By Ferry boat from Piraeus port :
Daily from 07:00, there are conventional or high-speed passenger and car ferries from the port of Piraeus departing for Mykonos. Mykonos lies 94 nautical miles southeast of Piraeus. The journey by ferry boat is approximately 5 hours and the most common route is to Syros, Tinos and Mykonos island. The trip by speedboat is about 3 hours with a variety of routes. The high speed returning late in the afternoon in Piraeus, and depart again during the afternoon hours, between 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
By Ferry Boat from Rafina port:
Daily from 07:15 passenger ferries and speedboats depart from the port of Rafina, for the islands of Andros, Tinos and Mykonos. The smaller fast ferries transfer only passengers and no vehicles and running two services per day during winter months. On less than 2.5 hours you can reach the old harbor on the island. Mykonos is 74 nautical miles southeast of Rafina. It can be reached by KTEL bus . Daily bus service from the Pedio of the Areos in Athens With a private car through the Attiki Odos and heading to Markopoulo, following the exit that says, Rafina. Then drive on Marathonos Avenue until you see a sign for Rafina. If you are at the Eleftherios Venizelos Airport you can use the buses at the airport heading to Rafina or take a taxi .The bus fee is about € 5, while taxi costs about € 26 - € 32. Mykonos useful phones:
Rafina Port: Tel. 0(0030) 22940 22300 ή (0030) 22940 22487 'Strintzis Lines' ferries from Rafna port: Tel. (0030) 22940 23150 Hellenic Seaways' ferries from Rafna port: Tel. (0030) 22940 24660 'Aqua Lines' ferries from Rafna port: Tel. (0030) 22940 23300 Mykonos Port Authorities: Tel. (0030) 22890 22218 General Information Telephone for Ferry Lines: Tel. 14944 Athens Central Bus Station (KTEL): Tel. (0030) 210 821 0872 ή (0030) 210 823 0007 Rafina Central Bus Station (KTEL): Tel. (0030) 22940 23440
By plane from the Athens airport "Eleftherios Venizelos":
There are two Greek airline companies which are running daily flights to the island of Mykonos. In the summer months the service is very regularly and Mykonos airport accepts and great number of flights from abroad. Arrival at the main Athens aiprort" Eleftherios Venizelos " is by using "proastiakos" (suburban) train service and ATHENS METRO service. The Mykonos airport is located 4 km from the Town of Mykonos and there is taxi service right outside the airport. Also in the airport you can find car rental agencies and information kiosk of the Association of Hoteliers in Mykonos...
By car or motorbike (bike) in Mykonos
The car, although it costs more than the public transport is ideal for exploring every corner of the island and discover the many hidden beauties. You can simply, quickly and cheaply to rent - before you reach the island - a car and pick it up at the port or airport.
Renting a car or motorbike is a great way for you to move in Mykonos with the rhythm that suits you. Rent a car for your entire stay or just a part of it. You will find several car rental companies, many of which offer special prices . What documents you will need for the rental: You need to provide a valid license issued in your country of residence before at least one year (some companies require 2 years). If your license has been issued with supporting documents, you will have to produce them as well. If your license has been issued to another EC / ECA, you may need to provide an international driving license.
Taxi in Mykonos:
The taxi is by far the most relaxing mode of transport, but also the most expensive. Prices are specific to each destination / route in the island, and there are no taxi meters.
You can find taxis in the town of Mykonos (the Manto Square taxi rank, on the beach), but also in the "Fabrica" area on the other side of town (where there is also the bus terminal to the southern beaches).
Better to order a taxi by phone and ask how much it will cost you to take you to your destination, beforeyou agree to come and pick you up from your place. In this way you will avoid expensive or false payment for short distances by non-professional taxi drivers and you'll keep your spare money in your pocket. Taxis Call center and taxi stations phones: (+30) 22890 23700, (+30) 22890 22400, 24 hours a day.
