The view from the southern end of Plaka beach on Naxos. This beautiful long strand of light-brown sand and dunes is the perfect place to avoid crowds, since the beach extends for approximately 4 kilometers and offers plenty of space for peace, solitude and privacy. People were few and far between on the beach yesterday (May 21), so they probably felt as though they had the entire shoreline all to themselves.
A sign with an illustration of seagulls, sunbeds and palm trees points the way to Golden Beach on Kos island, while the one below indicates the access road to another beach on the north coast of the island. We saw numerous markers like these while bike riding from Kos Town to the Tigaki resort area in May 2010. At bottom is a photo of one of the beaches we passed near Tigaki.
I don’t recall seeing palm trees on or near any of the beaches we cycled past on Kos, but this sign suggests that they do exist
One of the beautiful white sand beaches we passed near Tigaki
This marvellous photo of massive waves crashing ashore at Angali beach on Folegandros was posted online recently by Instagram member Io2109 …
… 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.
This image, from a photo gallery on the Travel to Folegandros website, shows the boat dock, beach and bay at Angali
Partway down the steep road that leads to Angali beach
Nudist campers definitely aren’t welcome here!
Two visitors (bottom left) take a swim in the bay’s turquoise water
Rolling mountain terrain and cliffs along Angali Bay
A fishing boat enters Angali Bay
View from the fishing boat quay near Angali beach
Boats docked at the small quay near the beach
Whitewashed buildings with blue shutters on the hill above Angali beach
There are a few tavernas and several rental accommodations at the beach
Cliffs rise above the eastern end of the beach
Paddleball game in progress
Paddleball players on the beach
Sunbathers on the rocky shoreline to the east of the sandy beach
A boat sits at anchor in the middle of Angali Bay
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When freezing rain, snow and icy cold temperatures returned this week after our agonizingly brief interlude of pleasant spring weather, this lovely photo of a gorgeous beach at Paleokastritsa on Corfu instantly calmed me down and took my mind off the wintry conditions outside. The photograph was shot by Flickr member Marite2007 and appears in her Corfu Island photo set on Flickr. Click here to view her Flickr page, which includes beautiful photo sets for a variety of charming Greek islands I haven’t yet had a chance to visit myself, including Karpathos, Lipsi, Kimilos, Kalymnos, Poros, Agistri, Paxos, Antipaxos, Kythnos, Serifos, Leros and Symi. And if you’d like more information about Paleokastritsa,
check out the Paleokastritsa Bliss website.
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 stunning Panaghia (Church of Our Lady) clings to the steep mountainside high above Chora village
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).
Cliffs soar above Angali, one of the most popular beaches on 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.”
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
