Category: Greek Island villages and towns (Page 15 of 32)

A travel blogger’s first-time visits to Santorini and Mykonos

May 24, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

A panoramic view of Fira, the capital and main town on Santorini

Octopus at Amoudi Bay on Santorini

Do you wonder what it’s like visiting Greek islands for the first time? Especially as a solo female traveller?

Two fascinating trip reports by a travel blogger from Vancouver, Canada will give you excellent insight into the entire experience. (They’re also great fun to read even if you have already been to Greece yourself.)

Blogger Christine visited Santorini and Mykonos earlier this month during a two-week holiday — her first-ever trip to Greece. She posted a thorough account of her journey, complete with dozens of photos, on her Christine in Vancouver blog.

I love the reports not just because they show Greece through the eyes of an island-hopping “newbie,” but also since they include scores of food pictures and valuable information about costs and prices — important details that I think will be extremely helpful to others considering a trip to Greece.

Click here to read Christine’s report for her May 6 to 13 stay on Santorini, and click here to read about her May 13 to 19 visit to Mykonos.

The two photos from Santorini posted above, as well as the two photos from Mykonos shown below, are just four of the dozens of fabulous pictures you’ll get to see in Christine’s reports (you’ll be able to view her photos full-size in a slide-show format.)

Enjoy your trip to Santorini and Mykonos with Christine!

Streets in the heart of Mykonos Town

Ornos, one of the top “family” beach resort areas on Mykonos

A music video tour of Naxos island

May 18, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

“On an island in the center of the world” is a 3-minute music video in which Kostas Doxas and Maria Makri tour top attractions on Naxos

If you haven’t been to Naxos yet, here’s a fun way to see some of the island’s beautiful beaches, fascinating towns and villages, hiking trails, mountain biking routes, restaurants and nightclubs. “Naxos: A World to Experience” is a 3-minute promotional video for Naxos that features a catchy pop song — “On an Island in the Center of the World” — with English subtitles for those who don’t understand Greek.

Even if you have been to Naxos before, you’ll still enjoy watching the music video to see how many of the sights and attractions are familiar to you.

The video stars Kostas Doxas and Maria Makri, while the song features original music by dj Rico – Vaggelis Serifis and lyrics by Yiannis Papadakos. The direction, script and photography also were the work of Papadakos.

Thanks for more than 3 million views of our Greece photos!

April 25, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

This is a screenshot of the MyGreeceTravelBlog photostream on Flickr, which contains more than 23,000 of our photos of Greece

Thanks in large measure to readers of this blog, the MyGreeceTravelBlog photo collection on Flickr reached a major milestone this week, surpassing the 3,000,000-view mark.

I have posted 23,000 images on Flickr to date and still have at least 10,000 more pictures from Greece to upload, if I can ever find the time. (I’m certain that number will rise substantially after our next visit to Greece later this spring.)

A few surprises were in store when I checked Flickr’s viewing statistics for the photos this week.

The individual photo with the all-time most views was a picture of Agios Prokopios beach on Naxos. But I doubt it was popular because the beach is so beautiful — I suspect some nudists wading in the water were of more interest than the golden sand and turquoise water! (If you want to view the image and won’t be offended seeing several middle-aged and older tourists displaying some skin, click here.)

Syros photos were the most popular

I also was amazed that our set of 18 albums from last year’s trip to Syros was the most popular individual collection on our Flickr page. I had been expecting that our Mykonos collection would be the most viewed, but people seemed to prefer looking at pics of Syros. (You can access the Syros photos by clicking here.) Mykonos did claim the #2 spot, though.

So far, there are album collections for 13 islands — Amorgos, Astipalea, Crete, Folegandros, Ios, Milos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Patmos, Samos, Santorini, and Syros — plus one set with photos of many (but not all) of the hotels we have stayed at during our Greek holidays. More collections, including one for Athens, are in the works. Click here to access the main Flickr page showing cover pages for all of the album collections.

Thanks very much for viewing the photos, and please feel free to comment on any of them at any time.

Our photo sets of Syros had the most views of any collection on our Flickr page. They included shots of Kini (above), our favourite beach resort on Syros.