In Mykonos By bus:
The bus is the simplest and most inexpensive way to explore Mykonos. The KTEL regular public bus offers the most direct and most economical way to visit many areas in the island. Even on the night wandering of the summer, guests of the island may be based on KTEL since (in high season) there is a bus service to the busiest destinations by 4:00 a.m. (Learn about the origins bus). There are three origins of KTEL busses at three different central locations: Bus Station 1 at Fabrica going to: Platys Gyalos, Psarou, Ornos, Agios Ioannis, Paradise and Paraga. Bus Station 2 OTE area going to: Ano Mera, τον Kalafati and Elia. Bus Station 3 Old Port going to: New Port and Agios Stefanos Bus station (KTEL Mykonos): Contact Numbers: (+30) 22890 23360, (+30) 22890 26797 Fax: (+30) 22890 28091
Address: Fabrika area, Mykonos town 846 00, Mykonos island.
By caique (small traditional fish boat) in Mykonos island:
In every Greek island the caiques are very popular transport option. It is absolutely safe and the ticket cost is real low. It is the most perfect way to take you to the most remote beaches on the island. You can take them from Platis Gialos beabh, located south of the island and is one of the most popular beaches; boat trips visit neighbour beaches, Paradise, Super paradise, Paranga, Elia. A "MUST DO" in Mykonos.
By Car or by Boat:
The headquarters of the Association is in Platys Yalos from where the routes start for the southern beaches.
Boats also run from the beach of Ornos with the same destinations.
Lent CONSUMPTION IN MYKONOS
If we can not live today with the same strict manner of the old traditional Myconian life with all that was around the seasonal food and the existing products in the relevant nature, let us know at least the nutritional habits of the old Mykonos and maybe that makes us realize once again that our predate through in that simple and sometimes deprived life they lived, had a harmonious coexistence with the surrounding area in each season.
Rich variety of various herbs or local native vegetation, especially now in spring season of Holy and Great Lent, is offered for vegetarianism in various ways of cooking. 'All this without much trouble, expenses and searching for what you need raise the family,
since there is all around us for free.
But let's take things from the beginning... From the firts day of Lent, in the religious Mykonian conscious woman, mother and housewife, is still a mental fight going on, because apart from the diet routine she wants to persuade, enlighten and convey to her children and her grandchildren the consciousness of fasting and abstinence
Early in the mornig in Ash Monday she prepares a small basket with wine and meatless food the famous "koulouma" for children.
That means that there is no meat, fish, olive oil, milk or eggs in the family daily diet for the next 40 days untill the Easter.
In the next days she will prepare the myconian vegeterian "bourekakia" mixed with walnuts, grated orange and cinnamon....
And then are lazarakia. Fortunately, even today, Mykonos ovens make in great care all traditional local pastries as Christopsoma, Laganas, cookies and delicious lazarakia .
On Palm Sunday you can eat fish and in the Easter Saturday you will eat the Easter soup (mageiritsa) and red egg.
The Easter Sunday along with great wine, all the family will roast lamb or goat and eat all together with laughs and teasing around the festive table...
The Mykonian "Louza": Louza of Mykonos is a very characteristic and delicious snack which competes in terms of preference, for those who have tried the Greek delicacies, with the – also famous – sausages of Mykonos.
This is a traditional type of cooked pork meat which is produced by homegrown veal and includes the whole of the fillet from the back of the animal with the bit of the fat that covers it. This dries up and is “broiled” by the north wind of the beginning of winter and the sun, prepared with a lot of salt, pepper and other spices (thribi).
After it has well seasoned that way, louza can be preserved for as much time as we want in the freezer, so that it won’t lose its freshness after it has dried. It is served as a delicacy, cut in thin slices which take the colour of dark rosy red and leave all its tastiness and rich aroma to the mouth. This is the ‘delicatessen’ of Mykonian gastronomy. The small louza, which is made from the other back muscle of the hog – “porterhouse” –, is even softer and is called “bouboulo”.or Lonza in the Italian South. In Cyprus, it is known as “lountza”.
