A goat and a tree on a rocky hillside high above the sea on Patmos
Category: Dodecanese islands (page 15 of 16)
The view from our balcony at the Andromeda hotel in Kalami, Samos
One big miss, two great hits: In my earlier posts about Greek Island views, I recounted how we were “on a roll” in terms of picking places to stay where we could see impressive scenery without leaving the hotel premises. Whether it was from our room’s windows or balcony, or the hotel’s dining area or pool terrace, we always seemed to luck out with amazing views of sea and island scenery and sometimes glorious sunsets, too. Well, that run of good views came to a screeching halt at our very first hotel destination in 2010.
Kos was our first island stop in May 2010, and we stayed at Saint Constantin Hotel in Kos Town. When I booked our room, I knew it wouldn’t have a sea view, but I kept hoping there would be something interesting to see from our balcony or somewhere on the hotel grounds. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way, and we wound up with our worst island views ever. Thankfully, good scenery was less than a 10-minute walk away. (The hotel itself was all right, by the way.)
Patmos was our second island, and the Hotel Golden Sun at Grikos Bay more than made up for the lousy views at Kos Town. I was already impressed by the hotel’s views while still sitting in the taxi that drove us to there from the ferry port, and when I walked onto our balcony I was totally blown away by the awesome scenery. We overlooked the full Grikos valley and bay area, and could even see the coast of Turkey. Mountains obscured sunset views, but Tragonissi Island and the mountains surrounding the bay took on a gorgeous golden glow in the late afternoon/early evening sun, and we got to see rainbows above nearby Petra Bay as a storm system moved over the region.
Samos was our final island-hopping destination, and good views continued at both our hotels there. We spent our first night in the island’s largest town, Vathi (a.k.a. Samos Town), staying at the Samos Hotel (which now also calls itself Samos City Hotel). It was situated on Vathi’s main street — a wide waterfront road that curls around the foot of Vathi Bay. Our second floor room overlooked the bay, with great views of the Vathi ferry port and main street, while the hotel’s huge rooftop pool and bar terrace had tremendous views of the entire town and bay. The next day we moved to the Andromeda Hotel in Kalami — a resort region in the scenic “suburbs” of Vathi, a 20-minute walk away. The breathtaking balcony views of Vathi Bay rivalled the Grikos Bay scenery we had enjoyed on Patmos, but came with an added bonus: direct sunset views.
Though Kos was a complete write-off for views, Patmos and Samos clearly ranked among the best we have experienced. So we can’t complain about Kos; as the saying goes, “two out of three ain’t bad.” Below are photos of our views (and lack thereof) from the Saint Constantin Hotel on Kos, the Hotel Golden Sun on Patmos, the Samos Hotel in Vathi, and the Andromeda Hotel in Kalami, Samos. (Unfortunately, the Andromeda doesn’t yet have a website.) To view some short videos of the views from the Hotel Golden Sun, see my May 12 2011 post. There’s a clip of the view from the Andromeda Hotel at the bottom of this post.
Our balcony at the Saint Constantin Hotel in Kos Town looked directly onto the balcony for a room at the hotel next door. Thankfully, our balcony doors had dark-tinted glass to provide a bit of privacy
If we peered over the balcony and looked to the right, we could see the street
This was our view, looking to the left
The hotel’s breakfast area had a view of the street …
… as well as the ground-level swimming pool and bar terrace
This is what the street outside the hotel looked like
At the Hotel Golden Sun on Patmos, our balcony had this fabulous view of Grikos Bay, Tragonissi Island (right) and the coast of Turkey
Our balcony, on the Hotel Golden Sun’s upper level, gave us a panoramic view of the entire Grikos valley and bay area
To the left our balcony overlooked the small harbour on Grikos Bay
To the right, our balcony overlooked Tragonissi Island and Kalikatsou Rock
The outdoor breakfast terrace had terrific views of Grikos Bay …
… as well as the surrounding hillsides of the valley above the bay …
… where construction of new luxury hotels and villas is underway (happily, we weren’t disturbed by any noise from the work activity there, or from lower in the valley where workers were finishing the new 5-star Patmos Aktis Suites & Spa.)
