Kythira / Kythera

Dear readers
I just came back from my Summer Holidays  with fresh good memories, nice pictures and of course willing to share with you my experience …….

This Summer I planned my vacation again in Peloponnese,  again because I wanted to visit  a couple of places that I really liked – Elafonissos and Monemvasia – and of course add a new one …..

This post is about the new destination that I decided to visit this year…. the island of Kythira

Some info about Kythira   – ελλ. Κύθηρα

Kythira (Kythera) is  a Greek Island that despite it is located right at the end of the foot of  Peloponnese belongs to the Ionian group

It really looks more like to be a Cyclades island (at least the East Coast) that is dry and also the Chora has delicious white washed houses… typical of Cyclades

Kythira is known also to be the island of the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite – that emerged first here and then in Cyprus

In Kythira there is the airport with daily connections  with Athens or you can drive until Neapolis – about 5 hours from Athens -  and then take a ferry for about 1 hour and get to the nice island of Kythira. For booking the tickets you should contact  +30 273 40 24 004 at Neaopli port

For sure you will need a car to move in the island in order to visit it – best a 4×4! And be prepared to drive a lot …. average distance is about 15km …… so good luck !

Let’s go to my trip

Our first Summer destination of this year was the very far away island of Kythira .…… there is even a Song that talks about  it as it is considered a very far and last destination for all greeks …… imagine … after Kythira the next stop is Crete ! and in the middle.. only the Aegean sea…..

Enjoy it :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqKA5Az2ILk

We woke up very early in order to get to the only second boat of the day (and the last one)  .. at 2pm from Neapolis …. we packed our luggage and we left Athens at 7am …. ready for our exciting holidays !!

Since we arrived pretty on time (there was no traffic at all) we decided to have our first stop at Pounda (in front of Elafonissos Island) and then we went to Neapolis for taking the boat tickets and got into the ferry ….. our Holidays was really about to begin …..

Only after about an hour we arrived at the port of Kythira – Diakofti – a charming place that really looked like to me as a very cozy fish town, with nice beaches and the colour of the sea was outstanding ….. between emerald and turquoise ….

We took our Map and pointed to Palaeopolis – near Avlemonas – that was where our studios was located …..

First good surprise … was that finally … the Palaeopoli Villas http://www.kythera.gr/en/wheretostay/papapelekanos.php gave us a whole house -  to spitaki – instead of giving us a room there … imagine .. we had a huge house just for us .. on top of the hill with view sea and a huge veranda where  we spent nights … drinking ouzo and watching the stars and the milky way …. so romantic …… and so quite ….. and even the baker was delivering us fresh sweets (bougatsa)  and bread every day at about 10am – that was absolutely perfect ! + all daily presents (fresh fruits and vegetables) the owner of to spitaki was giving us every single day we spent there …….

What we immediately understood was that we really need a satellite navigator ! Kythira is amazing big (like Malta) and has lots of roads that at least at the beginning you need some indications in order not to get lost … and save some time and money for the fuel …. that nowadays is a pretty big issue in Greece …. From that you can tell that it does not look like the Cyclades island, where usually there are only a few roads that connects the main centers …. but Kythira is different … and we were told that there were about 60 small villages in the island …..

Kythira has lots of things to do and it was really difficult to pick up 10 beaches to visit out of the 40 … and also what else to do … it needed a strong planning … that of course I carefully prepared in order to get as much as possible from our visit

The first thing we did was to visit the Chora and the Castle. We went for dinner in the Chora and the day after we had a coffe there just before visiting the very nice Kastro.

Kythira Chora
Comparing to other islands I visited the Chora of Kythira is not the main center of the island … it’s is a beautiful characteristic town but I guess in Winter nobody is living there. We discovered that the main life of the island is on the north, at Potamos (a very anonymous town) . There were nice shops but we didn’t find the common nice tavernas to enjoy a delicious dinner ….. We went to Zorba’s to have a good souvlaki thought.

The Kastro – in the morning we visited the nice Venetian Kastro that I think is the best monument it worth  visiting  in Kythira. From there you have an amazing view to Kapsali and you could dominate the Aegean, Ionian see … and in clear days you can even see Crete ….

After those places we had a very strict agenda to follow … beaches … beaches and again beaches and of course also the so famous Water Falls of Kythira  …..