Kopanisti of Mykonos
Kopanisti of Mykonos is a characteristic, very spicy cheese, which the tasters appreciate for its special peppery tastiness.
It excellently accompanies ouzo and any other strong Greek aperitif, on bread or –in the Mykonian way– on sop barley rusk, together with tomatoes or cucumber. It can also be mixed with butter or some other white cheese to produce a lighter taste, but then the mixture cannot be preserved. Kopanisti is the result of a controlled and repeated fermentation which is done through the care of the traditional cheesemaker on a base of a homemade mixed cheese (from goat and sheep milk), which is easily preserved after maturing in an earthen or glass jar.
Its making is also known to other Cyclades islands, but it is far different than the kopanisti of Mykonos which is largely considered as a very strong and aromatic one. .
According classical mythology, the Giants killed by Hercules in a fierce battle, are buried on the island under imposing blocks of mykonian granite. The name “Mykonos”, somewhat pejoratively, means a mass of stones’ or a rocky place; a later tradition attributes the name of the island to a hero by the name of Mykonos, the son of the king of Delos, Anios, who was the son of Appolon and nymphe Rhoio- a descendent of Dionysus.
The Kares and Phoenicians may have been the first inhabitants of Mykonos, but Ionians from Athens were established colonists and in control of the island by around 1000 B.C, having expelled the previous occupants. Historical sources confirm the following: in ancient times there were two towns on the island; in 490B.C, the Persian generals Datis and Artaphernes made a brief stopover in Mykonos;
It was a poor island with limited agricultural resources. In ancient, pantheistic times, Dionysos, Demetra, Zeus, Appolon, Poseidon and Heracles were the principle gods worshiped here. Later in history the island belonged to the Romans and subsequently to the Byzantines, who have fortified the island against the Arab raids of the 7th century, kept control of it until the 12th century. After the fall of Constantinople, at the end of the 4th Crusade (1204), the island was occupied, as their seigneur (stronghold) by Andrea and Jeremia Ghisi – relatives of Dandolo, the Doge of Venice. In 1292 it was looted and pillage by the Catalans, and, subsequently, in 1390, given over to the Venetians, in 1390, by the last of the Ghizi overlord. In 1537, while still under Venetian domination, the island suffered a catastrophic attack by Barbarossa, the admiral of Souleiman the Magnificent. Later, under Kapudan Pasha, the head of the Ottoman fleet the island is practically self-governed, according to the system of the period, by a functionary called a “voivode” and a council (body of “syndics”) who always tried to maintain an equal distance from both Turks and Venetians (the last of whom withdrew definitively from the region, in 1718, after the fall of the castle of Tinos to the Ottomans).
The popular of the Mykonos (which during modern times has fluctuated, generally from 2000 to 5000 people) was increased by colonies of immigrants (from nearby island and as well as from Crete) during time of starvation and epidemics which often followed the periods of conflict, until the late 18th century. The Mykonos, who throughout the same period were known as excellent sailors, were successful in trade and shipping and, also, piracy was not unheard of… Many islanders were active in the “Orlof Insurrection” ( led by the Orloff brothers, 1770-74), which resulted favorably, for them as well as for Catherine the Great in, due to the very profitable treaties concerning trade between the Ottomans and the Russian Empire. Soon after the out break the Greek Revolution 1821, the Mykonians, roused and led by the lady Mando Mavrogenous (an- aristocrat educated with the most fervent ideas of the Enlightment- who become a popular nation heroine) successfully impeded a landing of a squadron of the Ottoman fleet in 1822. They participated actively in the war , with four armed ships (two of the totally outfitted and supplied at Lady Mando’s expenses ; before the war over she had spend almost all of her , considerable, family fortune). After the establishment of the modern Greek State, the activity of the local upper- and lower- middle class revived the island economy through the consolidate of trade relations with south Russia, Moldavia and Walachia. Mykonian merchants were established in Constantinople, Smyrna, Alexandria, Syros, Livorno and Marseilles.
