Getting ready to reel in a big boat? A man fishes from rocks in the Mykonos Town harbour, near the charter motor yachts Happy Dolphin II (left) and Hadia. We saw the Happy Dolphin II one week later while we were on Ios island (in mid-May of 2013). The 40-meter ship can sleep 13 guests in 5 cabins, and has a crew of 9. What a way to cruise the Greek Islands! You can view more photos of the 40-meter luxury yacht in my Happy Dolphin II at Ios album on Flickr.
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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Click the arrow on the image (above) to watch the Studio Phosart production, Timelapse in Santorini, a breathtaking film of Santorini’s spectacular scenery
Year-long project: When you view Santorini’s marvellous scenery in person, it literally leaves you breathless. The island and its views can look equally stunning in photos and videoclips, too. And if you click on the link posted above, you’ll get to see the island’s immense natural beauty from a different and utterly amazing perspective — time-lapse film photography.
A production of Athens-based Studio Phosart, the Timelapse in Santorini video was filmed by Miltos Fotopoulos. According to notes on the studio’s Vimeo page, the project took a year to complete — but once you view the film, I’m sure you’ll understand why.
Part of the Katapola area on the northwest coast of Amorgos. Katapola is one of the two ports on the island (the other is at Egali, 23 km to the northeast) and the horseshoe-shaped bay is home to three separate villages: Katapola, Rahidi and Ksilokeratidi. Click the picture to view a full-size photo.
A footpath winds between tall stone walls in Artemonas village on Sifnos. We appreciated the walls while hiking because they offered some protection from the strong cool winds that buffeted the island for three full days during our visit in late September 2007. Sifnos has an extensive network of trails and footpaths that link villages and lead avid walkers and hikers to scores of scenic locations. Click here to access directions for nearly 50 different walk itineraries on Sifnos provided by the popular multilingual website Walking, hiking and trekking in Greece.
Wooden Mykonos houses handcrafted by artist Eugenia Triantopoulou are available at Triciclo Art Shop in Mykonos Town
Super souvenirs: Brilliant white “sugar cube” houses with blue doors and window shutters are often the first images that come to mind for many people when someone mentions travelling to Greece.
It’s no surprise, of course, since a substantial proportion of travel guides, posters and tour brochures for Greece feature photos of the cute whitewashed houses as well as white churches with gleaming blue domed roofs — even though that particular style of architecture is found primarily in the Cyclades islands (but also in some villages in the Dodecanese and in a few other parts of the country).
The sight of white cube-shaped buildings clinging to barren brown rock hillsides is one of the features that tourists enjoy most about Mykonos in particular, since it boasts an extensive array of traditional Cycladic architecture both in Mykonos Town (one of the prettiest villages in all of the Greek Islands) and elsewhere on the island.
Mykonos visitors can now take one of the cute “sugar cube” houses home with them as a souvenir. Local artist Eugenia Triantopoulou has created a collection of charming hand-made wooden houses which are available from Triciclo Art Shop in Mykonos Town.
Triciclo offers a variety of other hand-made gift items from a number of local artists. The shop is located a short walk behind the Mykonos Town Hall at 3 Voinovits Street, which is the lane that leads from one of the most popular restaurants on the island, Niko’s Taverna, to Skandinavian Bar, one of the most famous party clubs in all of Greece.
There’s more information and photos — as well as a map showing how to find the gallery — on the Triciclo Art Shop Facebook page.
I shot this photo of passengers an upper deck of the Louis Cristal as the ship (below) approached Mykonos for a port stop a couple years ago
New ports & themes: Louis Cruises has added seven new Greek islands to the roster of destinations travellers will be able to visit on tour itineraries being offered this year by the Cyprus-based cruise operator.
Louis Cruises has long offered popular 3- to 8-day tour packages that take travellers to Istanbul and Kusadasi in Turkey as well as to the Greek islands Mykonos, Santorini, Patmos, Rhodes and Crete.
For 2014, the company has expanded its roster of destinations to include two more ports in Turkey — Bodrum and Cesme — along with seven new Greek island stops: Syros, Ios and Milos in the Cyclades island group, Kos and Symi in the Dodecanese, and Samos and Chios in the East Aegean.
New themed cruises available
Besides the new ports of call, Louis will be offering 60 specially-themed cruises with itineraries based on: gastronomy, wine & spirits; culture & heritage; history & archaeology; and music.
Representatives of the cruise line told a recent press conference in Athens that bookings for its cruises are up significantly so far this year — over 20% higher than in 2013. The company is expecting to carry 820,000 passengers during 2014 on its ships the Cristal, Olympia and Aura.
Full details about itinerary themes and destinations, as well as the ships, are available on the Louis Cruises website.
Passengers enjoy the cruises & island itineraries
Although we haven’t yet taken a Louis cruise ourselves, we have spoken to dozens of people who have. Almost all of our flights to and from Greece have been on Air Transat, whose sister company, Transat Holidays, offers Louis cruises in many of its organized island hopping vacation packages. Dozens of the passengers on each of our flights have taken the cruises, and their feedback about the experience has been overwhelmingly positive, with everyone reporting that they fully enjoyed the ships and the islands they visited.
And while we were in Athens last October, we spoke with two friends who had just taken a Louis Cruise that included stops at Kusadasi, Patmos, Crete and Santorini. Both are very well-travelled in Greece, and raved about how much they enjoyed their cruise. They told us their rooms were comfortable, the crew were friendly and helpful, and the food was delicious. They highly recommended the cruise and, in fact, urged us to take one on a future trip to Greece. It’s a suggestion we will seriously consider in light of their comments.
This photo of a waterfront scene on Symi is from The Symi Visitor website, an online guide that’s packed with pictures and travel information about the island
A man passes Anita’s Villas as walks the clifftop footpath through Imerovigli village on Santorini. The path extends from Fira to Oia and the walk between the two villages takes from two to four hours. The cliff walk offers superlative views of spectacular scenery the entire way, and is one of our favourite ways to enjoy Santorini. We would describe the hike from Fira to Oia as a “must do” activity for visitors to the island. Click the image to view a larger photo.
