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Skiathos

The city of Skiathos is the only settlement on the island. It is built at the southeastern tip of the island in a sheltered bay that divides Bourtzi Island in two.

It is a relatively new settlement, built in 1829-1830 on the site of the ancient city, on two hills lying on the edge of the sea. The ancient settlement was founded in 800 BC.

The large natural port of today's city, ideal in terms of its southern orientation and shape, has been a regulating element of island life in both older and newer years.

In modern Skiathos, the houses are simple and small, mostly two-storey, amphitheatrically, built side by side and the streets narrow without having a regular layout except for a few parts of the city.

Bourtzi is a small peninsula, which divides the port of Skiathos in two and in the past was a fortress. The fortress was founded by the Gizi brothers, who occupied Skiathos in 1207. It was walled with ramparts and loopholes and to the right and left of the gate had two round towers. The height of the wall, however, is impossible to determine from its current remains.

Also in the fortress there was a tank and a small church of Agios Georgios, patron saint of the Venetians, which was probably built by the Gizi brothers. Due to this church, Bourtzi was also called "Kastelli of Agios Georgios". The fortress was destroyed in 1660 when the Venetian Admiral Francis Morosini occupied the island.

In 1823, through its ruined loopholes, the inhabitants of the island, Skiathites and refugees, managed to repel Topal-Pasha. After the liberation, the first disinfection of the island operated in Bourtzi, while in 1906 a primary school was built in the center of the peninsula, donated by Andreas Syggros. At its entrance is the bust of Alexandros Papadiamantis since 1925.

Today, Bourtzi is truly a rare place of recreation, overgrown with pine trees, always cool, with magnificent views. From the old fortress a few remains of the walls are preserved, as well as left and right of the road leading to the entrance of the old school, the places where the church of Agios Georgios and the reservoir of the fortress were located.

The old primary school has been transformed on the initiative of the current municipal authority, into a cultural center, with elegant and functional meeting rooms and a dreamy summer theater, which every summer gives successful theatrical performances.