Category: Greek Islands photos (Page 69 of 70)

Things I love about Greece: Waking up to gorgeous views at hotels in the Greek Islands (Part 5)

June 7, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

The view from our balcony at the Andromeda hotel in Kalami, Samos

One big miss, two great hits: In my earlier posts about Greek Island views, I recounted how we were “on a roll” in terms of picking places to stay where we could see impressive scenery without leaving the hotel premises. Whether it was from our room’s windows or balcony, or the hotel’s dining area or pool terrace, we always seemed to luck out with amazing views of sea and island scenery and sometimes glorious sunsets, too. Well, that run of good views came to a screeching halt at our very first hotel destination in 2010.

Kos was our first island stop in May 2010, and we stayed at Saint Constantin Hotel in Kos Town. When I booked our room, I knew it wouldn’t have a sea view, but I kept hoping there would be something interesting to see from our balcony or somewhere on the hotel grounds. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way, and we wound up with our worst island views ever. Thankfully, good scenery was less than a 10-minute walk away. (The hotel itself was all right, by the way.)

Patmos was our second island, and the Hotel Golden Sun at Grikos Bay more than made up for the lousy views at Kos Town. I was already impressed by the hotel’s views while still sitting in the taxi that drove us to there from the ferry port, and when I walked onto our balcony I was totally blown away by the awesome scenery. We overlooked the full Grikos valley and bay area, and could even see the coast of Turkey. Mountains obscured sunset views, but Tragonissi Island and the mountains surrounding the bay took on a gorgeous golden glow in the late afternoon/early evening sun, and we got to see rainbows above nearby Petra Bay as a storm system moved over the region.

Samos was our final island-hopping destination, and good views continued at both our hotels there. We spent our first night in the island’s largest town, Vathi (a.k.a. Samos Town), staying at the Samos Hotel (which now also calls itself Samos City Hotel). It was situated on Vathi’s main street — a wide waterfront road that curls around the foot of Vathi Bay. Our second floor room overlooked the bay, with great views of the Vathi ferry port and main street, while the hotel’s huge rooftop pool and bar terrace had tremendous views of the entire town and bay. The next day we moved to the Andromeda Hotel in Kalami — a resort region in the scenic “suburbs” of Vathi, a 20-minute walk away. The breathtaking balcony views of Vathi Bay rivalled the Grikos Bay scenery we had enjoyed on Patmos, but came with an added bonus: direct sunset views.

Though Kos was a complete write-off for views, Patmos and Samos clearly ranked among the best we have experienced. So we can’t complain about Kos; as the saying goes, “two out of three ain’t bad.” Below are photos of our views (and lack thereof) from the Saint Constantin Hotel on Kos, the Hotel Golden Sun on Patmos, the Samos Hotel in Vathi, and the Andromeda Hotel in Kalami, Samos. (Unfortunately, the Andromeda doesn’t yet have a website.) To view some short videos of the views from the Hotel Golden Sun, see my May 12 2011 post. There’s a clip of the view from the Andromeda Hotel at the bottom of this post.

Our balcony at the Saint Constantin Hotel in Kos Town looked directly onto the balcony for a room at the hotel next door. Thankfully, our balcony doors had dark-tinted glass to provide a bit of privacy

If we peered over the balcony and looked to the right, we could see the street

This was our view, looking to the left

The hotel’s breakfast area had a view of the street …

… as well as the ground-level swimming pool and bar terrace

This is what the street outside the hotel looked like

At the Hotel Golden Sun on Patmos, our balcony had this fabulous view of Grikos Bay, Tragonissi Island (right) and the coast of Turkey

Our balcony, on the Hotel Golden Sun’s upper level, gave us a panoramic view of the entire Grikos valley and bay area

To the left our balcony overlooked the small harbour on Grikos Bay

To the right, our balcony overlooked Tragonissi Island and Kalikatsou Rock

The outdoor breakfast terrace had terrific views of Grikos Bay …

… as well as the surrounding hillsides of the valley above the bay …

… where construction of new luxury hotels and villas is underway (happily, we weren’t disturbed by any noise from the work activity there, or from lower in the valley where workers were finishing the new 5-star Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa.)

