THE
SPORADES, THE DODECANESE AND AEGEAN ISLANDS
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MY
OVERALL PAGE OF GREEK ISLANDS CAN BE FOUND AT http://www.angelfire.com/super2/greece
AND MY PAGE ABOUT THE ISLAND OF CRETE AT http://www.angelfire.com/me4/greekislands
The most complete guide for Greece Griekenland 2link.be
THE SPORADES
In the north of Greece is a bunch of very green islands called the Sporades. The main four are Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos and Skyros. They are surrounded by lots of other smaller islands, which are also all covered with trees and shrubs, most of them big pine-trees. Because of the kind of the hotels on the islands, which are mostly in the more expensive region, the majority of the tourists visiting are a bit older and have some money to spend. It’s not bag packers’ paradise. It’s more a conservative kind of island group. Especially on Skiathos you will find a bit bigger luxury-hotels with sandy beaches in the front. A big part of the visitors comes from England, and most beaches, with the exception of a few, have beds and umbrellas on them. On Skiathos we found only two beaches on which you could dip into the water without any clothes.
You can reach these islands by plane (Skiathos has an international airport) from a lot of European cities or from Athens (Skyros also has an airport), or you can take the boat from Thessaloniki (and I think also from Volos on the mainland). There are also connections with Crete and the Cyclades once or twice a week, depending on the period that you visit. I flew on Skiathos and after a week took the ferry to the Cyclades, which was about a ten hour journey, but I loved it, both sailing away from Skiathos and back to it. You sail along the island of Evia and make a stop at several other islands. Time passes quickly with a bottle of water, a couple of bags of potato-chips, a book and a view that never gets boring.
In between the island-group itself there are daily connections by all sorts of boats: fast small ones, slower ferries and kaiks. The only island that doesn’t have such good connections is Skyros. Sometimes the ferry makes a stop there and there is an occasional fast boat servicing it.
Skiathos **
None of the Sporadic islands is really big, and Skiathos is no exception. From the four main islands this one has the best beaches, most of them very sandy and very large, but also very cultivated. There’s a bus going from the main town, which makes a stop at practically every beach on the east and the south of the island and then goes back. There are beds and umbrellas almost everywhere you go. This may be nice for some people, but personally I prefer the more unspoiled kind of beaches, which are more difficult to reach, where you just throw your towel on the sand. We found one beach like that in the north, I think it was Asselinos, but I’m not 100% sure. The bus doesn’t stop there and you have to walk a bit before you reach it. It’s a nice walk though through the forest over a sandy path. This is one of the few beaches where you can swim in the nude (like on one of the Banana-beaches) if you like. A couple of beaches, like Lalaria are not serviced by the bus, and you can reach by kaik from Skiathos town.
The beach in Skiathos town is situated close to the main road. Better beaches are for instance Agia Paraskevi (big), Koukounaries (also big) and Troulos (smaller, but overlooking a very pretty small island), but there are lots of others.
beach
in Skiathos map of Skiathos
beach near airport
Koukounaries
beach
Lalaria beach (pebbles) Marvin in Lalaria
The main town of Skiathos is rather big and busy, with a lot of white houses with red tiles, and typical churches. It has a nice long boulevard with shops, restaurants and terraces where you can sit down. Some of the streets are souvenir-heaven with lots of leather-shops, shoe-shops, shops that sell souvenirs of glass and ceramic and supermarkets. There’s also plenty of restaurants to choose from. The town has a new harbour and a more quiet old harbour with a lot of kaiks and small boats. The ferries arrive in the new harbour, and here you also find the modern boats of the tourists that visit the island in a stylish way. The boats for the daytrips to the islands like Alonissos, Skopelos, Tsougria (a small beach-island) and other islands you find in the old harbour. They all leave early in the morning around 9 or 10 o’clock. It’s best to check the price of the tickets before you jump on, because we found out that there was a big difference depending on which boat you took. Although Skiathos-town has some charm of its own, some parts of it are quite busy, too busy in my point of view, especially around dinnertime. You can find some peace and quiet on the islet of Bourtzi which is connected to Skiathos-town by a small road. Here you find no cars and the view is beautiful. I really enjoyed drinking a cocktail or an ouzo there in the evenings.
