A chapel dedicated to Agios Iakovos occupies a lonely location on a hill above Agios Sostis bay on Mykonos. Click on the photo above to view it full-size.
Side view of the chapel from the highway leading to Agios Sostis
Front view of the Agios Iakovos chapel
Inscriptions beside and above one of the chapel’s blue doors
This was the marvellous view of Mylopotas beach and bay that we enjoyed from our terrace at Hotel Katerina on Ios in May
180 degrees of scenery: We really lucked out with our hotel choice on Ios during our trip to Greece last month.
After spending five days on Mykonos in a hotel room that didn’t have any view at all (the room had no balcony or terrace, and its window only looked onto the private terrace for a nearby suite), we got to enjoy four days of spectacular scenery at Hotel Katerina on Ios.
We realized we were really in for a treat when we arrived at Hotel Katerina and caught a few glimpses of beautiful Mylopotas beach as we walked across the swimming pool terrace next to the reception area. And when the hotel manager, Maria, led us to our room (#7) on the second-highest level of the property — 56 steps above the pool deck — we were blown away. The private terrace for Room 7 offered an incredible 180 degrees of marvellous views of the Mylopotas and Agios Ioannis areas of Ios, as well as nearby Sikinos island and even Santorini in the distance.
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The Delos island ferry ticket booth at the Mykonos Old Port
[Editor’s Update: For information about extended opening hours and extra Delos ferry service in 2014, please see my April 2 2014 report Visiting Delos will be easier this summer with Sunday openings, longer hours and extra ferries.]
No change: Some good news for people travelling in the Cyclades on tight budgets this summer — prices for visiting Delos island from Mykonos have not increased this year. It still costs €17 for a return ferry ticket (same as in 2012), while admission to the grounds remains €5 (a price that hasn’t changed in years).
According to Greek mythology, Delos is the sacred island on which the Greek gods Apollo and Artemis were born. Administered by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Delos is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the top Greek island tour destinations for archaeology and history buffs. Day trips to Delos rank among the top “things to do” for visitors to Mykonos, which is the closest nearby island, and are popular excursions from Naxos and Paros as well.
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Agriolivadi Bay on Patmos, part of the Dodecanese island group. Patmos is one of five islands that the Globe & Mail says travellers “need to see.”
Good time to visit: During the past five years of economic turmoil, Greece has been subjected to extensive bad publicity in the world press, with a steady barrage of negative news stories focussing on strikes and riots and the massive social upheaval caused by high unemployment and painful austerity programs. It’s refreshing to see the tide changing, with major international media outlets now regularly publishing feature articles that recommend travelling to Greece instead of avoiding it.
One article in particular — Luring tourists back to Greece by Liz Alderman of The New York Times — has been republished in major newspapers in countries around the world. In that piece, published on May 23, Alderman notes that “travelers are returning in greater numbers this year, lured by discounts of up to 20 percent on hotels in major cities and on Greece’s stunning islands, as well as assurances — at least for now — that Greece won’t be ditching the euro and returning to the drachma after all.”
Writers at other high-profile newspapers have been filing their own reports explaining why the time is right to visit Greece, and recommending where travellers should go.
Here’s a roundup of several interesting travel reports I’ve discovered just in the past week alone:
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A pelican entertains tourists in the Kastro area of Mykonos Town
Bookings up: The 2013 travel season appears to have gotten off to a good start for Mykonos, one of the top tourist destinations in the Greek Islands.
While I was on Mykonos from May 13 to 18 during my annual Greek holiday, I spoke to dozens of hotel managers, restaurant staff, shop proprietors and other people involved in businesses that depend upon tourism. Virtually everyone told me there was more tourist traffic on the island this month compared to the same time last year, and all signs (so far, at least) suggest the rest of the travel season will be much busier than it was in 2012.
Regular readers will recall that, in my series of reports about my 8-day visit to Mykonos in May 2012, I frequently mentioned how unusually quiet the island had been, even on days when cruise ships called into port. Mykonos Town was practically empty of tourists most times I walked around, and lacked the typically vibrant energy, hustle and bustle that I had encountered on seven previous trips to the island.
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