You won’t find bare, rugged hills on this most popular of the Sporades Islands. Be prepared instead for pine-forested mountains sloping down to some of the most dazzling, white-sand beaches in the Aegean. Skiathos Town is the heart of the island, a cosmopolitan capital of narrow whitewashed alleys, restaurants and quaint tavernas. North of the town on a rocky headland stands the remains of the island’s medieval capital of Kastro, abandoned since 1830 but once a pirate-proof village. Visit the 18th-century Monastery of Panagia Evangelistria for a glimpse of Greek revolutionary history – it was here in 1807 that several heroes of the War of Independence took the Oath of Freedom.