Sung about by Homer and full of ancient memories, Skyros is a magical, ancient isle, about 100 miles north-east of Athens. Skyros is the southernmost island of the Sporades, a Greek archipelago in the Aegean Sea. At 209 km2 it is the largest of the Sporades and has a population of around 3,000.

Its old village, with its narrow cobblestone streets, is graced with an unhurried intimacy and wholesome humanness long lost in the comtemporary big cities. Its white cubic-style houses are shaded by grapevines wavering gracefully in the glittering sunlight.

Yet Skyros is a mixture of tradition and global trends. Doors are left unlocked, children play out until late and weddings and special events are celebrated by the entire community. Still, young men drink whisky at cool, funky bars and young women are as fashion-conscious as their counterparts in London's Knightsbridge. The island lives in more than one century at once.

The island's long history goes far beyond the reach of memory. Recent archaeological finds at Palamari, near Atsitsa, have uncovered a well-fortified village dating back to the Early Bronze Age (2,800 BC). Artefacts from the site are on display at the village's Archaeological Museum.

Achilles, the hero of the Trojan war, spent his early years on the island, and Athenian hero Theseus, the man who slew the dreaded Minotaur of Crete, died there. King Lycomedes' palace on top of the village hill was built in pre-Homerian times, rebuilt by the Byzantines and then again by the Venetians. The Byzantine monastery of Saint George, built on the ruins of an ancient temple, is still intact. So are many old traditions including the island's mesmerising goat festival which, rooted in Olympian Greece, draws visitors from all over the world.

Rupert Brooke, the English poet, is buried in the tranquil olive grove on the southern part of the island, that 'corner of a foreign field that is forever England'. The islanders have honoured Booke by naming one of the village squares after him.