Join filmmaker/photographer Kostas Kostopoulos on an island-hopping ferry ride to four of the isles in the Small Cyclades
Ferry ride: If you haven’t visited the Small Cyclades yet, here’s a film that will show you exactly what it’s like to travel by ferry between four of the region’s isles.
Small Cyclades is a 20-minute video in which filmmaker Kostas Kostopoulos captures ferry deck views of passing coastal scenery, along with arrivals and departures from the picturesque ports at Irakilia, Schinoussa, Koufonissi and Donousa — the major tourist islands in the archipelago situated between Naxos and Amorgos (see map below).
Besides views of the quaint island harbours and their brilliant turquoise water, the video shows the ferry crew preparing to dock at each port, the speedy disembarkation and boarding of passengers and vehicles, and the ship’s smooth but quick departure from the pier.
Kostopoulos is a peripatetic photographer who has travelled to and extensively photographed more than 50 Greek islands. He shares his photos on social media, where you can view the images on either his @island_wanders_by_kostopoulos page on Instagram, or his Νησιωτικές Περιπλανήσεις_Island wanders by Kostopoulos Kostas page on Facebook.
Kostopoulos published Small Cyclades on his isalos channel on YouTube, which features dozens of videos of Greek island ferries at sail in the Aegean Sea.
This Google map shows the location of the Small Cyclades islands between Naxos and Amorgos
Are you trying to decide where to vacation in Greece once Covid-19 travel restrictions have been lifted? If your idea of a heavenly holiday destination includes beautiful island scenery, spectacular coastlines, stunning turquoise seas, plus plenty of swimming, cliff diving, water sports and other outdoor activities, YouTube contributor Stratos Zafeiriadis can suggest the perfect place to go — Zakynthos (also known as Zante). Check out the amazing scenery in his 5-minute aerial film and you’ll see why he highly recommends the island.
Until the time is right, dream away! features 2 minutes of alluring natural scenery, monuments, and top tourist destinations in Greece
Dream on: Greece tourism officials have produced an inspiring video of sights, scenery and outdoor activities to encourage travellers to keep dreaming about taking a trip to Greece once the Covid-19 pandemic is over.
The 2-minute film, Until the time is right, dream away!, includes stunning aerial, ground-level and even underwater views of some of the country’s outstanding scenery, including mountains, rivers, valleys, beaches, coastlines, vineyards, monuments, historic sites, villages, cities and islands.
We recognized nearly two dozen places shown in the video — Chania, Loutro and Preveli on Crete, Corfu, Zakynthos, Mykonos, Paros, Santorini, Delos, Milos, Thassos, Skyros, Sounion, Athens and Thessaloniki — but couldn’t put place names to many more scenes that looked familiar.
The film may make you feel wistful, especially if the pandemic forced you to cancel plans to visit Greece this spring, as was the case with us. At the same time, however, it’s an inspiring reminder of all the amazing sights and places that will still be there, waiting to enthrall, excite and entertain us, once we can again travel to Greece.
This 2-minute promotional video explains the inspiration and philosophy for the new Koukoumi Hotel, and features beautiful views of famous Mykonos landmarks and island scenery
Holistic lifestyle hotel: The first — and only — authentically vegan hotel in Greece is set to open its doors on Mykonos this summer, promising to bring both “a breath of fresh air” in hospitality and a “new life philosophy” to the Island of the Winds.
Situated on a hillside near Ano Mera, in close proximity to Kalafatis, Kalo Livadi and other top southern coast beaches, the 4-star Koukoumi Hotel is a project of the Kontiza family of Mykonos. The property has been designed in traditional Myconian architectural style and boasts 14 “boho chic” suites, a restaurant featuring ethnic, Mediterranean and Greek-inspired vegan and raw cuisine, a swimming pool, spa and fitness center, and its own fruit and vegetable garden.
