Ursula’s Travels in Sunny Greece

Skiathos

Dear readers – Skiathos , sorry for my long absence but I have been quite busy for work and for my wedding too :)

But believe me every day I was thinking about you, about my dear readers and about my next trip to describe …..

So I am very happy to tell you that again, in this chapter, we will go back to Green Sporades Islands – this time to Skiathos !

Some info about Skiathos – ελλ. Σκιαθος

Skiathos is the closest to the land and the westernmost island of the Sporades. It is only a couple of hours from Volos by ferry and even closer if you are travelling from Agios Constantinos
It is the most touristic islands of the Sporades thanks to the international airport (that is also very close to the port about 1 Km) but most of all to all his beauties.
This island actually is very beautiful, very green with many mountains, and extremely dense vegetation and countless number of extremely sandy beaches in crystal waters and a great Kastro to visit ……

The main and only city is Skiathos Town, which is the port and the “capital” of the island. The rest of the island consists in beautiful large beaches, churches, archaeological sites, many supermarkets, villas, restaurants and numerous huge hotel units all along the coast

Let’s go to my trip Agistros beach
Last Summer we decided to go back to Sporades and to spend one week in Alonissons and the other week of holidays in Skiathos.
For Alonissos I had clear ideas about where to go, since I have already been there. For Skiathos …. that was different !
I knew it was a beautiful islands, with many sandy beaches but for the accommodation I was looking for something chic, our of the ordinary, not a touristic hotel … something very romantic ….
Well one day surfing on internet I found Villa Athena http://www.villa-athena.com – and from the images I saw I thought it was exactly what I was looking for ! and I must say it was even more beautiful than expected !

We were coming from Alonissos – it was a very nice trip ! I took a lot of sun on the boat, it was windy but not too much … it was very relaxing !

The first impression I had of Skiathos was that this was a very green and beautiful island. While approaching with the boat to the chora you could see the beautiful tiny white houses, all restored with wood balconies and red roofs and the small peninsula that separates the old from the commercial port.
The port was very impressive ! and the old port was really full of luxury boats / yachts.

Once landed we went straight to our Villa Athena to leave our luggages and start the second part of our holidays :)

Villa Atena was a real nice surprise ! On top of one hill dominating Megali Ammos and all Skiathos Bay, with amazing view and very cozy apartment.

The more time we were staying in Skiathos the more we were realizing that this island was very different from Alonissos with of course its pro and contra – very touristic, lot of services, countless number of hotels / houses all along the cost, restaurants …. and many many many people on the beach ! Still very beautiful but maybe better to avoid in August. The only really disappointing issue of Skiathos was the food …. we always ate out in restaurants and the quality was not very good …… comparing to other places ……

Beaches
All beaches in Skiathos are sandy and in some of them it seems to be in Caribbean …. the sand is so soft ……. Most of them are organized, with umbrellas, beach bars etc … and a lot of high music ! There is a very good bus connection that brings you to most of the beaches from Skiathos Town. Actually you do not need to rent a car or a scooter.

Agia Eleni – that was the first Beach we visited. It is right at the end of the main road – that runs all along the coast. I recommend to go to Agia Eleni in order to enjoy a wonderful sunset.
The beach is organized, with umbrellas, bars etc …..
Banana Beach – (it’s quite risky to reach this wonderful beach with the car since it’s very sandy – if you have a jeep no prob.!) Wonderful beach (overcrowded !), very organized ….
Megali Ammos – nothing special

Following the link of all beaches in Skiathos

http://www.skiathos.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=24&Itemid=82&lang=en

The beaches I loved best …. very far away from people … high music…. chaos !!!!
In order to reach them you need a car / scooter since they are opposite from the coast road and you have to cross the forest.
Comparing other overcrowded noisy beaches those are a piece of paradise ….. extremely sandy beaches, with crystal sea ….. half organized … with a small tavern for refreshments

Megalo Yalos – beautiful long and sandy beach …..
Megalo Asselinos
Elies Beach (my favourite !)
Agistros Beach
Mandraki Beach

Skiathos Town
Skiathos Town is very beautiful. The chora really worth to visit. It’s pedestrian with wonderful houses and colored painted doors ! Actually the doors of Skiathos are a touristic attraction by themselves. Close to the main Church there is a very nice square, full of restaurants where you can enjoy good Italian food, with pizza, pasta etc …. and one restaurant is so beautiful that you would love to have a house like it …..
The main street Papadiamanti leads you from the port to the centre of the chora, it is very touristic, with lot of shops, restaurants, gelaterie – very nice to have a walk in the evening

In Skiathos there are 2 ports, the commercial and the old one. They are separated by the little peninsula of Bourtzi, covered with pine trees. On this peninsula are the remains of the old castle built by the Ghisi brothers during the Venetian period (sorry but I didn’t have the time to visit it :) ).

