Category: Folegandros (page 2 of 3)

A swell time at Angali beach on Folegandros island

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Angali beach Folegandros

This marvellous photo of massive waves crashing ashore at Angali beach on Folegandros was posted online recently by Instagram member Io2109

 

Angali beach Folegandros

while this image, which is from a photo gallery on the Folegandros.com travel website, shows the scenic beach and bay in weather conditions far more suitable for enjoyable swimming and sunbathing

 

Beautiful bay: Every time I see photos of Folegandros, I feel an urge to curse and kick.

I want to curse the wind because that’s what caused the cancellation of ferry service during two days of our Greek holiday in 2007, and kept us from spending as much time on Folegandros as we had planned. 

And I feel like kicking myself for not making a better effort to get back to Folegandros for a repeat visit in the years that have passed since our far-too-brief introduction to this charming island in the West Cyclades.

Folegandros is an ideal destination for hikers, and we did a lot of walking during our whirlwind two-day visit that September (we were supposed to have had 3.5 days there, but Mother Nature made certain we saw more of Sifnos instead. No offence to Sifnos, but we really regret getting shortchanged on Folegandros).

One of our walks took us from Chora to Ano Meria village, where we had an unforgettable lunch at Irini’s grocery store & café (which I profiled in a June 23 2012 post), and then walked to Angali beach, where we stopped at a hillside taverna to rest with a cold drink while taking in the terrific views of the picturesque bay.

 

Sunshine, clear skies and a light breeze

It was a gorgeous sunny day with clear skies, a faint breeze and warm temperatures. There were only about two dozen people at the beach that afternoon, and most were either playing paddleball or sunbathing on the sand. The sea was cool but fairly calm, and a few people were taking quick dips and swimming.

I have vivid memories of how peaceful Angali Bay looked on that particular day, so I almost didn’t recognize it in a photo I discovered while surfing the web today. The picture that caught my attention is the one at the top of this post — a dramatic image of huge, wide waves breaking ashore as greyish-white clouds sweep across the blue sky above. The striking scene was captured by Instagram member Io2109, and I loved her photo so much I couldn’t help but share it. (Check her Instagram page for additional fabulous photos of Folegandros as well as other places in Greece.)

Below are more images of Angali beach and bay. The first picture is from the Travel to Folegandros travel website, while the rest are shots we took back in September 2007. Sometime (soon, I hope) we’ll get back to Folegandros to see parts of the island we missed first time around.

 

Angali bay Folegandros

This image, from a photo gallery on the Travel to Folegandros website, shows the boat dock, beach and bay at Angali

 Angali beach road on Folegandros

Partway down the steep road that leads to Angali beach

 

Angali beach Folegandros

Nudist campers definitely aren’t welcome here!

 

Angali beach Folegandros

Two visitors (bottom left) take a swim in the bay’s turquoise water

 

Angali Bay Folegandros

Rolling mountain terrain and cliffs along Angali Bay

 

 Angali bay Folegandros

A fishing boat enters Angali Bay

 

Angali Bay on Folegandros

View from the fishing boat quay near Angali beach

 

Angali beach on Folegandros

Boats docked at the small quay near the beach

 

Angali beach on Folegandros

Whitewashed buildings with blue shutters on the hill above Angali beach

 

Angali beach on Folegandros

There are a few tavernas and several rental accommodations at the beach

 

Angali beach on Folegandros

Cliffs rise above the eastern end of the beach

 

 

Angali beach Folegandros

Paddleball game in progress

 

Angali beach Folegandros

Paddleball players on the beach

 

Angali beach on Folegandros

Sunbathers on the rocky shoreline to the east of the sandy beach

 

Angali bay on Folegandros

A boat sits at anchor in the middle of Angali Bay

 

Folegandros … rediscovered

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Conde Nast Traveler

The December 2004 edition of Condé Nast Traveler magazine featured a profile of Folegandros with this cover photo and headline calling it “The best little island in Greece…getting there is half the fun.”

