May 30th
Tuesday was the last full day for Eleni, Taylor, Lea, Laurie and Sue in Skopelos. Eleni and Taylor rented a car and had a day on their own without the moms and Aunties! Lea, Sue and Laurie had a great day sailing with the black pirate around the island of Alonnisos for swimming, exploring the old villages and a great downwind sail home with the spinnaker up.
We have had some great meals on this trip, but their last night in Skopelos was mediocre at best. We ate at Kyratsos. The accordion player was obnoxious and the food was mediocre. Luckily we only ordered mezedes so we slid out as soon as we could.
It’s been a great trip with family and we are sorry to see Eleni and Taylor leave. I know this was a rare opportunity to be able to travel for two weeks with them, and only because they were in transition between jobs and homes. They had some stress the last day dealing with last minute issues regarding their loans (school and new house) but that all got resolved eventually.
Everyone’s flights out of Athens were leaving on June 1st, so May 31st was a travel day. Up very early to catch the 7am boat to Volos where they crammed five adults and a lot of luggage into a rental car. With a full day available, they visited Meteora to see the Byzantine monasteries that sit atop rocks jutting up into the sky.
Their day ended at the lovely Sofitel hotel at the Athens airport – always worth the splurge to be able to walk across the street to catch your flight home.
In the meantime, Bill and I took a rental car to see more of the island. We had a great fish lunch back at Yiannis at Panorma Beach, hiked to Sendoukia – site of pirates graves and spectacular views, a big nap and dinner again at Anna’s.
June 1st
Kalo Mina!
There is a boat excursion on the Sporades Queen that leaves from the Skopelos waterfront a few times a week and circles the nearby island of Alonnissos with several stops for exploring and swimming. This was such a nice day and only 25 euros each. Our first stop was at the port of Alonissos where we hopped on a bus to ride to the old capital of Alonnissos at the top of the island. This village was severely damaged in an earthquake in 1965 so all of its inhabitants moved to build the new capital near the sea. The old village has fantastic views of the island, the Aegean sea and Skopelos. European investors and retirees rediscovered the beautiful town and restoration began in the 1980s. The renovations have been well done and it’s a thriving little tourist spot now with shops, cafes, hotels and lodging. Old Alonissos is an idyllic and calm place with whitewashed old houses, narrow climbing paved streets and stairs leading to the top of the hill and to a lovely spots with incredible views. And it is supposed to have great sunset views. I would have preferred to spend more time in this spot but the bus left after just 1.5 hours and we then had time to kill in the port.
The boat stopped at two more places – the first was Gialos beach with just a couple of tavernas. We grabbed a couple of chairs under a shade tree and contemplated life between our swims and a salad with tuna that had been caught and canned on the island. The last stop was Steni Vala, a little fishing village and yachting stop. Most of the guests had lunch on the quay while we took a walk past the garbage dump to a sweet little beach for our last swim for the day.
June 2nd
Bill and I hiked the path behind the house up towards the monasteries. We didn’t go all the way to any of the monsasteries because it was starting to get quite warm and we had a ways to go. We did pop into a little St. George’s church by the side of the road. I love how these little churches are always open and candles burning. We hiked over to an interesting property called Kohilli Villas. A local family took some of their family farm land and built a series of 3 bedroom luxury villas that look down to the bay and across to the town of Skopelos. Each unit has a private pool and summer rates were very reasonable. I heard some of the stars in town for filming of Mama Mia stayed here. Views were amazing but you have to have car to come and go and it’s a steep dark road to come home at night after an evening on the town. On the way down, we ran into a fellow sitting by an old fountain built into the side of the mountain have a cup of coffee. We got talking to him and discovered he was a cousin of some friends from Pensacola and he informed us that Mrs. Mahi was arriving in Greece that day. So we went looking for her a few days later to say hi!
Tonight was opening night for Anatoli, a well known ouzerie perched high on top of the ancient Kastro walls above the village. This unique little place offers a memorable night out with views of the sea, good food and live rembetica music by owners Giorgos Xidaris and this talented sons. We reserved a table and had a great evening – the place was packed mostly with Greeks. It is a holiday weekend for the Greeks (Whit Monday) and the island was busy. The two sons play most nights all summer and sometimes Dad, who is well known in Greece as a Rembetiko singer, joins in.
