Mount Zas or Mount Zeus is the highest peak of all the Cyclades Islands. With its 1004 meters above sea level, it hides natural and mythical beauties of ancient Greece that are worth discovering and not least, it offers a spectacular 360 ° panoramic view.

Speaking of legends, mythology gives Mount Zas a remarkable importance because, in a cave, the King of the gods Zeus was raised. Son of Rhea and Cronus, he was hidden and raised in this place by his mother to escape the cruel fate that Cronus reserved for his children which consisted of being eaten to prevent him from being ousted from adults. Cleverly Rhea, when she had to deliver Zeus to her father for the terrible fate in place of giving the baby, took a stone that bundled with clothes making her husband believe that it was the son. In the meantime an eagle took flight with the newborn baby hiding it on the mountain and giving it the lightning undisputed symbol of God.

Mount Zas is located in the south est part of the Filoti village in the center of the Naxos island where there is the fertile Tragea valley full of olive trees, fruit trees, picturesque villages and small churches of the Byzantine era. All around like a protective embrace a mountain range that makes the landscape very different from what is usually encountered on the Cicaldi Islands.

The Zeus cave which is located at about 630 meters above sea level is a truly extraordinary natural site. For the first time it was inspected in 1962 but the excavations were actually carried out between 1986 and 1994 bringing to light artifacts from the Neolithic and Roman eras, which are now exhibited at the Archaeological Museum of Naxos. Let’s say that its location is not quite so easy, it is necessary to have suitable shoes and also a light to be able to enter and visit this mystical place. Inside there are large rooms up to eleven meters wide with stalactites and stalagmites of incredible beauty. Its size is so extensive that it was once used by the population as a refuge during the attacks by the Turks. At the exit of the Zeus cave, the view is sublime, from afar the majestic Aegean Sea with a thousand shades of turquoise and all around an uncontaminated and wild nature.

To reach the Zeus cave you usually start from the Agia Marina chapel where on the right you will find the signs indicating the directions.

Another attraction of Mount Zas is certainly Aria Spring also called the air fountain. A natural source of very fresh and clear water that is located in a gully of rocks with two large trees that give coolness on hot summer days. Adjacent a small pond with many goldfish. From here ‘to get to the Cave of Zeus it takes about twenty minutes through a hiking trail.

The slopes of Mount Zas also teem with a varied fauna and flora ranging from wild herbs and rare plants to a long series of bird species such as the griffon vulture, the buzzard, the mountain swallow and the herring gull real paradise for bird watchers and landscape photographers.

It is always better to have your own vehicle to get to the Danakos village which is located just after the village of Filoti. If you are on foot, you can reach it via the bus that leaves from the Chora the capital, get off after the village of Filoti, walk passing two uphill hairpin bends and finally on the right is the chapel of Agia Marina where the trekking route begins.

Certainly a good experience, suspended between myth and extreme nature that will leave you with a wonderful memory of your holiday in Greece. Please do not forget to mark it among the things to do on the Naxos island