Category: Bars and/or tavernas (page 4 of 7)

Jackie O’ Beach Club is a classy new addition to legendary Super Paradise beach on Mykonos

July 2, 2013 / / 0 Comments
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Jackie O' Beach Club at Super Paradise beach on Mykonos

The Jackie O’ Beach Club & Restaurant opened July 1 at Super Paradise beach on Mykonos. The aerial photo below shows the new club’s location on the hillside overlooking the west end of picturesque Super Paradise beach. The pictures were posted on Facebook by club co-owner Carsten Stehr, who created the stylish new beach venue with business partner Michalis Sigounas. Click on the images to view them in full-size format.

 

Aerial view of the new Jackie O' Beach Club at Super Paradise beach on Mykonos

 

 

Club class: A stylish new restaurant and bar has opened at Super Paradise, one of the legendary party beaches on Mykonos.

Featuring Cycladic sculptural design elements in an amphitheatrical hillside setting at the west end of Super Paradise beach, Jackie O’ Beach boasts a large open-air bar, a 150-seat restaurant, private lounge areas, its own beachfront, swimming pool, jacuzzi and even a church.  A Sotris clothing and fashion accessories shop is also part of the complex, which opened on the site of the former Coco Beach Club (see my August 16 2011 post for a description of the old club, as well as photos of the location’s terrific views of Super Paradise beach and bay).

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What we can’t wait to eat in Greece next week …

May 10, 2013 / / 0 Comments
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Greek salad

A delicious Greek salad we enjoyed at Maria’s House restaurant in Kos Town

 

 

Feta fans: We will be arriving in Greece for our 2013 spring vacation in just a few days, reaching our first island destination around lunch time. And I can tell you right now what we’ll be ordering for lunch: Greek salad.

I make Greek salads often, but they never taste even just a fraction as good as the ones we eat in Greece. The ingredients simply can’t compare. The cucumbers sold at my neighbourhood grocery stores generally have no flavour, the green peppers are usually bitter, the tomatoes tend to be bland and mushy, the olives are sour and rubbery, and the over-salted feta typically has a spongy texture.

It’s a whole different story in Greece, where the vegetables are packed full of flavour and the olives and feta are divine. Just the thought of ordering a Greek salad in Greece practically makes my mouth water.

Can’t wait for our first lunch!

 

Maria's House restaurant at Averof 80 in Kos Town

Maria’s House at 80 Averof Street in Kos Town. Maria’s was our best — and favourite — dining experience on Kos during our Dodecanese island hopping holiday in May 2010.

 

 

2012 Greek holiday report: Exploring Naoussa

May 6, 2013 / / 1 Comment
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Naoussa windmill

This old windmill in Naoussa might be a cute studio residence, but I didn’t notice any sign indicating if it’s available as rental accommodations

 

[This is the second instalment of a multi-part report on my May 2012 visit to Naoussa village on Paros island. The first part of my report described my arrival at Paros and the first evening I spent in the town of Naoussa following an 8-day visit to Mykonos.]

 

Wednesday May 23 2012

 

First full day:  My room at Hotel Manos was so dark and quiet, I got a good night’s sleep and woke feeling refreshed and eager to get to know Naoussa better.

I got a bit of a surprise when I went into the bathroom to shave — no hot water came out of the sink faucet, even after I let it run a considerable time. No chance for a smooth shave today! Fortunately, there was plenty of hot water — very hot water, in fact — in the shower. Then, before I went downstairs for breakfast, I booted up my laptop so I could check my email. Although the receptionist had assured me that there was wi-fi access throughout the hotel, I could not obtain a signal in my room. I did get a weak connection from the terrace, and managed to briefly get online, but  the signal repeatedly cut out and eventually I had no luck getting back on. I took the laptop with me when I went to breakfast, hoping I would have better luck in the main hotel building.

 

 

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What’s cooking in Kokkari?

May 1, 2013 / / 1 Comment
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 Buildings along the harbourfront at Kokkari village on Samos

Mountains provide an impressive backdrop to the scenic town of Kokkari on Samos …

 

 

Harbour view of Kokkari village on Samos

… situated about 11 kilometers from Vathi on the north side of the island  …

 

 

Harbour view of Kokkari village on Samos

 … next to a sheltered harbour where dozens of bars & restaurants along the water’s edge …

 

 

Signs along a row of restaurants in Kokkari

… all engage in eye-catching competition to attract the attention — and business — of the throngs of thirsty and hungry tourists who visit the village each day

 

 

Sunbathe, swim, eat & repeat:  Two impressions have stuck in my mind since we visited colourful Kokkari village on Samos three years ago.