Bumpy rides to blissful bays and beaches on Karpathos

April 11, 2015 / admin / 4 Comments

Click on the arrow to take a ride to Kato Lako on Karpathos

My fascination with Karpathos continues — I keep spending some of my spare time viewing photos and watching videos of the island. I won’t get to see Karpathos on my trip to Greece this spring, but it never hurts to research places to visit on future vacations, right?

I thought I’d share several Karpathos videoclips that I enjoyed watching today. All four were posted online by YouTube member 365Roman, and I found them interesting because they show what it’s like to drive to some of the island’s sights and attractions, including gorgeous bays and beaches as well as charming mountain and seaside villages.

As all the clips confirm, some of the most breathtaking views and scenery in the Greek Islands are off the main tourist path and take some effort to reach. But it’s worth it — and it’s all part of the fun of exploring Greece.

So sit back, relax and enjoy your tours on Karpathos while someone else does the driving!

The ride to Forokli beach

Driving around the northern part of Karpathos

Touring the island’s southern regions

Why you should visit Paros

April 3, 2015 / admin / 1 Comment

BEST OF PAROS from Art in Design-Alternative on Vimeo.

PAROS from Dimitris Christopoulos on Vimeo.

I never need an excuse to visit Greece, but in online travel forums I often see people asking whether they should go to certain places, or wondering why specific Greek destinations are popular. They think they want to visit them, but they really don’t have a clue what they will get to see and do once they get there.

Paros is one of those places. Since it’s a stop on the busy ferry route between Mykonos and Santorini, the two most popular Cyclades islands, many travellers realize it would conveniently fit into an island-hopping itinerary. But is it the right island for them to visit? Does it have enough attractions to make it a worthwhile stopover for a few days?

I think these two films, which I found on Vimeo today, will help visitors determine if Paros is their kind of place. (I think the answer will most likely be “yes.”) I’ve already been to Paros (twice), but both videos made me want to go back again.

In case you need more convincing, click here to view my Paros Greece 2012 collection on Flickr, which features hundreds of photos from the picturesque harbour village of Naoussa, and several beaches in its surrounding area. Some photos of the main port town of Parikia, as well as the Yria Hotel and the scenic coastline near Parasporos beach, can be viewed in my Paros collection.

The postcard conundrum

March 27, 2015 / admin / 8 Comments

Browsing postcard racks at a souvenir shop in Oia village on Santorini

Travel tradition: Call me old-fashioned, but I still send postcards to family and friends when we’re vacationing in Greece. I’m talking paper postcards with handwritten messages, stamped and posted at letter collection boxes in Athens or villages on whatever island we happen to visit. The real deal that recipients can actually hold in their hands, not a fleeting e-card or email greeting that will momentarily flash on their smartphones or computer screens!

For me, sending postcards is a fun part of our Greece travel experience — especially since I write the messages and address the cards while enjoying a glass of wine on our hotel room balcony or at a taverna with a wonderful view.

But picking the right card for each particular person on my list can be a bit daunting since the array of postcard choices is so extensive. At some souvenir stands in Athens and on a few of the islands we have visited, the selection has been simply staggering — rack after rack after rack, all packed with dozens if not even hundreds of appealing postcards.

What to choose? Scenes of beaches, mountains, landscapes, churches or villages? Images of monuments, ruins, antiquities or museum artefacts? Photos of cute cats, dogs or donkeys? Pictures of old folks in traditional garb or physically well-endowed young adults clad in skimpy bikinis or Speedos … or wearing nothing at all? (There’s usually even a few “naughty” cards with pictures of ancient pottery bearing images of two or more adults engaged in explicit sex acts.) I usually wind up purchasing more cards than I need, and bring the leftovers home as personal souvenirs.

What I particularly like about postcard shopping in Greece is the careful way most of the souvenir shop staff handle the cards I’ve decided to buy. They always insert the cards (and any stamps I purchase) inside either a small paper bag or a clear plastic sleeve, so the cards won’t get scuffed or bent before I have a chance to write and post them. It’s touching how some of the shopkeepers appear so grateful and proud that a visitor will be sending postcard pictures of Greece to people around the world.

The only downside to picking postcards is that I inevitably find pictures of spectacular places that I didn’t know about, or didn’t have time to see. But that just means there will always be new sites and attractions to explore on a return visit.

This postcard shop in Kokkari village on Samos had the best selection I’ve seen anywhere. Besides the cards displayed outside, the shop had hundreds more to choose from inside!