 

 

Hidden gem?: I always have a good chuckle when I read a travel article describing a “secret,” “hidden” or “undiscovered” Greek island that few people are supposed to know about. Usually the island is fairly well-known, both to Greeks and to seasoned island hoppers or anyone who has been to Greece even just once.

Nearly 10 years ago, in its December 2004 edition, Condé Nast Traveler magazine published an intriguing feature story about Folegandros. Written by Adam Sachs, it was entitled Greece’s best-kept secret (until now). We had taken our first-ever trip to Greece just six months earlier, and I bought the magazine because I was eagerly researching destinations to visit during a return trip to Greece in 2005. I had heard and read about Folegandros (in fact, it was already on my “must see someday” list), but at that point in time couldn’t resist buying any magazine that contained photos or information about Greece. The fascinating account of Adam Sachs’ visit to Folegandros made me yearn to see the island even more.

I clipped the Condé Nast article to save in my travel reference files, and re-read it before we went to Folegandros in September 2007. I have perused the article several times since, and have given the link to the online version of it to a number of people during the past six years.

 

The Panaghia (Church of Our Lady) is perched high above Chora village on Folegandros

The stunning Panaghia (Church of Our Lady) clings to the steep mountainside high above Chora village

 

 

Panaghia on Folegandros

A view of the Panaghia (Church of Our Lady) at sunset. The remarkable white church is one of many mesmerizing sights on Folegandros.

 

 

 

Folegandros photos popular online

I also gave many people the links to my Folegandros pictures on the Webshots.com photo-sharing website where my Greece travel photos had been viewed by more than 2.5 million people before public access to the site was discontinued at the end of 2012. Four separate albums of Folegandros images were among my Top 20 most-viewed albums, and each was seen by more than 20,000 people.

Meanwhile, between 2007 and 2011, I talked about Folegandros in more than three dozen posts on the TripAdvisor.com travel forums, where plenty of people appeared to be familiar with the island. In the three years since then, even more travellers have been talking about Folegandros on TripAdvisor, and one regular Folegandros visitor recently rued the surge in tourist traffic to his favourite island in recent years (he complained that the increase in visitors had led some restaurants to hike their dinner prices, while his beloved nude beach has begun to get too crowded).

 

Angali beach

Cliffs soar above Angali, one of the most popular beaches on Folegandros

 

 

Karavostassis Folegandros

Whitewashed buildings cling to a hillside at Karavostassis, the port village of Folegandros

 

 

 

Folegandros included on Fodor Travel list

So I was more than a little amused earlier this week when I logged into the MyGreeceTravelBlog Facebook page to catch up on news, and found numerous posts on other Facebook pages reporting that Folegandros has been ranked among the Top 15 “undiscovered destinations” in Europe. Each post provided a link to the Huffington Post website, where Folegandros was indeed ranked #12 on a list of 15 Undiscovered European Destinations.

 Huffington Post published the list on April 7, but that was just a reprint of a photo feature with the same title that originally had been published March 11 on Fodor’s Travel.

According to the Fodor ranking, Folegandros “proposes a welcomed escape from the hustle and bustle of more popular Greek islands. Perched on a towering seaside cliff, the island doesn’t offer much in the way of attractions—but makes up for it with local charm. Visitors can explore untouched beaches, sample traditional food, and spend quiet evenings contemplating the breathtaking, sun-touched cliffs.”

Most of that description is spot-on correct, but it’s actually just the main village, Chora, that is perched atop a seaside cliff — not the entire island! Grammatical errors aside, Folegandros does boast a spectacular coastline of precipitous and breathtaking sheer cliffs, as well as numerous small beaches that are popular with the thousands of people who visit the island each summer. It also has a pronounced local charm, a generous selection of excellent restaurants, and quiet evenings. But Folegandros is far from “undiscovered.”