The predominance of stream technology over the traditional commerce of the sailing ships, at the end of the 19th century, the subsequent opening of the Corinth Canal (1904) and the upheavals of World War I resulted ina depression of the local economy; many Myconians left to find work abroad (mainly in US) and in the going centers of mainland Greece (Piraeus, Athens). The development of tourism in the following decades has provided a means of the islands’ economy development.
The prolonged excavations of the French School of Archeology, begun in Delas in 1873, focused attention on the region- at least that the happy few who, attracted by the charm of classical Greece, had the means and the opportunity to travel. In the early 30s already, many famous artists, politicians and wealthy people, mainly from Europe, began spending vacation on the island, attracted by its unique atmosphere. Mykonos has adapted well to the post-war situation and the gradual growth of the tourism industry in south Europe: the island has turned into a cosmopolitan locale and is one of the most successful growth – models, of its type and scale in Europe.
Delos is the Sacred Island of the Ancient Greek, which according to mythology, was revealed among the waves of the Aegean to Leto, who was being chased by the jealous Hero; it was the refuge where she gave birth to Apollo and Artemis. On Delos are found the admirably well-preserved ruins of one of the largest, most significant, and best- organized ancient Greek settlements. The island was first settled, probably by the Kares, about the 3rd millennium B.C. In the beginning of the 8th cent. B.C. it developed into a center of worship and was the capital city of an amphictyony of Aegean island. At the end of the 6th cent B.C., the tendency of the Athenians was to take over the island: IN 540 B.C. Peisistratos ordered the first purification of the sanctuary.
As a result of the second purification (426 B.C.) the entire contents of all the islands graves were remove to neighboring Rhenia.
Afterwards in order to prevent desecration of the sanctuary, both births and deaths were forbidden on the island of Appolo. The Athenians consecrated the first “Delia” dedicated to Leto, Artemis, and Apollo. In 315 B.C., when Macedonians arrived on the island, Delos achieved its independence and developed commercially.
During the Roman period, the island thrived, until, until 88 B.C.; the population included Egyptians, Syrians and Italians. Then, after two dreadful attacks during the Mithridatic War, Delos went into decline and was finally abandoned in the 6th cent A.D. In the 1873 the French Archaeological School of Athens started excavations and restoration enabling the wealth of the islands history to be revealed to everyone who is interested.
The Archaeological Museum of Delos house one of Greece’s most significant collections, including rare exhibits
of ancient sculpture ceramic vessels, epigraphs and wonderful mosaics etc. The sites of Delos and Rhenia
are under the protection of the Ministry of Culture; thus, both the mooring of private boats there and staying overnight without official permission are strictly forbidden.
DELOS - The archaeological Museum of Delos:
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM - DELOS
Delos Museum erected at 1904 with the expense of the Athens Archaeological Society. The original building included the five western classrooms, plus several more in 1931 and 1972. In the same period have been huge, but unfortunate, changes in the appearance of the building.
The present report contains nine galleries: in six of them out the sculptures and reliefs found on Delos, one of the best collections in the world. Two classrooms to include prehistoric pottery and ysteroellinistikon years and another out various miniature found in the private homes of Delos. The report is not yet complete.
