Ursula’s Travels in Sunny Greece

Monemvasia

I visited Monemvasia a couple of years ago, when I went to Elafonissos.

The main thing I can say about this place is the holy atmosphere that dominates everywhere ….. magic !

Some info about Monemvassia – ελλ. Μονεμβασια

Monemvasia is a beautiful medieval fortress located in the south east of the Peloponnese. The only way to get to this town is with the car. It’s a trip of 3 -4 hours from Athens, quite a long trip across Corinth, Sparta and all Peloponnese.

The fortress is located on a small peninsula – actually on a huge rock – and from the main way is very well hidden – unless you know it you cannot understand that there is a small town … just behind the rock …..

You get to Monemvasia by a small bridge from the adjacent town. This magic towns attract so many tourists every year … simply for the beauty of its ruins …the walls of the castle ….. the many Byzantine churches (40 in such a small place) that are scattered all along the narrow streets

Monemvasia Details

Let’s go to my trip

I visited Monemvasia a couple of years ago – when I spent my holidays in the beautiful tiny island of Elafonissos.

My boyfriend told me …. I will bring you in the most Greek beautiful town … you will love it ! (some people may complain that this is not typical Greek style, but what Kostas meant is that he considers Monemvasia the most beautiful town in Greece)

From Elanonissos it was a nice trip of 1 hour max – I think we got lost a couple of times :) but the view from the mountains was simply amazing ….

Finally when we arrived in Monemvasia I was quite disappointed because … the town that was in front of me … was not so beautiful or let’s say close to a fortress …… And … then I realized that beautiful Monemvasia was hidden behind the huge rock that was facing the small port …… amazing !!!

We crossed the bridge and parked the car…. and walked until we entered in Monemvasia that is all pedestrian.

The colour of this medieval town is brown, like the earth, like the rock where it is based ….. this has been done on purpose in order to camouflage itself and no one could see Monemvasia from the sea of from the earth .

I am not mistaken the name of Momenvasia means one entrance – that is that main door you find to enter the town.

Church in Monemvasia

Monemvasia is simply amazing ! there are many narrow streets, nice characteristic shops, beautiful restaurants with huge balconies facing the Aegean Sea …. and many many many beautiful Byzantine Churches.

The place is such a holy town that people do not talk … whispers …. everywhere …. even in the streets and in the shops …

We had dinner there …. and I really enjoyed it ……

For sure I will come back to this place and I would stay inside the Chora …. quite expensive but it will worth !

I strongly recommend a visit to Monemvasia if you are in the South East of Peloponnese

φιλακια

Ciao

ps. if you are leaving Monemvasia in the night …… and you park the car on the street that leads from the bridge to Monemvasia (or viceversa) just take a torch with you ! (unless there is the full moon) There are no lamps on that street and your way back could be quite risky :)

ciao !

ps2 – there are also nice beaches close to Monemvasia … but if you want the best just go to Elafonissos :)

ps3 – All the pics you find here are of some colleagues of mine Thanasis and Yannis that just went to Monemvasia and did the shooting for us! Ευχαριστώ !!!

Monemvassia panorama

monemvassia panoramic

Easter …. in Skopelos ….. a touching experience ……

My Dear Readers – Skopelos

I had in mind to dedicate the new chapter of my blog to Monemvassia – wonderful location in Peloponnese- but I spent Easter in Skopelos, and it has been such a nice and touching experience that I need to write about.

Our trip to Skopelos

This Easter we decided to spend our “Easter Holidays” in Skopelos, and not to stay with our families since we had to go there to fix some personal issues for the wedding – that needed some time and I must say that Skopelos is not right the corner, even if you live in Athens….

When we arrived we were very sad since it was raining and the sky was very dark … therefore we said .. “ok, let’s have 4 rainy days of holidays ….. ” BUT only after a couple of hours the weather completely changed and we had 4 days of Sun, warm and also of sun bathing !!! (I had to go and buy a sun cream :) )

Panagia Skopleou Skopelos in Spring is wonderful – everything is in flower, the forests are very green and colored …. nice weather to go around and to have a walk in the mountains and the Chora start populating !
When we went in Autumn most of the houses were closed, shops were closed too – it was very nice and chic still not very engaging ……

Easter
Our trip moreover occurred in the most important period of the year in Greece – Easter !
Actually since I am living here I have the impression that Easter is even more important than Christmas.
There are several days of celebrations, and all people is living the Sacred Easter with a lot of passion …. all families are together …. and eating Lamb is the tradition ! All family participate for the preparation of the Lamb and Cocoretsi

We arrived in Skopelos on Friday ….on Good Friday – Megali Paraskevi ! and until Sunday I constantly heard the voice of the Priest singing the prayers … very Sacred and touching experience ……

Good Friday – Megali Paraskevi

Epitaffio Throughout Greece, Good Friday is known as the day of mourning. It is the only day of the year that the Divine Liturgy will not be celebrated.