the
islet of Bourtzi
views of Skiathos-town
views
of the old harbour in Skiathos-town
the
green landscape of Skiathos
ruins at Kastro the coastline
Skiathos is a nice island to use as en ‘escape-base’ for a week or so during the off-season. You can make a couple of nice walks along the coast (the mountains aren’t too high, the roads are good, and the nature is quite pretty), lie on the beach, make excursions to several other islands and do the tour around the island by kaik. Since the island-group is much smaller then for instance the Cyclades the choice here is more limited. But then again: if you think that you have seen it you can take the ferry in the direction of Crete and choose another island in the Cyclades to visit. If you fly back home from Skiathos make sure to check when you can return with a ferry though, because it’s not a daily connection J.
rocks
along the coastline
Tsougria-island ferry in the new harbour
beaches ***
nightlife *
peace
and quiet *
people **
restaurants ***
scenery ****
main
village **
MY RATING ** (2 out of 5)
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Alonissos ***and a half
I’m one
of those people that made a daytrip to Alonissos and Skopelos. It really was
the best day of my stay in Skiathos J. The boat trip was very
interesting and beautiful, sailing along the islands green and rocky
coastlines. We even had an encounter with a group of dolphins, something that’s
supposedly not unusual in that area, but for us it was an event. Though
Alonissos-town is considerately smaller than Skiathos-town, I preferred it over
its bigger neighbour. The harbour is very cosy with lots of trees and lots of
flowers, and there’s also a lot of people that hold all kinds of birds in small
cages in front of their house. The terraces in the harbour were quiet and good
and the people were friendly. There’s not much traffic going on. On the right
side of the town there’s a small pebble-beach, and there are a couple of
streets with some shops. What also attracted the attention was a big old wall
in the middle of the town that was covered with shrubs and trees. You can walk
along the harbour and the pier, but there’s also the possibility to climb some
stairs and take a look at the town and the harbour from a higher level.
Alonissos
harbour map of Alonissos the green harbour of Alonissos
views
after climbing the staircase
the harbour
views
of the Chora
So this
is it: I can only give an impression of Alonissos, but as they say: first
impressions are usually right. I immediately felt at home in Alonissos. There
was a good and a relaxed atmosphere in the air. It gave me some time to breath
after the busy island of Skiathos. I haven’t seen any of the other beaches or
much else of the island during my short stay, but on first sight I think it’s a
good island for walking and exploring. I read that the beaches are not as good
as they are on Skiathos, and that they are more like pebble-beaches and that
the access is more difficult, but what is the definition of a good beach hé J??? I personally would prefer these kind of
beaches over the umbrella+chair-beaches of Skiathos. I must find time to go
back one day….
beaches ***
nightlife *
peace
and quiet ****
people ****
restaurants ****
scenery ****
main
village ***
MY
RATING ***and a half
(3 and a half out of 5)
Skopelos ****
Again
only an impression: this was for me love at first sight. Skopelos-town is
wonderful. It’s big, the houses are build against the mountain and the harbour
is very attractive with lots of shops and terraces, and a beautiful, big white
church on the right side of the boulevard. Within a couple of minutes I thought
‘I wouldn’t mind living here J…’. You can get lost in all the
small streets as you climb upstairs, and some of the views you get as a reward
are astonishing. There are lots of little churches, cosy little squares and
trees and flowers everywhere you go. Every here and there you will find a
strange shop with funny and interesting items that you wouldn’t find on other
islands. And just because it’s so big doesn’t mean that it’s busy or noisy.
It’s in fact nothing like that: because it’s build on a mountain and because
most of the streets are so small there’s hardly any traffic. I loved it. This
is one of the nicest Greek towns that I ever visited, maybe (no offence friends
in Mykonos…) even nicer than Mykonos-town, because it is so peaceful. A big fat
5 stars for this town.
view
of the harbour
map of Skopelos
the white church on the boulevard
views
over the town with its churches and terraces
some
pictures of the nature (from the internet)
Like on
Alonissos most of the beaches here are supposedly also pebble-beaches. I didn’t
stay long enough to check on them L… I can only tell you that the
town-beach is one pile of big and small pebbles and not very inviting to spread
your towel on and take a dip into the water. As far as we could see during the
boat-trip the scenery on the island was beautiful.
beaches ***
nightlife **
peace
and quiet *****
people ****
restaurants ****
scenery *****
main
village *****
MY
RATING **** (4 out of 5)
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THE DODECANESE & NORTH
AEGEAN ISLANDS
Two big island-groups in the east of Greece with some islands close to the Turkish coast, containing for instance Samos, Chios and Lesbos. I’ve only visited this part of the Greek islands 4 times, the last time a couple of years ago, and the other times maybe around 15 to 27 years ago. I have only seen 6 islands in this region and therefore some of them are high on my ‘wannasee-list’, like Leros for instance. I’ve ‘done’ Kos, Patmos, Samos, Kalymnos, Rhodes and Telendos. Two times I’ve used Samos as a base and one time Kos. The last island was already disgusting twenty years ago, so I don’t even want to try anymore today, because it’s very unlikely it has improved.