Exhibits include:
Epitymvia statues and columns of the 7 th - 1 st century BC
Vases of instruments of the 3 rd millennium - 1 st century BC
Idols 2 nd - 1 st century BC
Jewelry and small items of 2 nd - 1 st century BC
Mosaics of 2 nd - 1 st century BC
Key exhibits: plate with ivory relief of Mykinaiou warrior that was found in Artemision torso Kouros from the temple of Apollo, marble cluster Vorrea which snaps the princess of Attica Oreithyia and was the temple of Athens, statues Dioskouridi and his wife, Cleopatra -- Athenians living in Delos - found at the home of the couple, in the area of theatre, statue of Apollo in the press of the Lyceum of Praxitelous Apollo - the god based in the trunk of a tree and clicks on Gallic shields - from the area of theatre, bronze facade bearded Dionysus who diadima bodies and ivy wreath and found south of the Market Kompetaliaston, Corinthian alabaster - a vase for perfumed oil with a Potnias Thiron between two swans - found in Iraio, headed triangular pedestal Kouros statue - with relief head crushed in a corner gorgoneia and the other two - from the Temple of Apollo, Archaic daughter - veil zosmeno bodies in the middle, which is decorated in the middle of the front with vertical film debossed double meandros - found from the Temple of Apollo and is considered one of the oldest existing large plastic, fresco from the outside wall of a house in the area where Skardana represented by Hercules, and two pygmachoi male form plays flute or trumpet.
Tel 22890 to 22259, at the archaeological site of Delos.
Tickets to Delos museum
Intact: € 5, Concessions: € 3
Free Entry Calendar Schedule
March 6 - Memory of Melina Mercouri
June 5 - World Environment Day
April 18 - International Day of Monuments
May 18 - International Museum Day
The last weekend of September, each year (Thursday Cultural Heritage)
Sundays during the period from November 1 to March 31
The official non-working State days
The first Sunday of each month, except during the months of July, August and September (when the first Sunday is a holiday, the day of entry determines the second Sunday.)
September 27, World Tourism Day
Persons eligible for «free-pass» validate for three years, with the right of renewal.
Persons entitled to a lower entrance fee
The participants in international conferences following approval by the Director General of Antiquities and Civic Heritage
Participants in the tours organized by the Agency Workers'
Sessions parents in educational visits schools Primary Education
Senior citizens, members of the European Union who are older than 65, by showing identity card or passport
Students outside the EU
Persons entitled to Free Entrance
Journalists with an identity card ESIEA
Holders bulletin-free entry
Holders specific identity-State ICOM - ICOMOS
Members, companies and associations of Friends of Museums and Archaeological Sites in Greece demonstrate endorsed membership card
Members of KAPI by showing the Culture Card
Schoolchildren to 19 years accompanied by educational workers oriented A, B and C oriented education (Collective licenses granted by the Greek Ministry of Culture)
Members of the Greek Parliament
Young people up to age 19 years old by showing their ID card
Tourist guides with an identity card of the Ministry of Development
The official guests from the Greek state, after approval of the Director-General of Antiquities and Heritage
Blind escorts and persons with disabilities.
The ones serving in the armed forces by showing ID card
Preservers of antiquities and works of art that have been given specific permission from the Greek Ministry of Culture
Officials of the Hellenic Cultural (O.P.E.P.), on production of their identity
Officials of the Archaeological Resources and Fund (ARF), on production of their identity
Officials of Credit Management Fund for Archaeological Projects (T.D.P.E.A.E.), on production of their identity
Officials of the Ministry of Culture, through the demonstration of their identity
Students of Higher Education, TEI Or equivalent schools EU countries By showing the student identity
Museum Operating Hours
Winter Season:
From 01.11.2007 to 31.03.2008
08:30-15:00
One shift
History of excavations on Delos - World Heritage (UNESCO):
Excavation Background Delos, as a holy place in which existed brilliant buildings and holy, were not forgotten never and exist a lot of reports in the sightseers on the ruins that were visible in the island. A lot of sculptures were transported in museums of Greece and abroad, while marbles of ancient buildings were used as building material by the residents of around islands.
The excavations in Delos began in 1873 from the French Archaeological Faculty Athens. From 1904 until 1914 they were revealed under the address M. Holleaux and thanks to the brave subsidy of duke de Loubat the more important departments of ancient Delos. Period of intense excavation activity existed also in 1958 until 1975.