The old port is quite picturesque despite of the high tourism and is a pleasant place for a walk, boarded with little fishing boats. At the end of it you will find lot of restaurants by the sea …..I would suggest you to book a table the previous day if you want to have dinner there. Still be aware that the quality of food is not extraordinary but the view is very romantic !

Kastro Kastro
This is a beautiful piece of story you have to visit, one of the principal medieval towns ! In order to go and visit the Kastro there is a quite long way to do with the car and then you have to walk for about 20 minutes.
The Kastro used to be the main city of the island until 1829. Placed in a very suggestive place, on one rock, close to the sea it’s very suggesting !
In Kastro there used to be 300 houses and 20 churches. Now actually you cannot see a lot about its gorgeous past … only one church … a square and a couple of restored house … still the view from there is very beautiful.

I really recommend Skiathos in August to teenagers ! guys that just finished the high-school and want to do a break before the incoming University year … there you find lot of beautiful beaches, discos and night life!!!

I recommend Skiathos to family and couples but NOT in August

Still be aware about the quality of the food … I warned you !
φιλακια
ciao !

Elafonissos

Sarakiniko

My dear readers – Elafonissos.

I decided to visit this island because I saw a picture on one travel magazine of the half moon beaches and I said …. this is my island ! My next Summer Destination!

Some info about Elafonissos – ελλ. Ελαφονησος

Elafonissos is a very tiny island located at the end of Peloponnese.

Actually the island has only one town – Elafonissos and a couple of beaches. The only way to get to Elafonissos is with the car – a very long way down to Peloponnese :), from Athens or from Patra !

Down down to Peloponnese and then …. at Pounda you should take the ferry – just for 10’ trip and there you are !

Elafonissos is only 500 m. far away from the coast and they say that in some period, with the low tide you could even “walk” from the coast to the island.

Let’s go to my trip

As anticipated previously I decided to go to Elafonissos because I saw the picture of the 2 amazing beaches of Sarakiniko – 2 half moon beaches that faces each other.

The trip to reach Elafonissos was very painful . … August ….. 4 hours by car from Athens …. without air conditioning ….. a real nightmare ! When we arrived there was a pool in the car and I was simply devastated and dehydrated ……

But despite of that I was very excited for the trip because I never visited Peloponnese and I knew I was going through Korinthos, Sparta etc ….

First delusion ….. from the motorway you do not even notice you are going through Korinthos ….. second and bigger delusion …. Sparta ! with my fervid imagination I was thinking to see a very historic city … to see the mountain where they used to throw and kill small kids that were not in good health ….. but nothing ! well .. honestly there is the mountain Taigetos … but I imagined it in another way :) I think that Sparta is a very anonymous new city , with ugly buildings ….

so ….

my only wish was that after all this long trip and that hot ! Elafonisssos was exactly how I was expecting it – simply beautiful !

and ….. when we arrived at Pounda I forgot all my pains with the amazing sight I had in front of me ….. white sands …. turquoise waters ……. and classical Greek fisherman boats at the small port ! My only wish was to take off my dress and dive in this beautiful blue see ……… but the ferry was coming …

Our accommodation was nice, if you consider that we found it a week before leaving ….. on the way from the town to Sarakiniko, very nice and romantic but with no sunset :(

Honestly I would not suggest you to stay in the Chora: it is very hot and there is quite a lot of confusion – therefore I would recommend you to look for accommodation far from the Chora.

Elafonissos Chora is very characteristic – with small nice white houses, narrow paths and plenty of tavernas by the sea / the port to eat delicious Greek food ! All night life is there too with very nice clubs to hear music and dance !

Don’t forget to see Agios Spyridon Church – that has been built in the middle of the sea and is connected with the Chora by a bridge

At Elafonissos there is also a very big camping that I heard is one of the best in Greece ! and it is very close to the 2 amazing beaches of Sarakiniko. No more info on that, sorry. I am not a person that usually does camping :) but you can check it out in the following link :)

http://www.simoscamping.gr/

Beaches

Sarakiniko is simply gorgeous ! it has peaceful blue waters and green vegetation. In order to get there you have to go over the camping area – where the road finishes – park there the car and walk for about 5 minutes.

The sand is very soft and the sea seems a huge swimming pool ! This is the perfect place for kids ! If you are thirsty or hungry you can go to the close bar of the camping to get what you need :)

Simos Sarakiniko is the other beach, half moon shaped that faces Sarakiniko….. long … sandy … with beautiful waters too.

Panagia is the other beach I really loved. It’s very long, sandy with blue waters and ….. a nice sunset !

It was a very nice summer ! our holidays were amazing, I spend all my days in the blue sea ….. and relaxed myself …..

