Category: Cyclades islands (Page 55 of 66)

Mylopotas, the marvellous big golden sand beach on Ios

September 21, 2011 / / 0 Comments
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Mylopotas beach on Ios island

 The soft golden sand and wonderful turquoise water at Mylopotas beach

 

Golden arc: What a great beach! For years, I heard and read that Mylopotas regularly ranks as one of the top beaches in all the Greek Islands. In May I found out why, when I finally got to see it for myself.  My first glimpse of Mylopotas was from our hotel — the Hermes Ios — high up one of the mountains that ring Mylopotas bay, beach and valley. The beach’s broad golden arc of sand and the bay’s appealing clear turquoise water looked impressive enough from a distance. Up close, they looked amazing.

 

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Serene & secluded Kolitsani beach on Ios

September 5, 2011 / / 0 Comments
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Kolitsani beach on Ios island

Overlooking Kolitsani beach and bay from a nearby mountainside

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Scene of tranquillity: Beach lovers would probably consider the accommodations where we stayed on Ios in May — the Hermes Hotel at Agios Ioannis — to be ideally situated. To the left of the hotel, and visible from its breakfast room and bar, is the island’s most famous beach: Mylopotas, a gorgeous curved strand of golden sand. About a 20-minute hike down the mountain valley to the right is Kolitsani, a  secluded small beach accessible only on foot or by sea.

Kolitsani beach spans the foot of a long, narrow bay with shallow turquoise water. There is a large white private villa and some 12-meter cliffs on one side of the bay, and a steep hillside covered with wildflowers, herbs and low scrub bushes on the other. The beach itself is divided into two separate sections by a rock outcropping and giant boulder that jut into the sea. One side has soft brown sand, while the other is covered in large stones and rocks.

 

Kolitsani beach trail on Ios

Sign at the top of the trail that winds down the mountain to Kolitsani beach

 

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Cool pools: Splash and dive through the ancient Portara monument at the Naxos Beach II Hotel

September 1, 2011 / / 0 Comments
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Naxos Beach II hotel swimming pool

The bottom of the oval swimming pool at the Naxos Beach II Hotel is decorated with a large illustration of the Portara, the island’s most famous monument

 

Good swims: Our all-time favourite swimming pool in the Greek Islands is the only one in which we actually got to  spend quite a bit of time splashing around without feeling like we were going to freeze. As I’ve mentioned before, we usually find the water in hotel swimming pools too chilly for swimming when we travel to Greece in the spring. We’ve found some pools to be too cold to our liking even in late September, too! But we didn’t have any complaints about water temperature in 2005 when we stayed at the Naxos Beach II Hotel during our first visit to Naxos.

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Favourite tavernas: Drakos at Mylopotas for relaxed dining with beach, bay & sunset views

August 30, 2011 / / 0 Comments
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Drakos Taverna at Mylopotas beach on Ios

Drakos Taverna at Mylopotas beach on Ios during sunset on May 23 2011

 

Seaside drinks & dining: We found our favourite taverna on Ios thanks to advice from a fellow Canadian traveller, Cathy, who visits the island regularly. Last March, I asked if she could recommend any reasonably-priced seaside restaurants that offered scenic views as well as tasty traditional Greek cuisine. At the top of Cathy’s list was Drakos Taverna at the far end of Mylopotas beach. “It’s a really good authentic restaurant,” she said.

We were at Mylopotas on May 20 when I started feeling peckish for a light midafternoon snack. I recalled that Cathy had suggested Drakos taverna, so that’s where we headed. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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