In the main town of Vathi on Samos, the rooftop terrace at the Samos Hotel offers tremendous views of the city, the port, and Vathi Bay

Our balcony overlooked the Vathi ferry pier (plus other balconies on our floor)

Here’s a daytime view of the ferry port from our balcony …

… and a night view of houses on the hillsides above Vathi Bay

To our left, we could look down the main waterfront street in Vathi

At the Andromeda Hotel in the Kalami area of Samos, our room had a narrow, small balcony with a really, really big view

To the immediate left of our balcony were some luxury rental villas on the hillside

Also to the left were views of Vathi Bay

This is the first view we saw each morning when we walked onto the balcony

We rode bikes to the scenic seaside village of Kokkari on the far side of the bay

To the right we had views of houses on the Kalami hillside above Vathi Bay …

… as well as other bay-view balconies on our floor. (I know it doesn’t look very private, but hotel guests tended to watch the scenery and sunsets, rather than their neighbours, whenever they sat on their balconies.)

There was a long, narrow terrace overlooking the bay next to the Andromeda’s breakfast room; if we got up early enough, we could eat outside (those tables were popular, and almost always occupied).

During breakfast, we watched tour boats travelling to and from Kusadasi, Turkey

The Andromeda had a huge swimming pool with great views of Vathi Bay

At the bottom of the hill, the hotel had a private seaside sunbathing area …

… with great views of Vathi Bay and the surrounding hillsides

Each evening, almost everyone at the Andromeda Hotel relaxed on their balcony with a bottle of wine while watching the gorgeous sunsets

This was one of the sunset views we enjoyed watching from our balcony …

… and this was another — we saw a beautiful sunset every night

Things I love about Greece: Waking up to gorgeous views at hotels in the Greek Islands (Part 3)

June 6, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

A dramatic sunset viewed from Hotel Tagoo on Mykonos in September 2007

Sunsets, sea views & windstorms: 2007 was the year we took our first-ever September trip to Greece, breaking a pattern of travelling in mid- to late May or early June. This particular island-hopping holiday took us to Milos, Sifnos, Folegandros and Mykonos.

Milos was our first stop; we flew there on an Olympic Airways flight from Athens the same day we arrived in Greece. We stayed at the Santa Maria Village hotel near Adamas, the main port town on Milos. Santa Maria Village is a hillside complex of hotel rooms, suites, apartments and bungalows less than a 15-minute walk from the Adamas harbour. The hotel overlooks the Gulf of Milos, and the balcony to our room had views of the gulf, 748-meter Mt. Profitis Elias and other mountains on the west side of the bay, and Adamas. No sunset views from this location, but we did get to see a spectacular sunset from Utopia bar in Plaka one evening.

Sifnos was our second destination. We stayed at Hotel Delfini, which sits directly across from the Kamares ferry port on the far side of Kamares Bay. The hotel has a beautiful swimming pool that overlooks Kamares and the bay. In our room, one of the tiniest hotel rooms we’ve stayed in anywhere, the window and the balcony both gave good views straight down the wide bay toward open sea. We saw some brilliant sunsets during our stay — a stroke of luck considering that a bad weather system moved over the Aegean during our first night on Sifnos, bringing cloudy skies and a fierce windstorm that disrupted ferry travel for several days. We actually had to spend one extra night on the island because there were no ferries going anywhere on our scheduled departure day.

Folegandros was our third stop, and we arrived more than a day late because of the ferry cancellations caused by the weekend windstorm that “stranded” us on Sifnos. We stayed at the Fata Morgana Studios, a small clifftop complex of 14 apartments near the island’s main town, Chora.This place has incredible views, including sunsets! The swimming pool and bar overlook the sea and the mountainous western half of the island, while our balcony gave us even better views — the same breathtaking sea and mountain views, plus sightlines of Chora and the stunning church of Koimisis tis Theotokou (Assumption of the Virgin Mary), perched high on the mountain above the town.

Mykonos was our final island-hopping destination, and this time we decided to stay close to Mykonos Town, rather than at a beach resort like Elia or Platis Gialos where we had stayed three times before. We chose Hotel Tagoo not only because of its many positive reviews on TripAdvisor.com, but also since it came highly recommended first-hand by some people from Toronto we knew who had stayed there the previous year. (I had recommended the Lianos Village to them for their Naxos visit; they loved it and suggested we try Hotel Tagoo next time we went to Mykonos because it had many similarities and they felt certain we would love it. They were right.)

