Ios

Ios, Io or Nio (Ίος, ˈi.os; Ἴος í.os; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides, situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long and wide, with an area of . Population was 2,024 in 2011 (down from 3,500 in the 19th century). Ios is part of the Thira regional unit. Chora, Ios The Port of Ios is at the head of the Ormos harbour in the northwest. There is a path up the nearby hill to Chora, named after the Greek word for the main village on an island. Chora is a white and cycladic village, full of stairs and narrow paths that make it inaccessible for cars. Today, the main path through this village is completely taken over by tourism with restaurants, boutiques, bars and discothèques catering to visitors. Apart from the port and the village of Chora, Ios has a few small settlements that consist of groups of spread out houses in the background of major beaches (Theodoti, Kalamos, Manganari). Since the 1990s, the island mayor Pousseos has worked on Ios' development towards attracting different types of tourists. With the help of European Community funds some roads have been built, all of them paved, and a scenic amphitheatre was created by the German architect Peter Haupt at the top of the village hill. According to Plutarch, it is thought that the name has derived from the Ancient Greek word for violets, "ἴα", (ia) because they were commonly found on the island and it is the most accepted etymology. It is also posited that the name was derived from the Phoenician word iion, meaning "pile of stones". Pliny the Elder also wrote that the name comes from the Ionians who lived on the island. In the Ottoman period the island was called Anza or Aina, and its present name was officially established in the 19th century after over 2000 years of usage.