map of the Dodecanese overall view of the
islands the north Aegean islands
Samos ***and a half
Samos
is big and I’ve only seen a small part of it. The island is situated close to
the Turkish coast and in the eastside you can see the mainland of Turkey. We’ve
stayed in Phytagorion both times, a delightful fishing- and tourist-resort in
the south of the island. It’s a nice little village, and my absolute favourite
time of day to be there must be in the morning when it’s very, very quiet
(where are all the tourists?), and you can sit down with your sleepy face and
have your coffee and your breakfast (bacon and eggs J) while listening to the waves and looking at
the boats in the harbour. It’s the best way to slowly wake up. It’s surprising
how quiet it is at that time of the day considering the amount of tourists that
fly to Samos on a package-deal. I have no idea, but I think most of them are in
the hotels outside of Phytagorion-town and they only come to town in the
evening to have dinner and a cocktail or two, three…. We stayed in the Phytagorion-hotel.
Nothing really fancy, but it’s the only hotel in Phytagorion-town itself that
is situated directly on the (pebble-)beach. I just wanted the view and the
possibility to be in the water as soon as possible. Phytagorion has a long
boulevard with restaurants, cocktail-bars and shops. In the side streets you
will find more of the same, but off course there is no view of the
Mediterranean here. There are two little beaches inside the village that are
made out of pebble stones, and they are not very good. But just outside the
village you will find the start of a beach that is good: quiet and sandy with
here and there the occasional pebble. And it goes on for kilometres. You can
walk along this beach for one-and-half to two hours time to another very attractive
little village, and find pieces of beach without anybody lying on it on your
walk. In the evening Phytagorion becomes alive with music, cocktail-bars and
nice food (try Ambrosia on the boulevard, which is fab). The bar of the
Phytagorion-hotel, which is on the beach, is very nice (loud music as well).
Phytagorion
Kokkari
map
of Samos
Phytagorion the
landscape
Besides
Phytagorion there are plenty of holiday-destinations on Samos-island, like
Karlovassi, Kokkari, Samos-town and others. I’m told that Kokkari is also very
nice, but I have never been there. Karlovassi I have seen from the ferry on my
way to Mykonos, because it was a stop on the route. It looked very nice, with
as a remember a very beautiful big church somewhere in the village. It’s pretty
big. The only other place we’ve stayed for one night (or more: one day, because
we arrived at eight o’clock in the morning after a 9 hour boat-trip, and we
just took a little nap there to get some energy back) was Samos-town: a
definite no. The town looked nice from the boat, but once we started to explore
it we both hated it. The buildings in the harbour-front looked pretty
impressive, but it was just the front. In the streets behind the harbour we
found some sort of ghetto, with buildings falling to peaces, like it had just
been struck by an earthquake. It radiated an atmosphere of poverty and decay.
No nice shops, no nice restaurants, no nice beach and no nice boulevard. People
were walking around appearing to be uninterested in eachother. No friendly
faces at all. We didn’t know how fast we could go back to Phytagorion again.
Samos-town is one of the most disgusting Greek towns I’ve ever seen.
Kokkari
Samos-town church
Ratings
(Phytagorion)
beaches ****
nightlife ***
peace
and quiet ***
people ****
restaurants ****
scenery ****
main
town ****
MY RATING *** and a half (out of 5)
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Patmos ****and a half
Patmos
is a little gem and it’s one of my favourite islands to visit. On three of my
four holidays in this region I have also visited Patmos, the first time just
out of curiosity, the other two times because I liked it so much I wanted to go
back. And after returning to Patmos after eleven years in 1997 or so it struck
me that almost nothing had changed and that the shape and the size of the Skala
(harbour) and the atmosphere of Patmos had pretty much stayed the same. I could
even rent my old apartment and nothing had changed there. I think they even had
the same furniture and the same fridge. They did build a couple of more houses,
but not much. I found only that the village of Grigos had expended a lot and
that some of the buildings there had gone and others had been put in their
place. The ambience at the beach had remained the same though. Patmos is excellent
for making walks and excellent for a beach-holiday. It’s relatively quiet, the
tourists and the inhabitants are friendly and free. You can be who you want to
be. It’s not a party-island where young people drink themselves unconscious in
a disgusting way, but you can have some fun in the evenings and have a nice
drink on a terrace or inside in a bar/dancing. There’s a nice little place in
the harbour where in the evening everybody goes to for a drinky. You can just
sit there and relax or you can dance inside. The people on the island are happy
and they have a smile on their face, service in most restaurants is wonderful
and the food delicious and cheap, and again: served with a smile (most times,
haha). We found out that the restaurant
in the street just behind the harbour served the best food at a very cheap
price. It’s also always busy. The people working there were funny and really
sweet. In Skala you will also find the best bakery of Greece J.If you want to rent a place you can find a
real bargain. We paid about €18 a day for a big apartment in the centre with a
small patio both in the back and in the front. As a matter of fact everything
on the island is sort of cheap.
