What Is Anafi Known For?

Anafi's very name comes from a myth about revealing something hidden, and the island still carries that story in both its landscape and its architecture, the latter of which turns up unexpectedly in the middle of Athens.

Anafi is known first for its connection to Jason and the Argonauts. According to legend, as the heroes sailed home from Colchis with the Golden Fleece, they were caught in a violent storm, and Jason prayed to Apollo for help. The god responded by shining light from his bow onto a spot in the sea, revealing an island that hadn't been visible before, giving Anafi its name, derived from the Greek word meaning "he made appear." In gratitude, the Argonauts built a temple to Apollo, and its ruins still stand near the Monastery of Panagia Kalamiotissa today.

The island is also known for the Rock of Kalamos, a massive monolithic limestone formation on its southeastern edge, often described as the second highest of its kind in the world after Gibraltar, a comparison that's earned Anafi the occasional nickname of the Gibraltar of the Aegean.

Anafi holds an unexpected connection to Athens too. Craftsmen from the island helped build the Anafiotika neighborhood beneath the Acropolis in the 19th century, recreating the whitewashed, Cycladic architectural style of their home island in the heart of the capital, a detail that gives visitors to Athens a direct link back to this small Cyclades island without ever boarding a ferry.

History adds another layer still, since Anafi served as a place of exile during Roman rule and again in the 20th century for political dissidents, a chapter still remembered locally today. Sitting just east of Santorini, Anafi connects mythology, geology, and Athenian history in a way few small Cyclades islands manage.