In the main town of Vathi on Samos, the rooftop terrace at the Samos Hotel offers tremendous views of the city, the port, and Vathi Bay
Our balcony overlooked the Vathi ferry pier (plus other balconies on our floor)
Here’s a daytime view of the ferry port from our balcony …
… and a night view of houses on the hillsides above Vathi Bay
To our left, we could look down the main waterfront street in Vathi
At the Andromeda Hotel in the Kalami area of Samos, our room had a narrow, small balcony with a really, really big view
To the immediate left of our balcony were some luxury rental villas on the hillside
Also to the left were views of Vathi Bay
This is the first view we saw each morning when we walked onto the balcony
We rode bikes to the scenic seaside village of Kokkari on the far side of the bay
To the right we had views of houses on the Kalami hillside above Vathi Bay …
… as well as other bay-view balconies on our floor. (I know it doesn’t look very private, but hotel guests tended to watch the scenery and sunsets, rather than their neighbours, whenever they sat on their balconies.)
There was a long, narrow terrace overlooking the bay next to the Andromeda’s breakfast room; if we got up early enough, we could eat outside (those tables were popular, and almost always occupied).
During breakfast, we watched tour boats travelling to and from Kusadasi, Turkey
The Andromeda had a huge swimming pool with great views of Vathi Bay
At the bottom of the hill, the hotel had a private seaside sunbathing area …
… with great views of Vathi Bay and the surrounding hillsides
Each evening, almost everyone at the Andromeda Hotel relaxed on their balcony with a bottle of wine while watching the gorgeous sunsets
This was one of the sunset views we enjoyed watching from our balcony …
… and this was another — we saw a beautiful sunset every night
Enjoying the view from our private terrace at Fildisi Boutique Hotel on Astipalea
Return visits: Our 2009 Greece holiday took us to four islands, and on two of those we made return visits to hotels we had stayed at once before. That’s something we rarely do, since we generally prefer to experience new hotel surroundings whenever we return to a destination we’ve already seen. But we had particularly liked both of these hotels, so we were anxious to stay there again.
Astipalea was our first stop on this particular island hopping holiday, and we stayed at Fildisi Boutique Hotel near Livadi, a peaceful farming valley below the island’s main town, Chora. It was early in the season and the Fildisi had only a handful of guests; in fact, the owner, Elias, was still getting the swimming pool, terrace and some of the other rooms ready for the summer. When Elias picked us up at the Astipalea airport to drive us to the hotel, he said he was upgrading us to the “VIP Suite.” We had no idea what that meant until we arrived and discovered it was a large studio-size room with an enormous two-level private terrace. The spacious room was great, but the jaw-dropping views from the huge deck stole the show. (To be honest, I don’t think there is a bad view from anywhere on the Fildisi property.)
Amorgos was island destination number two, and we chose Yperia Hotel in Egali, one of two port towns on the island. We were embarrassed when the Yperia’s owner, Antonis, picked us up at the port when we arrived shortly before 7 in the morning on a gargantuan Blue Star Ferry that had left Astiplea at 5.30 with fewer than two dozen passengers. The drive to the Yperia took less than one minute — we could easily have walked there with our suitcases, which we were barely able to squeeze beside us into Antonis’s tiny sedan. (Mind you, there is no sign on the hotel, so we could just as easily have walked right past the place and missed it.) Antonis assigned us a second-floor room right above the hotel reception and breakfast area. It had two balconies that overlooked the hotel swimming pool and gave us views of the Egali ferry pier as well as sunsets over Naxos island. The room also had a window facing the mountainside behind the hotel; it gave us views of Potamos, a picturesque village where had three memorable sunset dinners at the wonderful Kamara Cafe (which, we later learned, is owned and operated by Antonis’s cousin, Christoforos).
Naxos was our third island, and we returned to the Lianos Village hotel which we had enjoyed in 2006.