 

Chora village Folegandros

Residents of the historic Kastro section of Chora live literally on the edge — their homes are built atop a sheer cliff that plunges hundreds of feet to the sea

 

 

north coast of Folegandros

Another view of buildings in the Kastro section of Chora (upper left) and the rugged landscape and coastline on the north side of Folegandros

 

 

 

Tourism surged after the magazine profile

When we finally got to the island in September 2007, staff we spoke to at our hotel and at some of the restaurants in Chora told us that tourism had been booming ever since Folegandros made the cover of Condé Nast Traveler. (Just what you’d expect for any place profiled in a travel magazine read by more than a million North Americans each month.)

One fellow told us that, during August, just one month before our visit, dozens of people with no hotel reservations stepped off a ferry, expecting it would be easy to find rooms — but every bed was sold out.  Locals scrambled to collect blankets and pillows and create makeshift sleeping quarters so the extra travellers would have a place to bed down for the night. Meanwhile, a mini construction boom was underway, with new hotels and private accommodations being built to cash in on the steadily growing traffic. A concrete frame for a new building was under construction right next to Fata Morgana Studios, where we were staying. And ferry companies had begun serving Folegandros with highspeed passenger catamarans to get more travellers to the island faster than the “milk run” car and truck ferries that stopped at multiple islands en route and took all day to get there.

So it clearly was Condé Nast, and not Fodor’s, that “discovered” Folegandros — and that was a full decade ago. But enough nitpicking about media hype. Ten years from now, some other publication or website will probably post a gushingly positive profile proclaiming that Folegandros is a “hidden gem” still waiting to be discovered.

 

Fata Morgana Studios

The Fata Morgana Studios swimming pool at sunset. The property has a view of several nearby islands, including Sifnos, which is faintly visible in the distance behind the umbrella.

 

 

Add this captivating island to your must-see list

If you haven’t been to Folegandros yet, consider giving it a visit. The island truly is as wonderful and captivating as the travel journalists claim. And chances are high that you, like us, will instantly fall in love with the place.

We have long been keen to pay Folegandros a return visit, but just haven’t been able to work it into any of our island hopping itineraries because of awkward ferry schedules and connections. Which is a good thing, because as long Folegandros remains off the main beaten path, it should retain its unique charm and character. And that’s what we want to experience again when we finally do make it back.

Below are links to two of my Folegandros photo album collections on the MyGreeceTravelBlog Flickr page. The main Folegandros album contains nearly 260 pictures of the island, while the second set features more than 70 photos of Fata Morgana Studios.

 

 Folegandros island

Rugged sheer cliffs on the coastline below Hora village provide some of the jaw-dropping natural scenery that delights visitors to Folegandros. Click here to view more than 250 more photos of the island in my Folegandros album on Flickr.

 

 

 Fata Morgana Studios

A view of the swimming pool and part of the rental apartment complex at Fata Morgana Studios, where we stayed during our trip to Folegandros. Click here to view my Flickr album with dozens more photos of the hotel.

 

Greece getting good press as international media promote travel to Athens & the Greek Islands

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Agriolivadi Bay on Patmos

Agriolivadi Bay on Patmos, part of the Dodecanese island group. Patmos is one of five  islands that the Globe & Mail says travellers “need to see.”

 

 

Good time to visit: During the past five years of economic turmoil, Greece has been subjected to extensive bad publicity in the world press, with a steady barrage of negative news stories focussing on strikes and riots and the massive social upheaval caused by high unemployment and painful austerity programs. It’s refreshing to see the tide changing, with major international media outlets now regularly publishing feature articles that recommend travelling to Greece instead of avoiding it.

One article in particular — Luring tourists back to Greece by Liz Alderman of The New York Times — has been republished in major newspapers in countries around the world. In that piece, published on May 23, Alderman notes that “travelers are returning in greater numbers this year, lured by discounts of up to 20 percent on hotels in major cities and on Greece’s stunning islands, as well as assurances — at least for now — that Greece won’t be ditching the euro and returning to the drachma after all.”

