-
Schinoussa & Iraklia: Further Down The Line
Schinoussa Whoever invented retsina deserves a medal. Whoever had the idea of drinking retsina to accompany fish was inspired, and deserves a medal. If the two were the same person, they should be made a saint. A few short hours after arriving on Schinoussa we are not only doing both, but we are doing it in a sun drenched beach bar where the tamarisk trees border the sand, the sun glints on the surface of the water, and just a handful of people share our space. There can’t be too many better feelings than this. Not long ago when we were being windswept on Astypalea and needing sweatshirts to deal…
-
Sapphire & Emerald; Donoussa & Koufonissi
Donoussa On the first of our two mornings in Donoussa we are awakened not by revellers from last night’s festival still up, nor by the usual cockerel calls, but instead by the sound of …….wait for it…..rain! This is the first sprinkling of rain since we saw a shower through the train window on July 24th, some 51 days ago. This one has passed through and dried up before we’ve even had breakfast. The port village of Stavros on the island of Donoussa is the first of our quick stays in the Lesser Cyclades. Donoussa is one of the smallest inhabited Cycladic islands with a total area of just 13…
-
Hopping Mad: The Lesser Cyclades
Here it is again, that feeling. It’s 7am and the sky is turning a blazing shade of tangerine as the sun raises its head above the mountain peaks. We chug out of Katapola and leave the beautiful island of Amorgos behind, and the feeling is here again: that heady mix of sadness at leaving and excitement at moving on, somehow even stronger when the leaving is early morning. As we bid farewell to Amorgos we have a distinct feeling – unusual for us – that we will return one day, not a reaction which we have commonly felt on our travels. Ahead of us now though is some old school…
-
From The Volcano To The Butterfly: Astypalea
Past the uninhabited island left shining white by the mining of pumice, the Dodecanese Pride catamaran powers on across the waters towards the first stop at Kos Town. Out here on deck, the wind rushes, the sun shines and the fountains of pure white surf make furious patterns in our wake, and we are thankful that the crossing isn’t quite as rough as we were told it might be. Until, that is, after Kos, when we are all shepherded inside as the next stage of the journey will be too lively for passengers to stay on deck, and what follows is ninety minutes of rocking and rolling and lurching over…
-
Nisyros And Its Amazing Volcano
Tilos has been wonderful, our best stop so far, and it’s not without sadness that we board the cool looking Stavros ferry and leave whitewashed, bougainvillea dotted Livadia behind. But we always say…move on while you still love a place, so we’re being true to our travel principles on this one. Unusually for islands in the Dodecanese, Tilos has a comparatively flat centre between its spectacular peaks, through which the main road of the island runs north to south. This fertile plateau was created by a gigantic fall of pumice and ash belching from a volcanic eruption of enormous proportions on the neighbouring island of Nisyros, our next destination. Nisyros…
-
Tales From Tilos
Last night’s cocktails soon morph into drenching sweat as we haul ourselves up the steep mountain behind Megalo Chorio, the parched plants crackling beneath our feet, some brittle enough to turn to dust, others springing back upright, resilient to our footfall. A late night cocktail bar may not have been the best preparation for a climb like this, but the beautiful island of Tilos is taking us into its arms in every possible way. As ever, the climb is worth the effort. The views across the deep blue Aegean to neighbouring islands are matched by those back across land, the stark white buildings of the village tumbling down the hillside…
-
Towards The End Of Crete
We do like to mix it up a bit when it comes to accommodation on our travels, and aim for a bit of variety. Large hotels with small spaces and big prices aren’t really our thing, but pretty much anything else is fair game. So after apartments in Hania, Thessaloniki and Korinthos, a small family hotel in Delphi, and an “aparthotel” in Agios Nikolaos, we both find ourselves beaming from ear to ear as we drive up the steep unmade road to our next base in the village of Palaiokastro, just a short drive from the eastern coastline of Crete. For the next few days we are based in a…
-
Agios Nikolaos: Lepers & Lotus Eaters
About 50 years ago in the early 1970s, I used to watch, with my parents, a TV series called The Lotus Eaters which I recall as being very watchable. That series was set here in our next base, Agios Nikolaos, towards the eastern end of Crete. I figured I was one of only a handful of people to remember the programme, yet on our very first walk around the town upon arrival, we find the very bar where it was filmed, still with a commemorative board at its entrance. The title of that series is actually taken from Greek mythology, whereby those who ate the fruit of the lotus lost…
-
Crete: The Western End
We’re sure lots of travellers do this, but we have a tendency to give nicknames to bars and cafes rather than call them by their real name. This nickname may be governed by the location (bus bar or corner bar) or by what we ate or drank (fish bar or aperol bar) or something we saw or heard there (dog bar, tree bar, reggae bar). So we begin our last evening on Serifos at Ugly Woman Bar, gazing out over the evening waters and wishing we were staying longer. But events outside of our control have brought about a rethink and we are off to a new destination. Our journey…
-
Serifos, And A Rethink
The first inkling we get that our calculated risk may not pay off is when we disembark the ferry on Serifos at just after 9am. Backpacking on the Greek islands is easy out of season, but this will be our first attempt at it during August when the islands are at their busiest. Not knowing what the effect of COVID travel restrictions will be, we’ve decided to risk it and see how it goes on the first island and make our judgments from there. And then we get that first clue: not a single room hawker on the quay waiting to meet the ferry. The lady in the office marked…
