Category: Greek Islands hotels (Page 6 of 12)

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.

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.

Marathi: a get-away-from-it-all Greek Island

March 9, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

This was my first view — from a ferry — of the serene bay on Marathi where the tiny island’s restaurants and rental rooms are located …

… while this is a view of the bay from the taverna terrace at Stavragos, one of only three places where people can eat and stay while visiting Marathi (photo from a Stavragos group page on Facebook).

Island escape: Sometimes when I’m feeling overwhelmed and stressed by city life — the crowded streets and sidewalks, incessant urban noise, construction all around and illuminated advertising signs everywhere I look — I daydream about getting away from it all on a remote Greek island few people know about. Somewhere like Marathi.

A tiny isle situated about 12 nautical miles east of Patmos in the Dodecanese island group, Marathi is off the beaten tourist path and free from crowds, traffic, noise and light pollution. According to Kalispera Greece, the English-language version of a Swedish website about Greece, it’s an ideal spot for someone seeking a Robinson Crusoe-style escape from the demands of contemporary urban life.

That’s because there simply isn’t much there — just “three tavernas, three pensions, two jetties, one cemetery, one tiny church, a few goats and a pretty nice sandy beach. There are no shops, no cars, no scooters, no villages and no roads,” Kalispera Greece says.

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There aren’t many people, either. A recently-published travel article on the website for the UK newspaper The Telegraph called Marathi one of Greece’s 11 least populated islands, with only 12 residents in summertime and just 3 during the winter.

No crowds? No traffic? No bright digital ads? No noise besides birdsong, crowing roosters and jingling goat bells? It sounds idyllic to me, and in online holiday reviews many Marathi visitors have used the word “paradise” to describe the island.

A hilltop view of the Marathi bay and nearby Arki island. (Image from the website for The Pirate Rooms and Taverna on Marathi.)

Side view of the Marathi bay in another photo from the public Facebook group page for Stavragos Taverna and Rooms

I haven’t stayed on Marathi yet, but I have been enthralled by the dream of enjoying some quality rest and relaxation there after getting a brief glimpse of the isle nearly five years ago.

We were riding the Nissos Kalymnos ferry from Patmos to Samos at the time. The ship had just stopped at the island of Arki, and I was on the open deck enjoying the scenery as we headed to the next port of call, Agathonisi. As we passed a crescent-shaped bay with a sandy beach on Marathi, I spotted several people watching us from a vine-sheltered terrace at what I assumed was either a private vacation home or a holiday rental villa. I felt a tinge of envy, imagining how restful it must have been for those people if a ferry sailing past once a day was one of the few interruptions to the island’s prevailing peace and tranquillity.

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Several weeks later, when I was organizing photos I had shot during the ferry ride, I couldn’t stop looking at my pictures of the Marathi beach and bay. I wanted to learn more about the island and, a few Google searches later, discovered that I had photographed Stavragos, one of only three properties on Marathi with a taverna and rooms for rent.

Click on the link below to view additional photos and read more about Marathi on page 2 of this post.

When I saw this building from the ferry, I thought it was a private vacation home. It’s actually rental accommodations and an excellent restaurant — Stavragos Taverna and Rooms. It has four rooms for rent, and serves seafood and home-cooked Greek cuisine at its seaview garden terrace.

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New 4-star hotel set to open at Platis Gialos beach on Mykonos

January 21, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

This photo, from The George Hotel’s Facebook page, shows the Platis Gialos hillside location of the soon-to-open accommodations

Hillside hotel: Mykonos-bound travellers will have more accommodation choices at Platis Gialos once a brand-new hotel, The George, opens for the 2015 summer season on May 1.

The George Hotel only has a presence on Facebook so far, where it has billed itself as a 4-star property and posted several photos showing the hotel exterior, a sample room interior, and a typical hotel room view. But its website and online booking system should be up and running in early February. [Editor’s update: The website and booking page were operational as of January 29.]

The hotel is built into the side of the rocky hill that stands behind Platis Gialos beach, one of the most popular strands on the island. The George appears to be situated next door to the 5-star Myconian Ambassador Hotel, which just happens to be the first hotel we ever stayed at in Greece. It’s an excellent location: George Hotel guests will enjoy wonderful views of the Platis Gialos area while being just a 5-minute walk from the beach in one direction, and a similar walking distance from the nearest bus stop in the other.

Platis Gialos is one of the best resort areas to stay at on Mykonos, since it offers a good selection of restaurants right on the beach and close by, along with several convenience stores, and is walking distance from four nearby beaches — Psarou, Agia Anna, Paraga and Paradise. Moreover, it takes less than 15 minutes to get to Mykonos Town by regular bus service or by taxi.

