank to Cedar after successive Air Force Air Force (RAF) air attacks.
Beaches

If you are on the island and want to dive, then you have a series of beautiful beaches to choose from! Cedar, Livadi, Cross, Kalotaritissa, Trypiti, Fykios, Deep Port and Lake are some of them, which will fascinate you with their wild beauty and blue waters. The beaches of the island are disorganized, so going there, make sure you are properly equipped so you don’t get surprised. The austerity of the landscape and the unpretentious beauty, combined with the fresh seafood and the hospitality of the locals, will win you over from the very first moment, while leaving there you will promise to come back!