In the evening, at 9 pm, all churches in all Greece start the Ceremony of Epitaphio. The Epitaphio is taken out of the church and carried by men through the village to the cemetery and back, with a slow procession of priests and altar boys carrying gold crosses and Icons. The church congregation follows, holding lit candles symbolizing the mourners. The chants are sad and solemn and the Church bells will ring slow and rhythmically as they do when signaling a funeral. In Skopelos this year this ceremony started a bit later. When we heard the bells and the Priest singing we went up to the Chora and waited for the procession to come …..

After the procession we enjoyed a delicious dinner to a very nice restaurant I kindly recommend – Rodo, inside the Chora

Holy Saturday “Megalo Savato

Saturday, after having spent all morning taking appointments with people we needed to meet and of course also enjoying the island and the sea in the afternoon – we were all waiting for the Big Ceremony of the Resurrection. This is the Day of the Light … the Spirit of Jesus …. of the Resurrection …

At 11 pm we were in the main Church of Skopelos, standing in the courtyards, silently waiting for the light .….with our just bought candles …… Just before midnight, the church turned off all it’s lights – except for the Eternal Flame that was inside the Altar. Everything was dark and we had been waiting in silence … symbolizing the darkness and silence of the tomb.

But when the clock stroke midnight, the priest lighted his candle from the Eternal Flame and sang out ‘Christos Anesti’ – ‘Christ is risen’. Holding his lit candle out, he offered the flame to the congregation that was closest to him. After lighting their own candle, they passed the flame back to others and to us and in a few minutes the entire church and courtyards were filled with flickering candle light. Moreover in that very moment of the lighting of the candles we started hearing sirens from the ships in the port .. while the church bells kept on ringing … I have been really touched by it ….. this will be an experience I will never forget …..

Sunday
Sunday was finally the day of the Celebration of the Resurrection ! Everyone was happy, outside their houses cooking and preparing the Lamb ! Everyone was saying “Xronia Polla'”
We spent all the morning going up and down the Chora, and I took a lot of picture since the day was simply amazing :)

I also tried to get an invitation from a person that was cooking souvlakia on his balcony … the smell was simply delicious … I said “Afto’ mirisi fantastika !” It smells nice !! but Kostas prevented that…. he told me that I had to keep on walking …… and we did ….. still I was looking for a “friendly” place where to enjoy Easter Lunch ……..

On the way to Sedoukia Since the day was simply amazing we decided to go on the mountains, to Sedoukia to look for ancient graves, in the rocks ….
It was a very nice walk, among many daisies ….. and the view from Sedoukia was simply amazing ! You could see part of Skopelos and all Alonissos in front of you …..

And the thing that really changed our day … was …….. we have been invited for lunch by complete unknown people …. and we enjoyed nice food and very good company with them …. simply because I saw a teverna by the sea, in Loutraki, where there were some people … I asked if it was open … and you know what ?? they invited us to Spend Easter with their family … all together !
At some point they also came to us and we danced NISIOTIKO together ……… thanks God ! I took lessons :)

It was nice to spend Easter with “friends” and not alone ……. and the Lamb was simply delicious !!!! Guys if you are going to Loutraki – close to Glossa – please go to this taverna. It’s really ad the end of the port, by the beach with wonderful view to Skiathos ! Armirali taverna !

They are very nice and the food was very tasty !

During this trip we really met many nice people – honestly I feel already part of Skopelos community :)

Everyone was no nice ! and helped us a lot ! I must admit that our “working” holidays has been very profitable ! Maybe one day I will buy a small house there …… maybe ……

That was our Easter ! and I strongly suggest you to come to Greece for this time of the year … maybe best to an island ………this will be a very touching experience ……….

Ciao !
φιλακια

Naxos

Naxos-3 I went to Naxos by accident …… and this island clearly knew it ….. and showed me all its disappointment …………

Some info about Naxos – ελλ. Ναξος

Naxos is the biggest and largest of the Cyclades Islands. Naxos is located in front of Paros and near Mykonos.
In Naxos there is an airport – with connections to Athens. If you are coming from abroad you will probably land in Mykonos, and then you need to take the ferry.
Naxos is a very mountain island that has also the highest mountain group of Cyclades – Mount Zas. It has numerous green plants, fertile and huge green valleys. For this reason it is quite difficult to visit the huge island hiring a scooter, I would therefore strongly suggest to rent a car.