“Koudoumi” is a Myconian word which translates as “sheltered from the wind” and “a cozy place for snuggling.” To stay true to its name, the hotel has been conceived as “a peaceful sanctuary” where sophisticated travellers can “enjoy life without harming animals, the environment, or [them]selves,” the Koukoumi Hotel website explains.
Rooms include spacious standard, superior and executive suites that can accommodate up to 3 guests each, as well as deluxe and master suites that can sleep two persons each.
The hotel restaurant will offer a completely vegan menu, and pledges that its delicious recipes “will challenge you to reconsider everything you believed about food before!”
The Koukoumi Spa has been designed as a “haven of relaxation” in which guests can detox, de-stress and rejuvenate “with soothing massages, healing treatments for face & body or by using the sauna.”
The hotel also has an indoor fitness center, staffed by a personal trainer and sports nutrition advisor who can tailor cross-functional training programs to help guests develop their own specific physical fitness programs and wellness goals.
Reservations can be made through the online booking page of the Koukoumi Hotel website, or through the hotel’s listings on booking.com, TripAdvisor and Expedia.
Below are several renderings of rooms and hotel facilities; additional images and information can be found on the Koukouimi website and on the Koukoumi Facebook page. A number of photos also can be viewed on the hotel’s Instagram.
In Greece Places, filmmaker Pawel Worsztynowicz captures splendid sights and scenery from 38 marvellous spots around the country
Stunning sequel: He’s done it again! Last year, filmmaker Pawel Worsztynowicz created an impressive video showing more than two dozen amazing places in Greece he had visited during nearly a year of travels throughout the country.
We included that film — Greece story — The best places in Greece? — in a blog post spotlighting our favourite videos of Greece from 2019. Running just over 2 minutes, Greece Story wowed us with spectacular views of some glorious Greek sights and scenes we recognized from our own travels, along with other beautiful places we haven’t yet had the chance to see for ourselves.
Pawel told us he had shot more video and thousands of photos during his time in Greece, so we kept hoping he would produce another short film sometime soon. We didn’t have to wait long — he let us know in mid-April that he had just published a new video called Greece Places, which we were thrilled to watch and share here.
Locations shown in the film include:
♦ the Parthenon and the Old Temple of Athens in Athens;
♦ sites in Attica region, the Peloponnese and Halidiki;
♦ Evia island;
♦ Crete;
♦ Skiathos and Skopelos in the Sporades chain of islands;
♦ Corfu and Zakynthos in the Ionian islands;
♦ Ios, Santorini and Thirasia in the Cyclades; and
♦ Kos, Rhodes and Symi in the Dodecanese islands
You can see more of Pawel’s wonderful photography on his social media pages — @behind_the_seas on Instagram, and Behind the Seas on Facebook.
Danielle van Doorn filmed the video to her inspirational song Fly at Molyvos, Petra and other places on Lesvos island
Scenic backup: Lesvos island plays a co-starring role in Fly, a pop music video released this month (April 2020) by talented young Dutch singer/songwriter Danielle van Doorn.
The beautiful town of Molyvos, the historic Molyvos Castle, Petra village and numerous inland and coastal locations on Lesvos provide scenic backdrops for the 3.5-minute video which van Doorn made as a posthumous birthday gift for Justin G. Valk, who produced the studio recording of the song prior to his death two years ago from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Known professionally as JRedsun, Valk also produced van Doorn’s 2017 single, Leave Me Alone.
We recognized several of the video filming locations since we stayed in Molyvos and visited Petra and other places during our first-ever trip to Lesvos in spring 2019, but I’m sure many more sites shown in the clip will be familiar to regular island visitors.
If you haven’t been to Lesvos before, the video will give you glimpses of some of the pretty town, coast and landscape scenery that await your discovery on this truly wonderful East Aegean isle.
Filmmaker Anthony Venitis compiled drone footage from 30 places in Greece to create his “Proud to be Greek” salute to his country’s vast beauty
If you have had to postpone a trip to Greece because of the Covid-19 pandemic, filmmaker Anthony Venitis has a message — and a special 2-minute video — to share with you.