We actually got to stay in two different rooms. Our first room was situated on the east side of the Hotel Tagoo complex, with a semi-private partial sea-view terrace that was cozy, comfortable and quiet. We couldn’t watch the sunset from that terrace, but if we wanted to see it, all we had to do was walk a few flights of stairs to the swimming pool and pool bar deck. The panoramic vistas from there are spectacular; on clear days, you can see several other Cyclades islands including Tinos, Syros, Rinia and sometimes even Giaros. As you can imagine, the sunsets look sensational from up there, too. And for our last night on Mykonos, we got to move into a room with a direct sunset view. When guests checked out of one of the hotel’s front-facing rooms earlier in the day, hotel manager Anna asked if we wanted to switch rooms for the night. We did, of course, so we got to watch a brilliant sunset while enjoying a bottle of wine on the comfort of our own terrace. It was the perfect place to spend our final evening on the island!

Below are photos of our views from the Santa Maria Village on Milos, the Hotel Delfini on Sifnos, the Fata Morgana Studios on Folegandros, and Hotel Tagoo on Mykonos.

This was the view looking straight out from our second-floor hotel room balcony at the Santa Maria Village hotel in Adamas on Milos

Directly ahead is the Gulf of Milos, the wide bay that separates the east and west sides of the island

Off to the right stands Mount Profitis Elias on the west side of the Gulf of Milos

The mountains blocked sunsets from sight at the hotel — but there were many excellent sunset viewing spots in Plaka and Kastro

Our balcony also overlooked the Santa Maria Village swimming pool and bar terrace

The swimming pool and its surrounding terrace had views of the Gulf of Milos …

… as well as views towards the island’s main port town, Adamas, which was only a 15-minute walk from the hotel along the waterfront

The Hotel Delfini is situated on a hill above Kamares Bay on Sifnos

The Delfini has great views of the mountains that tower above the bay and port…

… while parts of the hotel property overlook the port town of Kamares

The Hotel Delfini has a beautiful infinity pool …

that faces straight down Kamares Bay toward the open sea …

… has views of the island’s main port town, Kamares …

… and offers excellent sightlines as the sun sets over the Aegean Sea to the west

Another sunset view from the Hotel Delfini’s infinity pool

The window in our room overlooked the pool and the hotel’s outdoor restaurant area (under the bamboo roof), and had great views of Kamares Bay

Our balcony faced right down Kamares Bay toward the open sea

Our balcony view of the rugged coastline and rocky mountain above Kamares Bay

Our balcony view of a sunset over the Aegean Sea

The swimming pool terrace at Fata Morgana Studios on Folegandros has fantastic views. The island of Paros is visible in the distance in this photo.

This was part of the view from our terrace at Fata Morgana Studios; I say “part” because the second-floor balcony wrapped around the building, offering wonderful views in several different directions

We could see the village of Ano Mera on the mountaintop in the distance

Looking straight out to sea from our balcony at Fata Morgana Studios

A sitting area for the pool bar had amazing views of the island, sea and sunset

The sitting area looks surrounded by nothing but deep blue sea

Our balcony also had great views of Chora, the main town on Folegandros

This was our balcony view of the Church of Koimisis tis Theotokou at sunset …

… and this was our view of the moon high above Chora at sunset one evening

With all those views, I loved sitting on the balcony when we weren’t hiking around Folegandros (which is one of the best islands for walking)

This was the semi-private sea-view terrace for our first room at Hotel Tagoo

To the left was this view of the hotel next door to Tagoo. The hillside in the distance is the Apollonia area of Mykonos island.

This was the direct sea view from our second room at Hotel Tagoo

Our balcony overlooked the swimming pool deck for another hotel lower down the hillside in what is known as the Tagoo district of Mykonos

The upper levels of Hotel Tagoo offer superb views of the sea and nearby islands

On a clear day, the shimmering sea looks silver under the glare of the blazing sun

Standing on the swimming pool deck, two Hotel Tagoo guests watch as a four-masted luxury cruise ship sails out of Mykonos port

Guests watch a sunset from the swimming pool terrace at Hotel Tagoo

The incredible sunset views make the Hotel Tagoo swimming pool terrace a popular gathering spot for guests each evening

Things I love about Greece: Waking up to gorgeous views at hotels in the Greek Islands (Part 1)

June 3, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

On our very first morning in the Greek Islands back in 2004, we were awestruck by this view from our balcony at the Myconian Ambassador Hotel on Mykonos

Va-va-va-view: On our first-ever trip to Greece, we arrived at Mykonos after nightfall and didn’t have a clue what kind of view we would get from our balcony at the Myconian Ambassador Hotel. The hotel employee who showed us to our room opened the balcony doors and assured us we would have beautiful sightlines of the sea and Platis Gialos beach, but most of the area was pitch black and we couldn’t see much more than lights from nearby hotels and houses. It also was surprisingly quiet, though whenever the light breeze blew in our direction, we could faintly hear Greek music being played in the tavernas lining the beach a few hundred meters below us.