The first is the picturesque beaches that bookend the village: Long Beach on one side, and two back-to-back beaches called Small Lemonakia on the other.

The second is the rows of restaurants lining the town’s sheltered harbour as well as much of the length of Long Beach. It’s almost impossible to walk more than a few steps without passing a waterfront café, bar or taverna, or signs pointing the way to dozens of different places to eat and drink. There are myriad restaurant ads and menus attached to posts and walls, and dozens of sandwich board-style signs scattered along the narrow lanes and footpaths.

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Step up to superb food & sublime sunsets at Kamara Café on Amorgos island

March 29, 2013 / / 0 Comments
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Kamara Cafe

The open-air terrace at Kamara Café in Upper Potamos is a great spot to view the amazing scenery while enjoying some of the café’s delicious Greek cuisine

 

 Kamara Cafe

The café also has lounge areas on its terrace, for those who just want to sit back and relax with a glass of wine while watching a spectacular sunset

 

Kamara Cafe

This was one of the sunsets we watched from the Kamara Café. Here, the sun looks like an enormous white orb as it slowly descends behind Naxos island.

 

Potamos village

You’re guaranteed to work up a hearty appetite and thirst on your way to the restaurant — It’s a half-hour walk from Egali, up hundreds of steps like these.

 

Steps, stews and sunsets: When I was planning our trip to Amorgos in 2009, I asked an acquaintance in Athens for restaurant recommendations. We absolutely had to go to Kamara Café in Ano Potamos village, she said, and order the patatato — a goat and potato stew that is one of the island’s signature local dishes. Her other tip: allow plenty of time to walk up the mountain to the taverna, so we wouldn’t miss seeing the sunset if we got lost or delayed en route. “You won’t believe the view! The sunset — fabulous! And make sure you try the goat!” she gushed.

I put Kamara Café on my “must try” list, thinking that would nicely take care of dinner plans for one of the four nights we would spend on Amorgos. That list was in my luggage, in our room at the Yperia Hotel in Egali, while we were out exploring during our first day on the island. We spent the entire afternoon in and around Egali, wandering around the town, the beach, and some of the hiking trails in the area, as well as scoping out places where we might like to have dinner that night. Several spots near the beach and in the center of the town caught our eye, but since I didn’t have my restaurant list with me, I couldn’t remember if any were among the specific places that friends had highly recommended. Nevertheless, since we would probably be “walked out” by the end of the day,  we were happy to see we would be spoiled for choice within a short stroll of our hotel. 

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Island dining: Astropelos taverna in Astipalea

February 24, 2013 / / 0 Comments
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.Astropelos taverna menu

What’s for dinner: An artistic illustration of Astipalea island’s scenic Chora village appears at the top of the menu on the outside wall of the Astropelos taverna in Livadi. Below is one of our photos of Chora, shot during our May 2009 visit to Astipalea.

 

 

Chora on Astipalea

A view of the enormous Kastro (castle) that towers above Chora on Astipalea

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2012 Greek holiday trip report: Mykonos Part 1

July 23, 2012 / / 2 Comments
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Air Transat logo

Air Transat logo on a winglet of the Airbus jet that flew me from Toronto to Athens

 

My Mykonos, Paros and Attica/Glyfada trip report

 

What follows is an edited and significantly expanded version of a trip report I posted on TripAdvisor.com shortly after returning from my holiday in Greece this past spring. I have added more extensive details to the text, and have included dozens of photographs to illustrate the report.

 

Sunday May 13: Flight from Toronto to Athens

I flew Air Transat, the Canadian charter airline I have flown on all of my trips to Greece. The flight was about two-thirds full when it left Toronto just past lunchtime on Sunday May 13. It stopped in Montreal for 90 minutes to collect more passengers and load the food and beverage carts for our 9-hour overnight flight to Athens. During the stopover, a flight attendant told a passenger sitting behind me that, with the additional passengers from Montreal, the flight was nearly full. (On all of my previous flights to Greece, except one, we flew direct to Athens; this year, Air Transat’s May flights stopped in Montreal because fewer people were travelling to Greece at the time and there wasn’t enough passenger demand to justify direct flights from both cities.)

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

June 23, 2012 / / 1 Comment
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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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