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Just 12km from the mainland, Thassos has long been a popular resort island for northern Greeks, and since the early 1990s has also attracted a cosmopolitan variety of tourists, in particular Romanians, Serbs, Bulgarians and Hungarians holidaying a tank or so of petrol away from home, plus plenty of the usual Germans and Brits on packages. Far from unspoiled - vast numbers of rural bouzoukia (music halls) and tavernas lay on music at weekends with cheerful vulgarity - it has, however, some areas of outstanding natural beauty and the island's ordinary rural industries have somehow managed to survive. Thassos still makes a substantial living from the pure-white marble which constitutes two-thirds of the landmass, found only here and quarried at dozens of sites (legal and unlicensed) in the hills between Limenas and Panayia. Olives, honey, fruit and nuts (often sold candied) are also important products. The spirit tsipouro , rather than wine, is the main local tipple; pear extract, onions or spices like cinnamon and anise are added to home-made batches. Inhabited since the Stone Age, Thassos was settled by Parians in the seventh century BC, attracted by gold deposits between modern Limenas and Kinyra. Buoyed by revenues from these, and from silver mines under Thassian control on the mainland opposite, the ancient city-state here became the seat of a medium-sized seafaring empire. Commercial acumen did not spell military invincibility however; the Persians under Darius swept the Thassian fleets from the seas in 492 BC, and in 462 BC Athens permanently deprived Thassos of its autonomy after a three-year siege. The main port continued to thrive into Roman times, but lapsed into Byzantine and medieval obscurity. Sadly, the salient fact of more recent history has been a series of devastating, deliberately set fires in the 1980s and 1990s; the worst one, in 1989, began near Rahoni and burned for three days as far as Maries. Only the northeastern quadrant of the island, plus the area around Astris and Alyki, escaped, though the surviving forest is still home to numerous pine martens. Thassos is just small enough to circumnavigate in one full day on a rented motorbike or car. The KTEL will do the driving for you - albeit with little chance for stopping - some four times daily. Car rental is dominated by Potos Car Rental (tel 05930/23 969), with branches in all main resorts, or Rent-a-Car Thassos (tel 05930/22 535), also widely represented, as are most of the major international chains, such as Budget at Theagenous 2 in Limenas (tel 05930/23 050). Vigorous bargaining with the local one-off outfits is often productive of 35-percent discounts on official rates - particularly in early June or mid-September. On the other hand, don't bother showing up in Thassos much before or after these dates, as most facilities will be shut, and the weather can be dodgy in any case. Most hotels are closed between October and the end of April, so call ahead to check.
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