The excavation is continued still by the French Archaeological Faculty, but the centre religious, political and commercial life as well as big part of private residences already has been revealed. Small scale excavations held also by Greek archaelogists, mainly in the beginning of century. Background of Restoration Work Big scale restoration work became from the French Archaeological Faculty, mainly in the districts of private residences, while smaller scale they are realised in the past few year by Prehistoric and Classic Antiquities. They were restored enough kiones, while were accomodated ancient residences (Residence [Triainis], Residence of Masks, Residence mainly in order to are protected the mosaic floorings. From 1990 Delos has been included in the list of monuments that constitutes Worldwide Cultural Heritage and is protected from Unesco.
DELOS - History of Delos:
ARCHAELOGICAL DILOS On the left from the harbor is the Agora of the Competialists (circa 150 BC), members of Roman guilds, mostly freedmen and slaves from Sicily who worked for Italian traders. They worshiped the Lares Competales, the Roman "crossroads" gods; in Greek they were known as Hermaistai, after the god Hermes, protector of merchants and the crossroads. The Sacred Way, east of the Agora, was the route of the procession to the sanctuary of Apollo during the holy Delian festival. The Propylaea, at the end of the Sacred Way, were once a monumental white marble gateway with three portals framed by four Doric columns.
Beyond the Propylaea is the Sanctuary of Apollo; though little remains today, when the Propylaea were built in the mid-2nd century BC, the sanctuary was crowded with altars, statues, and temples -- three of them to Apollo. Inside the sanctuary and to the right is the House of the Naxians, a 7th- to 6th-century BC structure with a central colonnade. Dedications to Apollo were stored in this shrine.
Outside the north wall a massive rectangular pedestal once supported a colossal statue of Apollo (one of the hands is in Delos's Archaeological Museum, and a piece of a foot is in the British Museum).
Near the pedestal a bronze palm tree was erected in 417 BC by the Athenians to commemorate the palm tree under which Leto gave birth. According to Plutarch, the palm tree toppled in a storm and brought the statue of Apollo down with it.
Southeast of the Sanctuary of Apollo are the ruins of the Sanctuary of the Bulls, an extremely long and narrow structure built, it is thought, to display a trireme, an ancient boat with three banks of oars, dedicated to Apollo by a Hellenistic leader thankful for a naval victory. Maritime symbols were found in the decorative relief of the main halls, and the head and shoulders of a pair of bulls were part of the design of an interior entrance.
A short distance north of the Sanctuary of the Bulls is an oval indentation in the earth where the Sacred Lake once sparkled. It is surrounded by a stone wall that reveals the original periphery. According to islanders, the lake was fed by the River Inopos from its source high on Mt. Kynthos until 1925, when the water stopped flowing and the lake dried up. Along the shores are two ancient palaestras, buildings for physical exercise and debate.
One of most evocative sights of Delos is the 164-foot-long Avenue of the Lions. These are replicas; the originals are in the museum. The five Naxian marble beasts crouch on their haunches, their forelegs stiffly upright, vigilant guardians of the Sacred Lake. They are the survivors of a line of at least nine lions, erected in the second half of the 7th century BC by the Naxians. One, removed in the 17th century, now guards the Arsenal of Venice. Northeast of the palaestras is the gymnasium, a square courtyard nearly 131 feet long on each side. The long, narrow structure farther northeast is the stadium, the site of the athletic events of the Delian Games. East of the stadium site, by the seashore, are the remains of a synagogue built by Phoenician Jews in the 2nd century BC.
A road south from the gymnasium leads to the tourist pavilion, which has a meager restaurant and bar.
The Archaeological Museum is also on the road south of the gymnasium; it contains most of the antiquities found in excavations on the island: monumental statues of young men and women, stelae, reliefs, masks
and ancient jewelry.