But the main reason for all tourism in Naxos is the long and sandy beautiful coast – about 90 km – …. with extremely white and sandy beaches with crystal-clear turquoise waters.

It is the nuptial isle of the god Dionysus – and you can see it once landed thanks to the huge Portara that dominates the Chora, showing glorious past of Naxos to all tourists

The island has been ruled by Venetians for many centuries and we still can see the this past thanks to the Castle in the Chora and the old towns itself.

Let’s go to my trip
As I put in my introduction I was not supposed to go to Naxos and the island was very disappointed about it …..
Our stay to Naxos was a last minute trip, actually needed since I was in Folegrandros, needed to go to Koufonisia but didn’t want to take the flying delphin again … therefore we had to stop for a couple of days in Naxos ………

We arrived in Naxos the 15th of August at early afternoon … without having booked anything !! at the port there was a tourist information desk that kindly informed us that the island was fully booked …. as you can imagine there was panic in my eyes !! Thanks God I had with me my dear Lonely Planet, I looked for Naxos and found another office that told me to go there ….
When I arrived in this office I was ready for anything, any solution, any costs …. I didn’t want to spend the night sleeping on the beach …. having as repeair my Samsonite luggages …..

This man called another person, that lead us to the center of the new part of the Chora …. we crossed several small street and finally arrived in our apartment ….. I think that this house belonged to someone that had missed recently … anyway that was not my best choice but we had no solution ! Therefore I didn’t complained and left everything ready to discover another Greek Island !! We rented a scooter (the last one available … ) and went straight to the beach :)
Naxos-5
We had a very nice day, we went to the closest beach to the town, all organized with umbrellas …. we didn’t know what was coming next ……

Actually …. when we had enough and were ready to go to our studios …. we suddenly realized that we had no clue about where our studios was …… and that was a very huge town ….. PANIC ! PANIC PANIC ! We had a look at the key of the studios .. no name .. no telephone number …. I was having and hysteric crisis ………

After hours ! wandering all around the city trying to remember anything !! (it was 10pm) with my wet bikini and hair … and it was quite chilly too … God helped us … and we met in one street the owner of the office that gave us the apartment …… You can imagine how happy I was !

But that was not the only “accident” we had in Naxos … unfortunately ………

The day after – since we only had 1 other day to visit the island before going to Koufonisia – we wanted to visit all the coast with our amazing scooter !!!!! Since it made a lot of noise I suggested to replace it .. but my friend didn’t agree …… and wanted to continue to drive it ….. you know sometimes how man can be stubborn about motors !!!!

Imagine 60 km of costs …… with sandy soft paths ….. driving with a salincer that was not working very well … I can tell you that people heard about us even 2 kms before our arrival …… I was so scared to get burned and that path all along the coast was so difficult to drive ……. but my friend didn’t want to hear any reasons and wanted to go on .. continue … untill we arrived to the last beach ……and we were ready to our way back …..

The only think I obtained was to take the main road instead of the coast path ….. in order to avoid noise and be able to get to the town the sooner as possible ….

Once arrived to the first road we met .. after a while … we LOST OUR SILENCER …. we were both wordless …..
We were in the middle of nowhere .. without map … and no mobile ……… fuck ! PANIC again ……….. and it was early afternoon …. in August …… I wanted to cry !!!!
Again God helped us – two old people were coming on our way …. the woman dressed in black and the man with the classical Greek hut … I stopped them and …
myself without speaking a word of Greek and them without speaking any word of Italian…. we understood each other … and the man fixed our silencer while the lady called the rental of the scooter … saying where we were located ….
We wanted to give them 10 euros at least for the call but they didn’t want anything ! this is Greece ! people here are so friendly !!!

Well … after a while the rental came, gave us a new scooter and we continued our journey all around Naxos . We crossed all the valleys and it was a nice afternoon.

Naxos-2

Chora Naxos or Naxos Town : is the capital and main harbor of the island of Naxos.. It’s a lovely village with a wonderful Venetian castle overlooking it. The old part is very characteristic but we can say the same thing also to the new part of the city … really looking like a “medina” with thousands of small and tight streets ……. leading you to the beaches or to the port. Actually the Chora is quite a big town, with about 20.000 inhabitants.

