Kea Island

Kea, also called Tzia, is the Cycladic island closest to Attica — about an hour by ferry from Lavrio and just 60 kilometres southeast of Athens. Measuring 19 kilometres north to south with an area of 128.9 square kilometres, it is fairly substantial by Cycladic standards, yet the 2021 census counted only 2,335 residents, a fraction of the roughly 7,000 who lived here in 1821 before a plague killed as many as 2,000 islanders two years later.

In antiquity Kea was divided among four separate city-states — Ioulis, Karthaia, Koressos and Poieessa — and excavations at Ayia Irini have uncovered a Bronze Age settlement that flourished between roughly 1600 and 1400 BC. The island's best-known relic is the Lion of Ioulis, a large stone lion carved directly into the bedrock and dated to before 600 BC, still watching over the approach to the old capital.

Kea's two harbours, Korissia and the smaller Vourkari, serve as the main gateways for visiting boats, and the surrounding waters hide notable wrecks, including the hospital ship HMHS Britannic, sister ship of the Titanic, which sank after striking a mine in 1916. Combining easy sailing distance from Athens with quiet anchorages, Kea is one of the anchorages you'll visit on a private gulet cruise in Greece.