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Island sail tour is a must for Milos visitors

June 18, 2013 / admin / 3 Comments

A poster at the Adamas marina advertises the daily Milos tours that J & J Yachting offers on the sailboat Joanna I

Milos must-see / must-do: One of the top tourist activities on Milos in the southwest Cyclades is a day trip that actually takes place off the island — on a sailing yacht or tour boat cruise along the marvellous Milos coastline.

Created by 3 million years of volcanic activity, Milos boasts some of the most impressive landscapes in all the Greek islands, including dozens of breathtaking beaches and a spectacular 139-kilometer-long coastline.

The stunning coastal scenery is best viewed from the sea, of course, and a variety of sailboat tours and day cruises are available from Adamas, the main port town on Milos. Excursions typically depart the Adamas marina between 8 and 10 a.m. in the morning, and return by sunset. Many of the sailboat tours take sightseers past western Milos as far as the dramatic cliffs at Kleftiko, near the island’s southwest tip, while other excursions travel completely around Milos. Some tours offer trips to Antimilos, Kimolos and other nearby islands.

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Our sailboat tour to Sykia and Kleftiko on Milos

June 18, 2013 / admin / 3 Comments

Excursion sailboats anchored off the scenic cliffs at Kleftiko near the southwest tip of Milos. Click the photo to view it full-size.

Stunning scenery: It has been nearly six years since we took a sailboat tour along the scenic western coast of Milos, but my memories of the trip are still so vivid it seems as though it happened only yesterday.

As I described in the preceding post — Island sail tour is a must for Milos visitors — sailboat excursions and boat cruises rate among the top recommended tourist activities on Milos, thanks to the island’s spectacular coastal scenery.

A sailing tour was at the top of our personal “must-do” list when we visited Milos for the first time in mid-September 2007, but we had to wait several days to take one of the popular excursions because high winds forced most boats to remain in port.

It was well worth the wait.

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Pic of the day: A beach view toward Naxos Town

June 17, 2013 / admin / 1 Comment

Naxos Town, as seen from the south end of St. George’s beach on Naxos. We walk to Naxos Town from the Agios Prokopios area at least once each time we visit Naxos, and this is one of our favourite views during the final 20 minutes of our hike. Click on the photo to view it full size.

Athens Gardens Festival underway this weekend

June 14, 2013 / admin / 0 Comments

Palm trees tower above flower displays in the National Garden of Athens. The Athens Gardens Festival is being held here from June 15 to 18.

Culture in the Garden: The National Garden of Athens is one of my favourite must-see attractions in Central Athens — a beautiful, soothing space where I like to escape the hustle and bustle of the busy downtown area during a day of visiting monuments and museums.

I wish I could be in Athens this weekend, because the annual Athens Gardens Festival — underway from June 16 to 18 — would give me a chance to enjoy the 15.5-hectare oasis behind the Greek Parliament building in an entirely new way.

For the next four days, classical music, jazz, urban acoustic music, Greek art music and various European music genres, along with interactive performing arts and visual performances, “will turn the National Garden into a magical place of artistic expression and creativity,” according to the event’s organizers.

The Festival is part of the annual Gardens of Athens program which aims to promote the city’s gardens as “meeting points of art and culture.”

According to the Breathtaking Athens website, the festival is hosted by the Athens Art Network in collaboration with the Municipality of Athens, OPAN (Athens Municipality Cultural, Sports and Youth Organization), the Athens Traders Association, the Directorate of Greenery and Environment and Athens “Technopolis.”

Further details are available in the breathtakingathens.com post about the Festival, while the complete program is presented on this page of the Athens Art Network blog.

Pics of the day: Agios Iakovos church

June 10, 2013 / admin / 1 Comment

A chapel dedicated to Agios Iakovos occupies a lonely location on a hill above Agios Sostis bay on Mykonos. Click on the photo above to view it full-size.

Side view of the chapel from the highway leading to Agios Sostis

Front view of the Agios Iakovos chapel

Inscriptions beside and above one of the chapel’s blue doors

Amazing views from Hotel Katerina on Ios

June 8, 2013 / admin / 0 Comments

This was the marvellous view of Mylopotas beach and bay that we enjoyed from our terrace at Hotel Katerina on Ios in May

180 degrees of scenery: We really lucked out with our hotel choice on Ios during our trip to Greece last month.

After spending five days on Mykonos in a hotel room that didn’t have any view at all (the room had no balcony or terrace, and its window only looked onto the private terrace for a nearby suite), we got to enjoy four days of spectacular scenery at Hotel Katerina on Ios.

We realized we were really in for a treat when we arrived at Hotel Katerina and caught a few glimpses of beautiful Mylopotas beach as we walked across the swimming pool terrace next to the reception area. And when the hotel manager, Maria, led us to our room (#7) on the second-highest level of the property — 56 steps above the pool deck — we were blown away. The private terrace for Room 7 offered an incredible 180 degrees of marvellous views of the Mylopotas and Agios Ioannis areas of Ios, as well as nearby Sikinos island and even Santorini in the distance.

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Delos ferry prices & times unchanged for 2013

June 7, 2013 / admin / 5 Comments

The Delos island ferry ticket booth at the Mykonos Old Port

[Editor’s Update: For information about extended opening hours and extra Delos ferry service in 2014, please see my April 2 2014 report Visiting Delos will be easier this summer with Sunday openings, longer hours and extra ferries.]

No change: Some good news for people travelling in the Cyclades on tight budgets this summer — prices for visiting Delos island from Mykonos have not increased this year. It still costs €17 for a return ferry ticket (same as in 2012), while admission to the grounds remains €5 (a price that hasn’t changed in years).

According to Greek mythology, Delos is the sacred island on which the Greek gods Apollo and Artemis were born. Administered by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Delos is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the top Greek island tour destinations for archaeology and history buffs. Day trips to Delos rank among the top “things to do” for visitors to Mykonos, which is the closest nearby island, and are popular excursions from Naxos and Paros as well.

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Pic of the day: A painted pathway on Ios

June 6, 2013 / admin / 0 Comments

Cement steps outlined in white paint wind down the side of a hill above Tzamaria beach on Ios