Iraklia is a very small yet charming island part of the Greek archipelago of the Cyclades. This island doesn’t count with more than 200 inhabitants, and calm or tranquility is one of the main attractions it offers, ideal to those tourists who wish to relax while enjoying a beautiful sea landscape or a peaceful beach.
This island is not recommendable to those visitors who wish to party and go out dancing at night, since night life is quite inexistent in it. On the other hand, it is ideal to all those who wish to sleep while enjoying the natural sound of the sea without being bored by usual city sounds such as traffic or night life.
The island of Iraklia offers a very beautiful scenery ideal to explore while walking around and breathing fresh pure air. There’s usually not a large amount of tourists around, and therefore visitors can usually meet this island in its very day life as well as mix with the welcoming people, unless they find some communication problems since not many of them speak English.
It is said that this island originally belonged to the Cretans. This belief is based on the fact that there is a small antique town in Crete with the same name of this island. The name Iraklia means worship of Heracles, providing this a fundament to also believe that this spot was a central place for worshipping him.
There are several interesting spots to visit in Iraklia. Some of the most interesting of these spots are the island’s caves. This island has several caves such as the Cave of St. John, a legendary spot. According to the legend, St. John would go to that cave to pray, and tourists could still nowadays observe an altar where he would have been many centuries ago.
The capital town of Iraklea, called Chora is another spot visitors should not miss while being in the island. This town conserves most of its antique constructions, many of them dating from the 19th century and almost unchanged, allowing visitors to almost feel like traveling in time and being back in that époque.