Mykonos was our final stop, and Hotel Tagoo was our hotel choice there for the second year in a row.
Below are photos of our views at Fildisi Boutique Hotel, Yperia Hotel, Lianos Village and Hotel Tagoo.
Every room at the Fildisi has this view of Astipalea’s Chora and Kastro (castle)
The private terrace for our “VIP Suite” at the Fildisi Hotel was unbelievably bigger than the hotel room itself.
The top level of the terrace was furnished with this giant canopy shading a teak dining table and chairs, while the lower level had two lounge chairs for sunbathing.
The enormous terrace offered an incredible panoramic view of the Livadi farming valley, Chora, the Aegean Sea, and a small beach below the hotel
Part of the Livadi valley viewed from our terrace at the Fildisi hotel
Chora, the coastline and a small beach viewed from our private terrace
I never got tired of the view of Chora and the sea
At the Yperia Hotel in Amorgos, our second-floor room had two balconies. One of them can be seen here, above the hotel entrance and pool terrace
We could see Egali bay through the door to our balcony
This photo, taken from one of our room’s two balconies, shows part of the sea view that we enjoyed from the second balcony
I enjoyed relaxing on the balcony with an ice cold bottle of Mythos beer or glass of wine after a long day of hiking on Amorgos
The balcony was a great spot to watch fishing boats return with their catch …
… and to watch Greek ferry ships come and go from the pier at Egali port. This was the same big Blue Star ferry that brought us to Amorgos from Astipalea
This was our balcony view of the Express Skopelitis ferry arriving at Egali one evening. We rode the Skopelitis to Naxos a few days later; this online album has photos of our journey through the Small Cyclades en route to Naxos.
Our balcony also had this view toward the mouth of Egali Bay
A window in our room faced homes and hotels on the hillside behind the Yperia …
… but also gave us views of Potamos village higher up the mountain
Best of all were the views from our balcony of sunsets over Naxos
On Naxos, we could view the sea from inside our hotel room at Lianos Village
Our balcony was a nice spot to relax with a glass of wine while enjoying extensive views down the southwest coast of Naxos
From our balcony we could see Agios Prokopios beach, Agia Anna, beach, Plaka beach, and mountains in the distance behind them
Palm fronds and colourful flowering plants beside our balcony
Balcony view toward Agios Prokopios beach at the bottom of the hillside
Another balcony view toward Agios Prokopios beach
The Lianos Village swimming pool terrace had terrific views of the southwest Naxos coast and other nearby islands
Swimming pool terrace view of the Agios Prokopios resort area of Naxos
Another view from the hotel swimming pool terrace
Another pool terrace view of the island’s southwest coast
This was our balcony view during our second stay at Hotel Tagoo on Mykonos
Another view from our balcony, looking toward the left
The Hotel Tagoo pool terrace is a great place to relax in the afternoon sun…
… or watch cruise ships and ferries come and go from nearby Tourlos port
Hotel Tagoo pool deck views in the morning, looking toward the left …
… and looking toward the right
A gorgeous Mykonos sunset reflects in Hotel Tagoo’s reception room windows
On our very first morning in the Greek Islands back in 2004, we were awestruck by this view from our balcony at the Myconian Ambassador Hotel on Mykonos
Va-va-va-view: On our first-ever trip to Greece, we arrived at Mykonos after nightfall and didn’t have a clue what kind of view we would get from our balcony at the Myconian Ambassador Hotel. The hotel employee who showed us to our room opened the balcony doors and assured us we would have beautiful sightlines of the sea and Platis Gialos beach, but most of the area was pitch black and we couldn’t see much more than lights from nearby hotels and houses. It also was surprisingly quiet, though whenever the light breeze blew in our direction, we could faintly hear Greek music being played in the tavernas lining the beach a few hundred meters below us.
When we woke up the next morning and pulled open the balcony doors, our jaws dropped as we got our first glimpse of Platis Gialos in daylight. The view was absolutely gorgeous! Spread out below were dozens of the island’s signature white cube buildings, the golden-brown sandy beach, and the vivid deep blues and tempting turquoise waters of the legendary Aegean Sea.