Writers at other high-profile newspapers have been filing their own reports explaining why the time is right to visit Greece, and recommending where travellers should go.

Here’s a roundup of several interesting travel reports I’ve discovered just in the past week alone:

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Pic of the day: Church of the Panaghia at sunset

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A sunset view of the Church of the Panaghia on the mountainside above Chora on Folegandros

A sunset view of the stunning Church of the Panaghia, which clings to the steep mountainside above Chora on Folegandros

 

Mule tidings: donkey tales from the islands

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a donkey on a hillside overlooking the Skala, the port town on Patmos

This donkey enjoys a spectacular view of Skala, the port town on Patmos, from his hilltop vantage point on the edge of Chora

 

 

Donkey tales: Mules and donkeys can be a common sight on many of the Greek Islands including — not surprisingly — two of the country’s most popular tourist destinations: Santorini and Rhodes. If you visit Santorini’s capital town Fira, especially during a cruise, you’ll see scores of the animals working as taxis to transport tourists up and down hundreds of steps linking the small port to the town 220 meters above sea level (see my Don’t ride the donkeys! post above for more about that controversial practice). On Rhodes, dozens of donkeys are similarly pressed into service to lug lazy sightseers up the path to the Acropolis above Lindos.

On smaller isles that don’t draw huge hordes of tourists and cruise ship visitors, you’re more likely to see donkeys grazing in fields and yards while you hike or drive around. Sometimes you might not be able to see them, but you’ll clearly hear them — their boisterous braying can carry across a long distance. And at other times, you can wind up having a close encounter with one or more of the animals just when you least expect it.

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At this cozy cafe in Chora on Folegandros, customers can read more than just the menu

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a cafe in Folegandros

With its wide variety of reading material (as well as food and beverages), this café on Folegandros gives a whole new meaning to the expression “book a table”

 

Chora village on Folegandros

The café tables and books are in shade while a lush canopy of bougainvillea vines catches the brilliant morning sunshine above a row of whitewashed  houses

 

Chora village on Folegandros

The café is situated in one of the three charming town squares in Chora village. Filled with taverna tables, the squares are all shaded by plane trees.

 

Chora village on Folegandros

A customer writes in her journal while enjoying a coffee in the quiet square

 

Memorable meals: Our matsata & meatball lunch at Irene’s cozy grocery-café on Folegandros

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Irene's on Folegandros

The unassuming exterior of Irene’s kafepantopoleio (café and grocery store) on the road that winds through Ano Meria village on charming Folegandros island

 

Irene's on Folegandros

The small inside space doubles as a convenience store and restaurant

 

Famous food: You probably wouldn’t expect a convenience store to dish up some of the most delicious home-made pasta you’ve ever tasted, but then you probably haven’t been to Irene’s kafepantopoleio on Folegrandros, either.

I had never heard of Irene’s grocery-café until I read Greece’s Best-Kept Secret (Until Now), the cover story on Folegandros in the December 2004 edition of Condé Nast Traveler magazine. Writer Adam Sachs described celebrating his second wedding anniversary at Irene’s with a dinner meal of matsata — a local pasta traditionally served with rooster. “Irene made the matsata in our presence,” he wrote, “and as hoped for, it was a rich, gooey pleasure. It was cut into ribbons, and the texture was somewhere between a noodle and a dumpling. The rooster broth was poured over the matsata, the legs and breasts served on another plate.” The filling meal was followed by a dessert of “homemade goat’s-milk rice pudding with flecks of orange zest.”

I clipped the article and filed it away, not expecting that we would wind up visiting Folegandros three years later.

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Greece holiday pic of the day

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Karavostassis port on Folegandros

Boats in the harbour at Karavostassis port on Folegandros

 

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