“Greece, as most countries, is under #lockdown but the time will soon come when our country will come back stronger and more colorful. The time will soon come when we will get to enjoy her beauties once more, together and united,” Venitis says in descriptive notes for an aerial video he has posted to his YouTube channel.
His film features drone video of 30 breathtaking Greek “beauties,” including historic monuments, mountains, beaches, harbours, tavernas, villages, olive groves, coastlines, lighthouses, sunrises and more.
The attractions and destinations with starring roles in the film include: the Acropolis of Athens and the Temple of Poseidon at Sounion; lighthouses at Gytheio, Andros, Mykonos and Kea; a shipwreck at Gytheio; scenes from the islands of Santorini, Milos, Lefkada, Andros, Kefalonia, Mykonos, Kalymnos, Aegina and Hydra; scenes from the Pelion and Peloponnese regions; plus Kalavryta, Sparta and Monemvasia. The video concludes with images of a Greek flag on a hilltop at Sparta. (A list of the places shown, along with the exact times they appear in the video, can be found in the descriptive notes on the YouTube page.)
Are you planning to see any of these beauties for yourself when you can eventually take your trip to Greece?
This 9-minute film by fitness and travel buff William Taudien shows Paleochora, Crete from ground level, in the air, and even under water.
Just a few weeks back, I wrote about a new promotional video that tourism authorities on Crete had produced to encourage more travellers to visit the island in winter.
Since then, I’ve been keeping an eye on social media to watch for current photo and video posts, to get a better feel for what the island is like at this time of year. The latest we have ever been to Crete ourselves was in late October and early November 2017, when the tourist season was wrapping up and most hotels and restaurants were either already closed or shutting down. Despite a few days of inclement weather, we had a great time, but we often wondered how visiting in winter would compare. It seems other people are curious, too — in online travel forums, I’ve noticed an uptick in the number of people asking whether winter travel to Crete and other places in Greece would be worthwhile.
This week I got some answers when adventure traveller, fitness buff and vlogger William Taudien published the video I posted above.
William has been living near the Crete city of Chania for the past three months. In late December, he took a daytrip to Paleochora, a small town on the island’s southwest coast which happened to be the last stop on our late autumn holiday two years ago.
After a bumpy 90-minute bus ride through gorgeous mountain scenery, William arrived at Paleochora to sunny skies and comfortable temperatures in the low 20s Celsius — weather similar to what we had experienced. Conditions were ideal for William to film ground-level video while wandering the streets, the seafront on the east side of town, and beautiful big Pachia Ammos beach to the west, which he had all to himself. With his drone, he captured amazing aerial views of the colourful town, the beach, and the spectacular mountain and Libyan Sea surroundings. He even shot some underwater scenes while swimming and snorkeling.
Everything looked pretty much as it had when we spent three days in Paleochora, with one major difference — as William explains in the video, restaurant options are extremely limited in winter, especially if you’re looking for somewhere to have lunch.
Although he had an enjoyable trip to Paleochora on that particular day, William told me in an email that “It seems like the weather is a bit unstable in the winter.” In fact, right after his daytrip, the weather changed rapidly when a massive storm system that meteorologists named Zenobia swept across Greece, lashing the country with gale-force winds, heavy rains, and snowfalls in some regions. Zenobia pounded Greece for the final four days of 2019, and weather conditions remained unsettled into the first week of the new year.
But conditions improved, and sunshine and mild temperatures returned. In his email, William told me he took another daytrip a few days ago, this time to explore the village of Hora Sfakion on Crete’s southern coast. And, once again, he went swimming. “It was really sunny and nice,” he said.
Now, as I look out my window at gloomy grey skies and the temperature below the freezing mark here in Toronto, I keep daydreaming about paying a winter visit to Chania, and taking daytrips to places like Paleochora and Hora Sfakion if the weather is decent. Definitely something to keep in mind for next winter!