The George is affiliated with the Acrogriali Hotel, which is one of several hotels fronting on Platis Gialos beach.

General manager Argyrios G. Theoharis told me The George will have three room types, all of which offer sea views: deluxe double; deluxe triple, and a 2-bedroom family room that can accommodate up to 5 guests. Room rates will be available once the website and online booking system are launched next month.

Below are several photos from The George Hotel Facebook page, where several more room and view pictures can be viewed.

See my August 23 2011 post for photos and information about Platis Gialos beach.

I have circled The George Hotel location on this aerial photo of Platis Gialos

From The George Hotel Facebook page, a view of the hotel exterior

This is one of three room interior photos posted on the hotel Facebook page

Guests of The George will enjoy views like this of the Platis Gialos area

A warm reminder of a spring day on Syros

January 13, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

To distract myself from our January deep freeze in Canada, I’ve been looking through photos of Greek Island beaches, like this one of Kini Bay from our visit to Syros last May. If you’d like to see more photos of this lovely family beach to take your mind off winter weather wherever you might be, click here to access my Kini beach album on Flickr.

Going to Mykonos this summer? Check hotels now for early booking discounts & special offers

January 7, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

The gorgeous seaview swimming pool at De.light Boutique Hotel looks oh-so-inviting in this photo from the hotel website. De.light is among numerous Mykonos resorts currently offering early booking deals for summer travel.

Reserve now: If you plan to visit Mykonos this summer, consider booking your accommodations as soon as possible to get a good deal on the price — and ensure you get to stay at the hotel of your choice.

On New Year’s Eve, a travel tip entitled 5 things smart travelers should do in January caught my eye on the Condé Nast Traveler magazine website. Item #5 recommended reserving summer hotel rooms on Mykonos and Santorini now to take advantage of early-booking bargains.

The article quoted Leftheris Papageorgiou of St Paul Minnesota-based Hellenic Adventures as saying this is the time of year many hotels on the two hugely popular Cycladic islands offer special promotions. “Not only will you get your top pick of hotels, but you’ll get them at a reduced rate,” he said.

Mykonos popular on travel website searches

But there’s another good reason to reserve soon — rooms at your preferred hotel could sell out quickly. Mykonos recorded one of its best-ever years for tourism in 2014, and the island’s popularity could soar even higher this summer.

In fact, Mykonos ranked in the world’s top 5 travel destinations for 2015 in data analyzed by Skyscanner, one of the major travel search engines. Additionally, Skyscanner found that Mykonos was the #2 most-searched destination for Australians, and #3 for travellers in the United Kingdom. (People around the globe conduct more than 30 million searches per month on the travel site. Working with trend forecasting firms, Skyscanner studied its treasure trove of data to predict the top places in the world “to be and be seen in 2015.”)

And just a few days ago, The Huffington Post singled out Mykonos and Santorini when it ranked Greece #4 in its Top 15 International Destinations for 2015. “These magnificent islands are every bit as gorgeous, romantic, laid back, and fun as any place you can find on earth. There’s Mykonos for romance, Santorini for breathtaking beaches, Crete for natural wonders, and so much more to discover.” the Huffington Post explained.

A view of Mykonos Town and its harbour area. The Skyscanner travel search website has predicted that Mykonos will be one of the world’s top 5 travel destinations in 2015.

Random search for bargains at Mykonos hotels

To see if early booking bargains are indeed available right now, I randomly checked websites for dozens of hotels on Mykonos (sorry, Santorini fans — I just didn’t have the time to check hotels on that island, too). I discovered that many sites don’t explicitly indicate if any special promotions are available at all, while several still advertise early booking deals for last year. Quite a few sites have banners or navigation menus promising “special offers,” but the links took me to blank pages or basic online booking forms that didn’t indicate rate reductions. Clearly, many hotels haven’t updated their webpages in a long time! But with tourist arrivals expected to be strong on Mykonos again this year, I’m sure many hotel proprietors won’t need to offer discounts to fill their rooms. Nevertheless, I did find deals for certain room categories or specific travel dates indicated on the websites for several popular hotels and resorts.

What follows is summary of promotions I discovered during my random survey, listed by island location. If you’re interested in a different resort on Mykonos or any other island, for that matter, carefully check their websites for mention of early booking bonuses. If you don’t see any deals advertised, email or telephone the hotel to inquire if any benefits are available if you book now. It never hurts to ask, and many Greek hotels will be pleased to provide discounts if you reserve directly with them rather than through one of the major online third-party booking agencies.

