Category: Cyclades islands

Solitude & scenery at Stelida beach on Naxos

A view of Stelida beach, also known as Hohlakas beach (right), and St George’s Bay (upper left) on Naxos

This sweeping view from a slope on Stelida mountain takes in Hohlakas beach (right) and Naxos Town on the far side of St George’s Bay

Naxos port quay view of 151-meter-tall Stelida mountain. Construction of the Dream View Hotel is visible halfway up the mountainside.

This Google satellite image shows Hohlakas beach (circled) and the Stelida district of Naxos on the southwest side of St George’s Bay, directly opposite Naxos Town. The island’s popular Agios Prokopios beach stands out at lower left.

Scruffy and secluded: Greece is abundant in beaches, and many Greek islands are justifiably world-famous for their beautiful beaches and stunning coastal scenery.

One of them is Naxos, which boasts a variety of excellent beaches that cater to specific traveller tastes and needs. For instance, families enjoy St George’s beach next to Naxos Town as well as Agia Anna on the island’s southwest coast. Windsurfers flock to Mikri Vigla and to St George’s, which also attracts scores of sailboat and catamaran enthusiasts. The long sandy strand at Agios Prokopios and the grassy dunes at Plaka are popular with sunbathers — especially travellers who like to tan au naturel. And people who prefer secluded quiet coves or isolated coastal swimming spots can find those in spades.

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March 1, 2013
Greece holiday pic of the day

A sensational sunset view from a window on the cocktail bar terrace at Hotel Rochari in Mykonos Town. Click on the image to view the photo in a larger format.

February 28, 2013
Amorgos is a hiker’s paradise

You will feel like you’re on top of the world while hiking on Amorgos. This particular trail leads from Egali to Chora along what’s called “the spine of Amorgos”

Start points for many of the hiking routes on Amorgos are well-marked by signs. This one even shows the approximate walking times to the destinations indicated.

Wonderful walks: If you like to see vacation destinations on foot rather than through the windows of a rental car or tour bus, you can’t beat the Greek Islands. Most islands, especially those in the Cyclades, are ideal for walking and hiking. Some, like Sifnos and Amorgos, boast extensive networks of footpaths and donkey trails that take visitors to scenic parts of the island that can’t be reached by vehicles.

Amorgos is one of our favourite destinations for hiking.

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February 25, 2013
Greece holiday pic of the day

This sign near the north (Remezzo area) entrance to the Mykonos Town center points the way to the island’s most famous beaches

February 25, 2013
Greek holiday pic of the day

A yummy Greek salad and an ice-cold bottle of Mythos beer

Favourite snack: When I was grocery shopping one day last week, I got a sudden craving for a crisp Greek salad — our favourite lunchtime “snack” and dinnertime starter when we’re in Greece. So I picked up some feta, cucumber, olives, green peppers, tomatoes and a red onion. The salad I assembled back home looked appetizing enough, but was a huge disappointment to eat. The vegetables were crunchy but bitter (the onion actually gave me severe heartburn), while the tomatoes were tasteless and had the texture of soggy cardboard. The feta felt almost spongy, and had a sharp, slightly sour flavour, while the olives also seemed spongy, and tasted bitter and salty. Major letdown!

I should have known better — the taste and texture of our vegetables, even at the best of times, is never even remotely comparable to their flavour-packed counterparts in Greece. And now that we’re heading into winter, our vegetables will be even more dreadful. So no more Greek salads until next spring. With luck, we’ll make it back to Greece at that time … and if we do, you can be certain we’ll enjoy an authentic, tasty Greek salad with nearly every meal.

Until then, I’ll try to satisfy my cravings by pretending I’m back at Taverna Glafkos in Naoussa, on Paros, enjoying the delicious Greek salad pictured above that I enjoyed for lunch one day last May.

November 15, 2012
Cool pools: Santa Maria Village hotel on Milos

A quiet moment at the Santa Maria Village hotel swimming pool

September swims: For our fourth trip to Greece, in 2007, we decided to travel during the second half of September instead of taking our holiday in late May or early June as we usually do. We figured that, after a long hot summer, the sea would be comfortably warm and so would hotel swimming pools. At least, that’s what seasoned travellers had told us to expect, and that’s what I kept reading in the TripAdvisor.com forums.

But when we got to the first hotel of our island-hopping trip that September — the Santa Maria Village at the port town of Adamas, on Milos — we were shocked to discover that the swimming pool water was ice cold. Other guests who said they had been expecting to do a lot of swimming were also taken aback by the water temperature.

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November 12, 2012
Warming up with some Naxos beach memories

Looking across the brilliant turquoise sea as waves softly break against the sand at Agios Prokopios beach on Naxos

Feeling the chill: Clouds. Wind. Rain. That pretty much sums up the dreary, depressing weather we’ve been experiencing here in Toronto since late October, when Hurricane Sandy started moving out of the Caribbean on its way to wallop the USA’s eastern seaboard. We were supposed to see a mix of sun and clouds on Sunday, Monday and again today, but the sunshine didn’t last for more than a few minutes. So you can imagine how envious I felt this morning when a friend in Athens bragged about being on her way to the beach because it was a balmy 29 degrees (Celsius).

At the time, I was sorting through photos from our visits to Naxos in 2005 and 2006, looking at pictures of some of the island’s beautiful beaches. Just out of curiosity, I checked the weather for Naxos. The island wasn’t getting the same blast of heat as Athens, but the temperature was still a summery 24 C. Meanwhile, we were shivering with a high of only 2 C.

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November 6, 2012
Greece holiday pic of the day

Hotels, houses and churches cling to the cliffside in Imerovigli village above Skaros Rock, left, on Santorini. Click on the photo to view a larger image.

October 24, 2012