Immediately to the right of the museum is a small Sanctuary of Dionysos, erected about 300 BC; outside it is one of the more boggling sights of ancient Greece: several monuments dedicated to Apollo by the winners of the choral competitions of the Delian festivals, each decorated with a huge phallus, emblematic of the orgiastic rites that took place during the Dionysian festivals. Around the base of one of them is carved a lighthearted representation of a bride being carried to her new husband's home. A marble phallic bird, symbol of the body's immortality, also adorns this corner of the sanctuary.
Beyond the path that leads to the southern part of the island is the ancient theater, built in the early 3rd century BC in the elegant residential quarter inhabited by Roman bankers and Egyptian and Phoenician merchants. Their one- and two-story houses were typically built around a central courtyard, sometimes with columns on all sides.
Floor mosaics of snakes, panthers, birds, dolphins, and Dionysus channeled rainwater into cisterns below; the best-preserved can be seen in the House of the Dolphins, the House of the Masks, and the House of the Trident.
A dirt path leads east to the base of Mt. Kynthos, where there are remains from many Middle Eastern shrines, including the Sanctuary of the Syrian Gods, built in 100 BC. A flight of steps goes up 368 feet to the summit
of Mt. Kynthos (after which all Cynthias are named), on whose slope Apollo was born.
How I will go on Dilos island from Mykonos:
Visit mykonos by boat : There are daily routes (except Monday )because the archaelogical site is closed.
Routes are available from Mykonos but also from other Cycladic Islands (Tinos and Naxos).
Mykonos Port Authorities Address : Chora-Paralia Call Centre : +30 22890 22218 Fax :+30 22890 27825
Mykonos Travel Agencies TICKET COST : 15 Euro ( Adults ) 7.50 Euro ( Children)
Time Table: All boats depart and return Daily except for Monday from the small Port infront of Agios Nikolas Church located in Yialos (Waterfront Mykonos Town) Departure : 9:00 - 10:00- 11:00 am Return : 12:00 - 13:30 - 15:00 am .
Archeological Site - Museum of Delos: Tel: 0030 22890 22259
DELOS: The sacred island of ancient Greeks
DELOS and Mythology
Delos is the sacred island of ancient Greeks who according to mythology, was revealed in the Leto - pursued by the goddess Hera - through of the waves of the Aegean, to give birth in this Apollo and Artemis.
Delos survived in good condition the remains of one of the largest and most impressive organized settlements in the Greco-Roman antiquity .
The island was inhabited in the 3rd millennium BC, probably from Cares. Converted in the early 10 century BC to seat worship center and high Amphictyony the Aegean. In the late 6th century BC, the Athenians tend to dominate and the sacred island. In 540 BC already Peisistratos decide first clearance, while the second, in 426 BC, carried the bones of all dead of the nearby island of Delos, Renia and prohibited most births and deaths on the island of Apollo order to avoid defiling the temple.
With the arrival of Macedonians in 315 BC the island attained its independence and ability to develop commercially. The establishment of the Romans later result in a massive turnout of Egyptians, Syrians and Italians and further development of the island until 88 BC, where during of war Mithridatic, accepts two terrible attacks and begins to decline until the final abandonment of the 6th AD century. After centuries of immobility, the French Archaeological School started excavations at the archaeological site in 1873 and Delos xanavgainei from obscurity to reveal the rich history around the world.
The Archaeological Museum of Delos is now one of the most important museums of Greece, with rare exhibits such as sculptures, vases, inscriptions, mosaics and more. Delos and Rinia are under the protection of the Ministry of Culture and banned the docking of vessels in the island without special permission from Mykonos authorities.
Tel 22890 to 22259, at the archaeological site of Delos. 
A short distance north of the Sanctuary of the Bulls is an oval indentation in the earth where the Sacred Lake once sparkled. It is surrounded by a stone wall that reveals the original periphery. According to islanders, the lake was fed by the River Inopos from its source high on Mt. Kynthos until 1925, when the water stopped flowing and the lake dried up. Along the shores are two ancient palaestras, buildings for physical exercise and debate.