When we woke up the next morning and pulled open the balcony doors, our jaws dropped as we got our first glimpse of Platis Gialos in daylight. The view was absolutely gorgeous! Spread out below were dozens of the island’s signature white cube buildings, the golden-brown sandy beach, and the vivid deep blues and tempting turquoise waters of the legendary Aegean Sea.

On all of our Greek Island holidays since then, we’ve always tried to get a hotel room with a good sea view. If the room itself doesn’t offer one, we’re content if there is at least a decent sea view from a public area somewhere else on the hotel property — be it a breakfast room, swimming pool terrace, or other place where we can sit, relax and gaze at the scenery. At home, all we see from our windows and balcony are highrise glass, steel and concrete towers. When we travel on holidays, we cherish views of the sea. It’s even better if we can see some islands and mountains, too. Bonus points if we can watch a spectacular sunset. But a Greek holiday just wouldn’t feel the same if we couldn’t see the Aegean.

I posted additional photos of the views from the Myconian Ambassador Hotel in my June 3 2011 post. Below are photos showing the various different views we have had from some of the other hotels we stayed at during Greek Island holidays since. Some of the views are terrific, and others considerably less so, but with only one or two exceptions, we always got to see the sea without having to leave our hotels.

The view from our balcony at the Rodos Palladium at Kallithea beach on Rhodes

Evening view from our balcony at the Rodos Palladium in 2004

Our Rodos Palladium balcony view of a full moon above Kallithea Bay in 2004

The balcony to our room at the Candia Maris Resort & Spa in Amoudara, Crete gave us this view of sea and mountains in 2004…

… as well as this view of the resort’s indoor swimming pool…

… plus this view of other balconies on our side of this particular hotel building

That’s me on our sea-view terrace at the Santorini Palace Hotel on Santorini in 2004. This isn’t the breathtaking caldera view for which Santorini is renowned (this is the less scenic east side of the island), but it looked great to us. And if we did want to see the spectacular caldera view, all we had to do was exit the hotel’s main entrance and walk 100 meters up a short slope — and there it was.

We couldn’t see a famous Santorini sunset from our terrace at the Santorini Palace Hotel, but we could see the sunset glowing on clouds above Imerovigli village

A view of Elia Bay on Mykonos from the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas in 2005

Part of the sea view from our balcony at the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas

More of the sea view from our balcony at the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas

Houses and rental accommodation on the steep hillside rising to the left of our balcony at the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas

Our bathroom window gave us a view of more hotel rooms higher up the hillside

In 2005, we enjoyed views of Naxos Town and Agios Georgios Bay from the Naxos Beach II hotel in the Stelida district of Naxos

Another view toward Naxos Town from the Naxos Beach II hotel

Our bedroom at Naxos Beach II had doors that opened onto a stone-paved terrace offering this view toward Naxos Town

Another view from the terrace outside our bedroom at the Naxos Beach II

At the Yria Hotel on Paros in 2005, our room had a large ground-level terrace

This was the view if we looked to the left while sitting on the terrace…

…while, unfortunately, this was the view to the right — overlooking an unattractive overflow parking area

We could catch a slight glimpse of the sea from the Yria’s swimming pool terrace…

…and also see a small section of Paraspora beach, which was just a five-minute walk down the road…

… but the Yria Hotel’s main attraction was its enormous swimming pool. It looked fantastic, but the chilly water was murky from suntan oil

In 2005, we loved this marvellous caldera view from our private terrace at the Phenix Hotel in the cliffside village of Imerovigli on Santorini

We didn’t even have to leave our hotel room to enjoy the amazing view…

…but we preferred to savour the stunning scenery from our sun-bathed terrace

Looking to the left, we had this view of other hotels perched perilously on the steep cliffside high above the sea in Imerovigli

Looking down, we could see the caldera and cruise ships below the town of Fira

And from an upper level of the hotel, we enjoyed this view of the volcano island (Nea Kameni) and the gorgeous swimming pool at the Honeymoon Petra Villas, a beautiful multi-level hotel clinging to the cliffside next door to the Phenix

Greece holiday May 2011: More Mykonos photos

May 23, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Ornos Beach on May 17 2011

Mykonos in May: We started our 2011 holiday with a three-night visit to one of our favourite Greek islands, Mykonos. Here are more photos from one of our island walkabouts.

