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Evia is gifted with a beautiful natural as well as man-made environment. The crystal-clear waters and the endless beaches, the lush forests and the snow-capped mountain tops, the picturesque villages and the Palaeolithic, archaeological and Byzantine monuments constitute some of the attractions of the island. Thousands of tourists arrive on the island every year to live the experience of different forms of tourism, from the classic to the most modern and specialised ones.
The existing tourist infrastructure is continuously updated and can satisfy the increasing and more specialised needs of the tourists.
Main tourist destinations are:
- Chalkida and it so-called “crazy waters” – a unique phenomenon where the water currents of the straights change direction every 4-6 hours a day, the historical castle of Karababa, the renowned Byzantine churches and the neoclassical buildings, the small sliding bridge and the modern suspension bridge of Evripos (a good bungee-jumping spot) as well as the hotels that have often been the setting for many well-known cinema films and important political events.
- Eretria, with its modern hotels, some of which are among the best in Central Greece, its renowned ancient theatre, the well-known archaeological museum, the Dream Island and the beautiful beaches.
- Edipsos, with its renowned, since ancient times, therapeutic waters and spas and with the largest newly-built and innovative centre of thalassotherapy centre in the Balkans.
- Steni and Mt Dirfis with its picturesque villages, the mountain shelter, its aesthetic forest and the gorge of Agali with a rare flora.
- Limni, with its long sea-faring tradition, a rich Folk Museum and a well-preserved traditional architecture, its beautiful beaches, like that of Rovies and its renowned monasteries, such as Ossios Loukas and Galataki.
- The areas of Prokopi, Mandoudi and Agia Anna, where we find the ancient site of Kirinthos and the relics of St John the Russisan, the Big Plane tree – a natural monument, the fossilised forest of Kerassia (20 million years old) and the endless sandy beaches of Agia Anna.
- The areas of Karystos, Marmari and Styra, with their “mysterious” Dragon-houses on Mt Ochi, the gorge of Dimosari, the unique and internationally “marked” wind-surfing coasts and “magical” beaches that change shape according to the currents of the waters and the beautiful islands of Petalioi.
- Kimi, the town known as the “balcony of the Aegean” where we find the house of Dr Papanikolaou – the inventor of the Pap test (or smear test) – a well-known Folk Museum and clear, therapeutic and digestive waters.
- Skyros, the island where Achilles went into hiding, the island with the white, sandy beaches written about by the poet Seferis, the island with the small-bodied horses, the island of the carnival and the summer festivals.
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