Close to the Chora and to the port, you find the Portara or the “Great Door” , a massive marble doorway, facing the sea and actually leading to nowhere.It has been build in honor of Dionysus, the God of wine and patron God of Naxos. The gate is around 6 m high and 3.5 m wide built with four separate columns. Each column weighs about 20 tons

Beaches – Honestly I do not remember the name of the beaches I visited, but I saw all of them ! All along the 60km of coast you will find a beach after an other !
Plaka Naxos: Plaka is like a continuation of the beach of Agia Anna and is one of the most beautiful beaches of the island. It is a calm and endless sandy beach with, in some parts, big flat stones and amazing crystal-clear waters.

Mikri Vigla Naxos: The incredibly beautiful beach resort of Mikri Vigla is located 18 kilometers away from the capital and consists in two wonderful sandy beaches separated by an impressive hill.
The northern beach of Mikri Vigla is wonderful, with soft golden sand and crystalline turquoise waters and is blessed by the meltemi (north winds specific to the Cyclades) which make it an ideal place for windsurfing. For that reason Mikri Vigla is an the southern beach (on the other part of the hill) is an endless sandy beach called Sahara with amazing waters; because it is protected from the meltemi winds, it has become a calm family beach where a tavern propose excellent food of high quality.

Naxos is a very beautiful Island I strongly recommend to families, couples. I strongly recommend to rent a house along the coast, with amazing view to the sea

Ciao !

φιλακια !

Folegandros

My Dear readers – Folegandros

Since I have been nominated as “official expert of Greece” by TripAdvisor

http://www.tripadvisor.it/ShowTopic-g189398-i192-k3441332-l24747766-Vi_presento_ursulapola_esperta_della_Grecia-Greece.html#24747766

I am now really in the mood to write again and again about my trips !

This time I am going to tell you about the beautiful, savage but extremely chic Folegandros !

Some info about Folegandros – ελλ Φολεγανδρος

Folegandros is part of the Cyclades – I would consider this island as one of the small Cyclades Islands.

There is no airport on the island therefore the only way to reach it is via ferry. This island is very peaceful, there are several small beaches (most of them reachable only with the boat – there are plenty of fishing boats that the port ) crystal clear waters and the amazing Chora located up on the hill.

Let’s go to my trip

I have been to Folegandros many years ago. I landed in Santorini and from there I took the flying dolphin and reached Folegandros.

The trip has not been one of my very best … actually the Meltemi was blowing so much that once we arrived there were no more boats departing from Folegandros … and for that reason we didn’t have any room (we booked it but the guests that were supposed to leave haven’t and were so “kind” not to leave ….. – therefore despite we had the room, finally it was our problem to find a solution ……. ). You cannot imagine how many people spent the night sleeping on mattress, on the verandas in the Folegandros Village – actually it seems that it is common practice and that cost at that time was 10Euros per mattress.

Apart from that (I am still very disappointed !!) we started to discover the island.

The island is very small, there is one main village and very nice beaches but very difficult to reach with the scooter. There is also one bus that brings you from the port of Karavostasi to the Chora and to the only beach Livadi you can reach with a car / bus / scooter.

For this reason I strongly recommend to stop to Folegandros only for a couple of days – since the island is very nice and the Chora is one of the most beautiful I ever saw – but not to plan a whole week of holidays – unless you have a boat ……..

Actually we spent the first day in Livadi and the other we did a tour all around the island with a fishing boat – very nice !!!

Chora Village Folegandros

The island has only one main village. The Chora is located at an altitude of 200 mt above the sea level and about 3 km far from the port of Karavostasi. It is considered one of the oldest medieval towns in the whole Cyclades.

It’s very impressive, with beautiful whitewashed houses, many squares with trees, plenty of shaded areas – not windy – and lot of Kafenio where you can enjoy your Espresso and play Tavli – tipical Greek Backgammon!

One evening I saw a wedding in the Chora – it was in a nice tavern on a square and everybody was dancing sirtaki all around the tables …. I will never forget it !

Church of Panagia is located on a cliff, on top of the Chora. It dominates the island and you can enjoy a wonderful view and sunset ! Folegandros Panagia

Agali – the most crowded beach of the island, reachable with the bus. On this beach you will find tavernas and umbrellas :)

Karavostasi – is the very nice beach close to the port where you can enjoy the shadows of the numerous trees on it. The beach is not sandy though but there are nice small white stones

Ambeli Beach – very nice but tiny beach reachable with the boat or on foot (good luck !)

Livadi Beach – close to the port and to the camping

Katergo – beautiful bay reachable only with the boat.

Agio Nikolaos – this is the beach of the pics ! You can reach it with the boat or through a path

I strongly recommend this island to couples and only for a couple of days.

φιλακια

ciao !

ps A huge thank you to my friend Christos that gave me all the nice pictures you can find in this article.

ευχαριστω !!!