Please click on the link below to continue reading on page 2 of this post.

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2014 Greek holiday report Part 6: Off to Syros

October 16, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

This was one of our final views of Naxos Town on May 24 2014, as we departed Naxos on the Aqua Jewel ferry …

… bound for Ermoupoli, the port and capital city of Syros island …

… with a brief stop en route at Parikia. the main port and town on Paros

[Editor’s note: This is the sixth instalment in an ongoing series of photo reports about our 2014 spring vacation in the Cyclades and Athens. The previous posts reviewed our 5 days on Naxos. To see any or all of the earlier reports, click on the following underlined links: Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 ; Part 4 and Part 5 .]

Saturday May 24

Moving on: It was another sunny morning, but we wouldn’t get to enjoy the beautiful weather. After breakfast, we had to pack, take a taxi to the port, and ride a ferry to Syros for the next leg of our 2014 Greek holiday.

We didn’t want to leave Naxos. After three consecutive visits here in the past 12 months (and three others in previous years), it almost feels like a second home, and the island has become our favourite holiday destination. And why wouldn’t it be? Naxos has everything we want for a vacation — Wonderful scenery, unpretentious attitude and laid-back ambience, friendly and hospitable local residents, delicious food, reasonable prices, and plenty of things to see and do.

But it was time to move on and, much as we love Naxos, we were equally eager to visit Syros. We have heard countless good things about it during the past 10 years — including lavish praise from people who live on Naxos, as well as from other regular Naxos visitors. In fact, I can’t recall ever hearing anything bad about Syros. By all accounts, Syros could well be another island we would fall in love with and want to revisit again and again. And if, for some reason, Syros didn’t strike our fancy, Naxos would still be there for us.

Please click on the link below to continue reading the report on our journey from Naxos to Syros.

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2board summer issue features food guide, hotel profiles + tour ideas for Athens & Chania

August 11, 2014 / admin / 2 Comments

The July–September issue of 2board magazine features a gastronomy guide, suggested tours for Athens and Chania, and profiles of top boutique hotels

Tons of great tips: If you’re passing through Athens International Airport anytime this month, be sure to grab a copy of the July–September issue of 2board magazine while you’re in the terminal.

The 212-page glossy publication is packed full of useful travel tips about hotels, restaurants, and attractions at a variety of destinations — information that could come in handy during your current travels in Greece, or for planning a future holiday.

2board is the official magazine of the Athens airport. Copies are available free of charge from magazine racks situated at various locations in the terminal building.

I always find a wealth of interesting information, travel ideas and helpful research material in 2board, and this summer’s edition is no exception. In fact, it’s one of the better issues, content-wise, that I’ve seen. (And, as always, it’s packed with photos of luxurious resorts, villas and restaurants I can only dream about visiting someday … but it’s still great fun to imagine what it would be like seeing these places and photographing them with my own camera.)

Gastro Guide to 10 top restaurants

Foodies will want to flip directly to page 21 for 2board‘s “Gastro Guide to Greece,” which profiles “Ten restaurants that do not simply dish up Greek high gastronomy, they consistently take it one step further.”

The guide highlights two acclaimed restaurants on Mykonos, three on Santorini, one each on the islands of Corfu, Crete and Rhodes, and two on the Greek mainland — one at Preveza and another in Halkidiki:

♦ Etrusco at Kato Korakiana on Corfu;

♦ Old Mill at the Elounda Mare Hotel at Elounda on Crete;

♦ The Squirrel, one of the restaurants at Danai Beach Resort & Villas in Halkidiki;

♦ the dining room at Bill & Coo Suites & Lounge above Megali Ammos beach on Mykonos;

♦ the brand new White Star at Lakka Square in Mykonos Town;

♦ the restaurant at SESA Boutique Hotel at Kanali beach in Preveza;

♦ The Greek, a new dining room at the Sheraton Rhodes Resort on Rhodes;

♦ Selene in Pyrgos village on Santorini;

♦ Sea Side by Notos at Santorini’s Perivolos beach; and

♦ the dining room at the Grace Santorini hotel in Imerovigli.

The Gastro Guide includes full-page photos of the respective restaurants’ chefs and some of their tantalizing creations, along with suggestions of signature dishes to try if you get the opportunity to dine at one of these fine establishments. A word of warning: don’t read this article on an empty stomach, because the stunning food photos and descriptions of the unique dishes will instantly make you feel hungry!

The seaside dining terrace at The Squirrel restaurant in the Danai Beach Resort & Villas in Halkidiki. The photo is from the Danai Beach Resort Facebook page.

Please click on the 2 in the link below to continue reading this report.

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