If you are going to Elafonissos do not forget to visit also Monemvasia …. another magic place to see that I will describe in the next chapters ….

I strongly recommend this place to families, for kids and couples !

Ciao

φιλακια !

elafonissos

elafonissos

Kos

This time I am going to write about a destination I am not very excited about ….. it’s like a sort of warning to you … do not go to KOS unless you like over touristic places with no character.

I may be wrong, I may be exaggerated … but this is my blog where I am going to write what I do think and my feelings about my travels :)

I know that I am quite strict and maybe too taught. Actually I had some issues with one friend of mine and with my cousin too because they really liked the island. But you know …it depends on what you are looking for …..

Nevertheless I must admit that Kos has great turquoise see, with sandy beaches, lot of things to do and visit! You cannot be bored .. still …. I do not know … there was something we didn’t like …..

Some info about Kos – ελλ. Κως

Kos is in the Dodecanese Islands and it is the 3^rd largest of the Greek islands. It’s very touristic, there are people coming from everywhere – this is why it is very organized and has everything in terms of tourism infrastructure.

The best way to reach Kos is with the plane and of course with the boat. Kos is also very close to Turkey (only 5 km) , actually it faces Bo drum and it could be a good idea to visit Bo Drum for one day.

Honestly I think that Kos is the closest Island to Turkey -but I may be wrong . Maybe for this reason Greeks keeps warning Turkish to stay insider their borders putting in a huge rock in the middle of the sea a huge Greek painted Flag ! What a pity I cannot find this picture any more …..

Let’s go to my trip

I went to Kos time ago on my way to Patmos. We booked our holidays with a touristic operator. Our flight was a charter from Milano to Kos and since the boat to Patmos was the day after we spent one night in one hotel in Kos …..

The first impact was not very exciting …… I must say that it was not love at first sight …..

Since we arrived in the evening, we just had a shower and had a walk in the center of Kos Chora …. countless numbers of bars – restaurants and clubs, nice souvenir shops.

But …. on the main paved street of the Chora there were all the waiters that were quite pushing … insisting and maybe following us for a while for making us entering in their restaurant and have a drink or dinner….. During all our walk we never stopped saying “No thank you …. “ – at the end we were exhausted ….. Back in the hotel …. we were planning to make some changes to our holidays soon …. since the second week was supposed to be in Kos …..

Unfortunately our plans didn’t go as we hoped … we tried to change the island for the second week, maybe making our stay in Patmos longer or staying in tiny Lipsi …..but since it was August the tourist operator couldn’t help us …..

BUT after a couple of days in Kos we decided to go to Nysiros – on our expenses …

Anyway back to Kos, since we spent some days there – I have something to tell you about :)

Since Kos is quite a big island I strongly recommend you to rent a car – and do not what we did :) hihihi

As always, since we had to contain costs … we rented a scooter …. and you can imagine how my back was at the end of our trip to the beaches of the south …. about 40 km far from Kos city ……with wind blowing from everywhere.

What to see

I suggest to spend one afternoon / evening at the Chora, to have a walk and to see the famous Hippocrates Plane Tree. They say that Hippocrates used to teach his students in this place.

All the area is pretty, you can also have a walk to the small port ….

Beaches

Very close to Kos there a very nice beaches, facing Kalymnos: Marmari, Tsigaki ecc … They are also easily reachable with the bus – there are good connections with Kos. Unfortunately since Meltemi is blowing from this side … for many days in August …. if there is Meltemi it is quite difficult to stay on the beaches ….. the sand will cover you and the sea is not much appealing … turquoise but with a lot of waves ……..

A very good alternative is to go to the very huge Bay, on the opposite coast of Kos, facing Nysiros, where there is Paradise beach and all other very nice, big and soft sandy beaches. You can easily find them following the main road – all of them are fully indicated

Please also consider that most of the touristic villages / hotels are there.

Following some names of beaches I visited:

Kefalos is one of the most famous beach in Kos and they say that the water here is very freezing …. there are nice psari tavernas where you can eat fresh fish

Camel Beach is very nice too …. and honestly it would be perfect to reach it with a Camel :) the path is with sand … and if you have a car or a scooter better to leave it close to the main road and go down on foot

Paradise Beach is one of the most famous beaches, with water sport – perfect for teenagers !

Unfortunately I don’t have nice pics on Kos ….. I told you … I was not very excited ……. but following you will find the official site of Kos : have a look at it so to see the pics and read all info about the island too. You may like it :)

http://www.kosinfo.gr/

Ciao

φιλακια

Koufonisia

kouf I only went once to Koufonisia …… and I must confess you that whenever I am thinking about my best best best Greek destination I always think about this tiny but gorgeous island in the small Cyclades …….