Neraida Waterfalls - close to the village of Milopotamos. We decided to visit this charming place .. imagine .. in one Greek island to find like a green tropical  forest – full of butterflies   and not only with rivers … but with water falls …… Of course we took lot of pics and then proceeded our walk to see also the watermills…. Our walk was not so easy … we had to cross some rivers .. walk a lot … sometimes with our shoes in the water ….  but finally we arrived to see a fantastic Water fall just for us ! (at least for 5 minutes since then other 3 people came …. ) – still nothing comparing to the chaos of the Neraida – and for the first time in my life … I  had a bath under the waterfall … such a beautiful experience ….. !!!!

After that amazing experience we were ready to visit the beaches we thought to be the more interesting :)

My personal top list of beaches in Kythira

First of all I  need to warn you – apart from Diakofti Beach  all the other are with pebbles mixed sometimes with some dark sand …  still amazing !!!

Fyri Ammos Beach (in the South) – close to Kalamos beach – that is my favorite beach ! Very long pebble beach with turquoise  water. Pretty difficult to reach with about 10 minutes of dirty road ….. You can find a Taverna for refreshments and some umbrellas ! not bad :)

Kaladi – they say it is the best  beach of the island. In order to get there you need to do 130 steps ! (I counted them).

Melidoni Beach – pretty difficult to reach with (they say) 5 km of dirty road (they seems 30km ….. ) but very nice indeed  ! You can find refreshments there and umbrellas too

Chalkos is one of the most famous beach of the island – close to Kalamos and Kythira Chora

Langada – huge beach after Lorenzo’s beach. It is close to the touristic town of Agia Pelagia

Kapsali Beach – nice for a stop while waiting for taking to boat to go to Chytra – you can also rent a pedalo to visit the other 2 small beaches that are in that bay

I wanted to visit the beautiful beach of Kiriakoulou but we couldn’t find the path …. so we hoped to go there with the boat .. while doing the tour to Chytra but we didn’t stop there with my strong disappointment ….

Visiting the cave of Chytra with Glass Bottom  Boat http://www.kythera.gr/en/whattodo/glass_bottom.php – this is for sure an experience to do .. still maybe it will be a little bit disappointing at the end …. actually they say that you will also visit other beaches … that actually you go and see them for 1 minute .. and then you leave … with no stops ….
Still you should go and visit that Cave in the middle of the sea – it’s like the grotta blue in Capri – BUT be aware  – YOU NEED TO SWIM AND DO SNORKELING! and spend about 30′ in the water that could be a little chilly. The boat at some point stops and then you need to enter the cave and see them – swimming. I strongly suggest you to visit them late in the afternoon – when the sun goes down and you could see the amazing colours of the water…

Where to eat in Kythira
Filio at Kalamos ΦΙΛΙΩ  http://www.kythera.gr/en/whattodo/filio.php – close to Chalkos, Kythira town – we went there 3 times it is simply delicious. Do not miss the tiganopsomo ! their fried bread …..
Maria at Logothikiana  – fish taverna. The best ever in the island and she is so Delicious and friendly ! she won’t stop bringing  you food and home made biscuits !!
Manolis   at Diakofti – we really had a fesh nice dinner … sitting by the sea …..

Towns to visit
Milopotamos – is it a very charming town that you will find when visiting the water falls. I strongly suggest you to stop there- have lunch / dinner or simply a coffee
Mitata -  the balcony of Kythira. From there you have a fantastic view of the island .. and the main square is a perfect place for having a coffee and take some pictures. Also do not forget to go to Meli Gala for shopping ! they are famous for their cheese and try the red wine too !!! Also visit the old house where they used to do oil – they also sell it and it is really good !!

Avlemonas – actually this is the location that  I would strongly suggest you to look for an accommodation. Very pretty – characteristic and perfect if you have children for swimming

Kapsali – nice place for a stop, have dinner and on your way back do not forget to stop at KouKos http://www.kythera.gr/whattodo/koukos.php  for a nice drink!

I hope you liked this post but mostly I hope I convinced you to visit this amazing island that is still so virgin and non touristic :)

φιλάκια
ciao !

Good to know – there are only two pharmacies in the all island  – one and the bigger one in Potamos and the other one in the center of the island at Karvounades. ciao !