On all of our Greek Island holidays since then, we’ve always tried to get a hotel room with a good sea view. If the room itself doesn’t offer one, we’re content if there is at least a decent sea view from a public area somewhere else on the hotel property — be it a breakfast room, swimming pool terrace, or other place where we can sit, relax and gaze at the scenery. At home, all we see from our windows and balcony are highrise glass, steel and concrete towers. When we travel on holidays, we cherish views of the sea. It’s even better if we can see some islands and mountains, too. Bonus points if we can watch a spectacular sunset. But a Greek holiday just wouldn’t feel the same if we couldn’t see the Aegean.
I posted additional photos of the views from the Myconian Ambassador Hotel in my June 3 2011 post. Below are photos showing the various different views we have had from some of the other hotels we stayed at during Greek Island holidays since. Some of the views are terrific, and others considerably less so, but with only one or two exceptions, we always got to see the sea without having to leave our hotels.
The view from our balcony at the Rodos Palladium at Kallithea beach on Rhodes
Evening view from our balcony at the Rodos Palladium in 2004
Our Rodos Palladium balcony view of a full moon above Kallithea Bay in 2004
The balcony to our room at the Candia Maris Resort & Spa in Amoudara, Crete gave us this view of sea and mountains in 2004…
… as well as this view of the resort’s indoor swimming pool…
… plus this view of other balconies on our side of this particular hotel building
That’s me on our sea-view terrace at the Santorini Palace Hotel on Santorini in 2004. This isn’t the breathtaking caldera view for which Santorini is renowned (this is the less scenic east side of the island), but it looked great to us. And if we did want to see the spectacular caldera view, all we had to do was exit the hotel’s main entrance and walk 100 meters up a short slope — and there it was.
We couldn’t see a famous Santorini sunset from our terrace at the Santorini Palace Hotel, but we could see the sunset glowing on clouds above Imerovigli village
A view of Elia Bay on Mykonos from the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas in 2005
Part of the sea view from our balcony at the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas
More of the sea view from our balcony at the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas
Houses and rental accommodation on the steep hillside rising to the left of our balcony at the Myconian Imperial Resort & Villas
Our bathroom window gave us a view of more hotel rooms higher up the hillside
In 2005, we enjoyed views of Naxos Town and Agios Georgios Bay from the Naxos Beach II hotel in the Stelida district of Naxos
Another view toward Naxos Town from the Naxos Beach II hotel
Our bedroom at Naxos Beach II had doors that opened onto a stone-paved terrace offering this view toward Naxos Town
Another view from the terrace outside our bedroom at the Naxos Beach II
At the Yria Hotel on Paros in 2005, our room had a large ground-level terrace
This was the view if we looked to the left while sitting on the terrace…
…while, unfortunately, this was the view to the right — overlooking an unattractive overflow parking area
We could catch a slight glimpse of the sea from the Yria’s swimming pool terrace…
…and also see a small section of Paraspora beach, which was just a five-minute walk down the road…
… but the Yria Hotel’s main attraction was its enormous swimming pool. It looked fantastic, but the chilly water was murky from suntan oil
In 2005, we loved this marvellous caldera view from our private terrace at the Phenix Hotel in the cliffside village of Imerovigli on Santorini
We didn’t even have to leave our hotel room to enjoy the amazing view…
…but we preferred to savour the stunning scenery from our sun-bathed terrace
Looking to the left, we had this view of other hotels perched perilously on the steep cliffside high above the sea in Imerovigli
Looking down, we could see the caldera and cruise ships below the town of Fira
And from an upper level of the hotel, we enjoyed this view of the volcano island (Nea Kameni) and the gorgeous swimming pool at the Honeymoon Petra Villas, a beautiful multi-level hotel clinging to the cliffside next door to the Phenix
This site is secured by Comodo Secure
Feedspot award recipient
This site is secured by Comodo Secure