overlooking
the island map of Patmos the monastery
Patmos
has no airport, so you can only reach it by boat. It has good connections with
for instance Samos and Kos. The first thing you will notice when Patmos comes
into view is the enormous monastery that dominates the chora on the mountain,
and that overlooks the harbour. Patmos is a religious island. A visit to this
monastery is an absolute must, because it’s really beautiful. Also visit the
treasure-chamber while you are there. You cannot go in wearing shorts or a
t-shirt that shows too much, so bring a pair of long trousers or something if
you plan to go in, or you will have to wear a piece of cloth. We’ve seen a lot
of guys looking like drag queens while we were there. In the chora you also
have wonderful views over the island. The liveliest and nicest village on the
island though is Skala (the harbour). It’s situated on a part of the island
where the island is almost split into two, and within a few minutes you can
walk from east side of the island to the west side. It’s a cosy village with a
town-beach that’s not too bad. It’s close to the main road, but that’s it’s
only disadvantage, because even the main road is not that busy, and the beach
itself is fairly quiet with good sand and some ducks to complete it J. If you take the main road and walk either
to the right or to the left you will stumble upon other nice beaches, some very
quiet, or if you’re lucky even completely deserted.
views
over the island of Patmos
the
landscape of Patmos me on the beach and
inside the monastery
beaches ****
nightlife ****
peace
and quiet *****
people *****
restaurants ****
scenery *****
main
town *****
MY RATING ****and a half (out of 5)
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Kalymnos***
It must
have been twenty years ago that I have visited Kalymnos, on my first real
hopping-trip. I didn’t have much experience island-hopping then and didn’t know
what to expect, but I was hoping it would be nicer than the island of Kos, on
which we had flown. The harbour of arrival was already big and busy then, too
busy, noisy and with a lot of traffic, and since we were looking for something
more quiet at the time we immediately jumped into a taxi and said ‘please take
us to the other side of the island’. We ended up staying a week in the village
of Mirties, which was really small then, and I loved it. It had a disco and a
cocktail-bar, nice restaurants, very friendly and outrageous inhabitants that
hardly saw any visitors, and a good beach. We didn’t need anything else, we
just had fun. I’ve never gone back to Kalymnos since that time, because I’ve
found nicer places to go to, and I’m sure it has changed a lot in the meantime
and probably not for the good. I just remember that I loved it and that the people were very nice.
the
harbour map of
Kalymnos the busy
and big harbour of Kalymnos
the
harbour of Kalymnos
Mirties overlooking Telendos
beaches ****
nightlife ****
peace
and quiet **
people ****
restaurants ***
scenery ***
main
town *
MY
RATING *** (3 out of 5)
Telendos *and a half
Telendos
is situated opposite the village of Mirties on the island of Kalymnos. You can
get there if you take a small boat from Mirties, although I’ve also seen people
swimming to it. Actually it’s nothing more than one rock in the sea with a
beach in the front. When I visited Telendos it had only a couple of fishermen’s
houses on it and one taveerna. Now I’m told it has hotels build on it and has
become a holiday-destination with its own spot in the brochures, but I’m sure
it must still be pretty quiet. I remember climbing the island and finding
thousands of pieces of old pottery laying around on the hills. Telendos is
maybe nice to take a look at as a daytrip-destination, but I cannot imagine
spending an entire holiday there. It’s simply too small for that.
view
of Telendos: a dry rock in the Mediterranean sea
beaches **
nightlife *
peace
and quiet ****
people **
restaurants *
scenery *
main
town *
MY RATING *and a half (out of 5)
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