Some of the cards displayed outside the Kokkari souvenir shop.

A cat snoozes beneath a postcard display at the Archetype souvenir shop near the Paraportiani church in Mykonos Town

Night view of the Archetype souvenir shop in Mykonos Town

Postcard racks in a narrow lane in Mykonos Town

Postcard display outside a shop on the Naxos Town waterfront

Postcard racks outside a souvenir shop in Oia village on Santorini

Postcards on display in Mykonos Town

Postcards at a Mykonos souvenir stand

A postcard and bookmark display at a shop in Naxos Town

The history behind Santorini’s spectacular caldera cliffs

March 26, 2015 / admin / 2 Comments

Click on the arrow to view Santorini volcano history, a fascinating 6-minute video by Santorini resident Nikos Korakakis.

Captivating cliffs: Like most people who have visited Santorini, I know that the island’s distinctive crescent shape was created by hundreds of thousands of years of volcanic activity. I’ve read about it in travel guides, and I have seen illustrations of the island’s various different shapes over the centuries in some of the souvenir books I’ve collected on our travels.

But a video that I recently discovered does the best job, in my opinion, of showing precisely how the volcanoes and the course of time have shaped the Santorini of today.

Produced by Nikos Korakakis, an art director who lives and works in Santorini, the nearly 6-minute-long film is based on research by scientists, institutes and universities. It features narration (in Greek) by Anastasia Platanioti and music by Ross Bugden.

Although the narration is completely in Greek, you don’t have to understand the language to follow the video — the film includes explanatory English text superimposed on the animated illustrations.

Click the arrow at the bottom left corner of the video screen (top) to watch how centuries of volcanic activity created the spectacular island scenery that will enthrall more than a million visitors from around the world this year.

Below are just a few of the photos we have shot of the magnificent caldera cliffs that have taken our breath away on three visits to Santorini. You can full-size versions of those images, along with dozens of additional photos, in The Cliffs, an album on the MyGreeceTravelBlog Flickr page.

The homes and hotels in Imerovigli village are precariously perched atop cliffs that climb hundreds of meters above the sea

Oia village at the northern tip of Santorini is seen in this distance photo shot from Skaros Rock at Imerovigli

Resorts cling to the steep upper slopes of the caldera cliffs at Oia

A view toward Imerovigli (center) and Skaros Rock (to the left of Imerovigli) from the Athinios ferry port on Santorini

A view of Skaros Rock and, in the distance, Oia village

Fira is the biggest town and the main commercial center on Santorini

Cruise ships anchored near the caldera cliffs below Fira

The village of Firostefani is a short but very scenic walk from Fira

The caldera cliffs below Firostefani

The rugged cliffs plunge hundreds of feet to the turquoise sea in the caldera

We shot this photo of Imerovigli from a terrace at our hotel in Firostefani

A view of the Armeni Villas resort in Oia, with Imerovigli and Skaros Rock providing a backdrop across the caldera

Oia, seen from the top deck of a Blue Star ferry as we arrived at Santorini

We captured this view of the caldera cliffs during a walk from Fira to Oia along the island’s world-famous clifftop footpath

Click here to view 125 photos of the caldera cliffs on the MyGreeceTravelBlog Flickr page.

Only on Mykonos! A bizarre ‘table dancing’ performance from a 1960s travel film

March 26, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

This excerpt from a travel promotion shows scenes from Mykonos Town from sometime in the early 1960s

I love seeing old photos and films from Athens and the various Greek Islands we have visited so far — especially if they show places like Mykonos before traditional island life gave way to the glitz and glamour of high-end hotels, shops and restaurants aimed at affluent international tourists.

So it was fun to find this black and white tourism promotion film with scenes of Mykonos Town in the early 1960s before it was drastically transformed by extensive tourism-related development.

But besides views of the town’s iconic cube-shaped white buildings, its maze of cobblestone streets, and the island’s famous pelican mascot, Petros, the film includes an odd table dancing demonstration performed for the entertainment of tourists at a taverna.

Footage of what the film narrator describes as “a very strange performance” starts around the 2:10 mark of the video.

It shows “a very special talent by an enterprising young man,” the narrator says.

You’ll have to see it for yourself to believe it. It’s nothing like the Zorba the Greek dance that tourists might get to see while visiting Greece nowadays!