Some info about Koufonisia (Pano Koufonisia) – ελλ. Κουφονισια

Koufonisia is a very small island in the small Cyclades, in the Aegean sea. It is located close to Naxos (below) and Amorgos.

There is no airport in Koufonisia, and the only way to get to the island is with the boat – (have a look at this link to check it out www.gtp.gr )

It’s useless to take your car to Koufonisia since there are no roads – I mean there is one that is maybe 2 km long or even less – the only way to visit Koufonisia is on foot or with a boat.

Let’s go to my trip

I went to Koufonisia about 6 years ago. That was one of the 4 islands we were visiting that Summer (Santorini, Folegandros, Naxos and Koufonisia).

IMPORTANT – If you are thinking to spend your holidays in small Cyclades I strongly recommend you to start looking for accommodation in April – not later. They are called small Cyclades because they are really small ….. imagine, Koufonisia is only 6km2 !!!!!

I didn’t know that at the beginning and when I was looking for accommodation (that was beginning June) all the hotels were replying to me that were already full booked ! I was so depressed … I already had planned my tour ……. and I was really getting crazy since I wanted to visit this island because friend of mine was fanatic about it. So … with my hurt full of desperation I contacted a local travel agency that gave me a good news ! They told me that there was an hotel –a new one – that just opened and that they were sure there was still place there. …. and ….. everything went fine :)

In order to go to Koufonisia we stopped in Naxos and took a small boat and for my great surprise my friend Micaela – the one fanatical about Koufonisia was there !! on the boat !! this was destiny !!!

When we arrived for our great surprise we saw that the island was very very tiny but simply beautiful …. the water of the port was crystal, transparent …… and you can imagine other beaches ….

Sea For the first time in our life the owner of the hotel came to pick us up at the port – they were waiting for us and we didn’t know ….. and we understood that we arrived in paradise !!!

Let’s go to the hotel ……. that I strongly recommend http://www.aeoloshotel.com/ (*)

It was on the right side of the Chora, up in a hill, on the way to the beaches and for our surprise it was really chic for our standards !! When we saw our room …. the bathroom (beautiful shower !!) .. our balcony with view to the sea ……. it was so romantic …… and eating Greek yogurt in the morning with honey was the thing that made our stay there perfect !

I knew that there were no streets and therefore no buses to reach the beaches, the only way to get to the beaches from the Chora was with the boat or on foot. Therefore the first day we went to the port, we saw that there were 2 connections in the morning and 2 in the afternoon in order to get to Pori beach with the colourful tiny fisherman boat …. we checked the price and that it was ! our first trip to Pori Beach was with the boat ! it was a very nice trip :) we could see all the coast, all other beaches and since the distance was not so much – only 20 minutes of walk by the Chora – the next days we decided to go on foot.

The way to Pori Beach is very nice, there is a nice path by the sea, with wonderful natural swimming pools close to the the path, natural caves …. and you can stop in all other beaches to have a rest, have a coffe of just to dive :)

Chora

The Chora is quite small, with one single main paved way that crosses it from the right to the left. All main psari tavernas (fish tavernas) are on the beach or close to the port and if you want to eat you should book them the day before (my recommendation). I strongly recommend Capitan Nikolas Taverna that is always fully booked – if you want you can go into the kitchen to choose your fish !

beach In Koufonisia there is the ever tasty Souvlakia / Ghiros Pita I ever ate in Greece !!!! Therefore I strongly recommend you to go there and have one. The Souvlakeria is in the chora, on the main street. You will see it, since there will be many people queuing :P

For your nightlife there are also nice clubs in the Chora where you can have your drink and then come back to your hotel / studios

Beaches

All beaches are sandy and the sand is so soft ……. with crystal sea waters – it seems like paradise ! I will just mention the ones I remember the names but there are several other beaches on your way to Pori

Megali Ammos – is the beach closest to the Chora, by the port. It’s a very big beach (Megali) and very nice.

Finikas is the first beach that you find when you leave the Chora (about 1.5 km).

Fanos is the second beach – just after Finikas. There used to be a camping there but I have been told that now it is closed. But I am not sure …. actually I am not very in target for camping ! So I am not the right person to ask !

Pori beach

It is the last beach you will find in Koufonisia – there the island finishes (about 3 km from Chora) and from there you can see Naxos.

Just below Pori Beach many people were diving from the high rocks – quite scary for me but very exciting for the most :)

Our stay in Koufonisia was very romantic, relaxing, we had great time and I strongly recommend this island to families, couples and to very stressed people.

If you cannot afford a trip Maldives in August ….. this is an alternative destination!

Ciao !

φιλακια

A SPECIAL THANK YOU to my friend Alkiviadis that gave me all the beautiful pictures you can find in this article !!! Thanks Alki !!!!

(* ) As you have seen usually I do not recommend hotels unless they are very nice and good !