The view from Hotel Tagoo in the Tagoo district of Mykonos

The Hotel Tagoo swimming pool in late afternoon sunshine

Some goats in a field in the Tagoo district of Mykonos

An example of typical Cycladic architecture on Mykonos: a white cube building with rounded corners

A cruise ship and a private yacht at Mykonos Town’s Old Port

White cube buildings on the hillside above Mykonos Town

A view towards the heart of Mykonos Town

A view of Mykonos Town’s harbour and the famous windmills at Little Venice

A red-domed church sits next to the Mykonos Archaeological Museum

The main harbourside street in Mykonos Town

Paraportiani church at Little Venice

Taking pics on the seaside at Little Venice

Enjoying the sea view from the cocktail bars at Little Venice

Hotels on the Tagoo district hillside above the Old Port

Private luxury yachts docked at the Old Port at Mykonos Town

Agia Anna beach between Platis Gialos and Paranga beaches

Nicholas taverna at Agia Anna beach

A red-domed church overlooking Megali Ammos bay

A cove below the church overlooking Megali Ammos bay

A cruise ship anchored off Mykonos Town viewed from Megali Ammos bay

Megali Ammos beach and bay

Hotels on the hill above Megali Ammos beach

Joanna’s and Niko’s Taverna at Megali Ammos beach

Megali Ammos beach

The swimming pool at the Mykonos Bay Hotel

The coast on the way to Ornos Beach

Ornos beach

Lounge chairs and umbrellas on Ornos beach

Ornos beach

Looking down on the Ornos beach area

A church on a hillside above Ornos beach

Ornos bay on Mykonos

Ornos bay

Greece holiday 2011: Mykonos

May 18, 2011 / admin / 1 Comment

Looking down on Mykonos Town and its harbour

The main harbourside walkway in Mykonos Town

A church on a street in the heart of Mykonos Town

Mykonos Town harbour

Tourists meet the famous Mykonos pelican

A street in Mykonos Town

An intersection in Mykonos Town

Boats in Mykonos harbour

Octopus drying in the sun at Babulas taverna

A peek at the 3 beaches at Kokkari village on Samos

May 14, 2011 / admin / 1 Comment

A hillside view overlooking the aptly-named Long Beach at Kokkari on Samos

One village, three beaches: The picturesque seaside village of Kokkari on Samos boasts something few other towns in the Greek Islands can brag about: three beaches. On one side of the village is Long Beach, a very long (of course) pebbly beach lined with shops, bars and tavernas and offering rental lounge chairs and umbrellas. On the other side are two crescent-shaped beaches, also pebbly, that sit back-to-back, separated by a small strip of land. Oddly enough, they’ve both got the same name: Small Lemonakia. Below are pics of the two Lemonaki beaches, along with brief videoclips of them.

The Small Lemonakia beach closest to Kokkari (just a two-minute walk away)

The second Small Lemonakia beach is literally a stone’s throw away from the first

Agriolivadi Bay on Patmos

May 13, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

Overlooking the beautiful area around Agriolivadi Bay on Patmos during our afternoon hike from Skala to Kampos

Greece holiday 2010: Meeting some Patmos locals

May 13, 2011 / admin / 0 Comments

A goat we met while hiking up the mountain from Grikos to Chora on Patmos

Making new friends: We usually encounter a lot of cats and donkeys in Greece, and sometimes a few dogs and horses. But on certain islands, like Astipalea and Amorgos, we’ve met more goats than people! It was the same case on Patmos, where we passed a lot of goats while hiking around the island. Below are a few pics and two videoclips showing a few of the bashful creatures who crossed our paths.

Another goat we encountered while hiking from Grikos to Chora

This is the mountain trail between Grikos and Chora where we met dozens of goats

A herd of goats grazing in a field next to the path from Grikos to Chora

More goats grazing on a hillside below Chora on Patmos