Above is a brief video that I shot from the southern end of Plaka beach, near Orkos, during our May 22 bikeride along the west coast of Naxos. This and the six other short clips (below) accompany Part 3 of my trip report (posted above).
Orkos Bay
Orkos beach
Mikri Vigla beach and bay
Views from Kontos Taverna at Mikri Vigla beach
Kitesurfers at Mikri Vigla
Agia Anna beach, viewed from the pier at Agia Anna harbour
A windsurfer skims across St George’s Bay near Naxos Town
Bigger album: Just wanted to advise that more photos have been added to the Naxos May 20 2014 Flickr album that accompanies Part 2 of my holiday trip report, which I recently posted on the blog.
More than 90 additional photos have been uploaded to the album, which you can view by clicking here.
I’m currently putting Part 3 of the trip report together and hope to publish it later this week.
If you want to see more of Naxos in the meantime, click here for instant access to the Naxos photo collection on the MyGreeceTravelBlog Flickr page. The collection features thousands of pictures from our two Naxos holidays in 2013 as well as previous visits to the island, and also includes photos of the various hotels at which we have stayed.
Further information about Naxos is just a click away in one of my most widely-read posts: Our Top 15 reasons to visit Naxos
A view of Petra beach and bay, as seen from Kalikatsou Rock on Patmos island. Below is a view of the bay from the top of a cliff above the southwestern end of Petra beach. Although the long beach is comprised of stones rather than sand (see bottom picture), the waters of the bay are crystal-clear. Petra is just one among dozens of scenic beach and bay areas scattered along the Patmos coastline. Click on the photos to view full-size images of each.
View from a cliff near the western tip of Petra beach
Looking toward Tragonissi Island from the stone shore of Petra Bay
A chalkboard menu lists dinner specials at Chrisospilia restaurant
Missed opportunity: The colourful open-air dining terrace at Chrisospilia restaurant caught our attention while we were walking around Chora village shortly after arriving at Folegandros island several years ago. It was late afternoon and the restaurant wasn’t open at the time, but the chalkboard menu indicated that the evening dinner specials would include a variety of chicken, pork, lamb, pasta and risotto dishes, along with grilled shrimp and grilled octopus.
We meant to return for a meal, but Chrisospilia somehow slipped our minds while we were busy exploring the island, and we never made it there (surprisingly, we didn’t get back down the street where it’s located, even though we thought we had walked every lane in Chora at least twice.)
It wasn’t until we were reviewing our trip photos back home, and saw several pics of Chrisospilia, that we realized we had forgotten to drop by for dinner. We had delicious meals at other restaurants, but their dining areas weren’t as attractive as Chrisospilia’s. We’ll try to check it out if we ever return to Folegandros. It has received a series of excellent reviews this year on TripAdvisor.com, which currently ranks Chrisospilia as the #11 restaurant out of 44 on the island.
Scarlet and pink bougainvillea provide a colourful canopy for the open-air dining terrace at Chrisospilia restaurant
Side view of the Chrisospilia restaurant terrace
This video showing a Skiathos Town street flooded by yesterday’s thunderstorm was posted on YouTube by the tsak Bpam crêperie. It reminded me of television newsclips reporting on flooding from monsoons in southeast Asia. This wasn’t a scene I would expect to see on a Greek island in June!
Stormy interlude: I keep a small travel-size umbrella in my luggage just in case we encounter some rainy weather while travelling in Greece, and we have had to use it a few times. If we manage to schedule a trip to Skiathos in the near future, news about some wild weather on the island yesterday may make me consider packing some rubber boots, too.
Only two weeks ago, in my June 4 post Greek islands take spring weather woes in stride, I reported about thunderstorms that brought several days of heavy rain and strong wind to many parts of Greece at the beginning of this month.
This past Sunday afternoon, Skiathos got thoroughly drenched by a sudden deluge that dumped over an inch of rain on parts of the island in less than an hour.
Torrential rain, power cuts and street flooding reported
News about the latest bout of bad weather broke on the TripAdvisor.com Skiathos forum where SkiathosLover1, a TripAdvisor destination expert for the island, started a conversation thread entitled “Violent Storms … affecting the island this afternoon,” and described “torrential rain,” thunder and lightning, power dips, and “reports of flooding in Papadamatis street.” SkiathosLover1 also included a link to the YouTube video which I posted above.
Numerous people quickly posted replies expressing concern and hopes that all residents and visitors to the island were safe and minimally affected by the tempest.
This morning TA member ShaunWin chided them for “getting so worked up about yesterday’s storm.” It lasted only an hour and “was fun to watch,” he wrote, but “that was it. It’s glorious again today, with not a cloud in the sky.”
“If you’ve got friends or fans out here and are worrying about them: Don’t! They’ll be on the beach or on the beers today and not worrying about you!!” ShaunWin observed.
However, while the storm may have been fun for some to watch, SkiathosLover1 pointed out that it did cause considerable damage bringing down trees, and did frighten passengers returning to the island on tour boats.
A description of the storm’s highlights can be read a June 15 post on The Skiathan blog.
Nikos Paschalis posted this photo on Facebook, showing stormwater rushing down Papadamatis street in Skiathos Town during the late afternoon downpour.
The Amazing Mykonos, a aerial video production by Aslanis Films
Air time: I’m willing to bet that the first thing a lot of you thought, when you read the headline for this post, was: “Oh here he goes, droning on about Mykonos again!” Well, this time it’s the folks at Aslanis Films — a moving image production company — who are doing the actual droning. And I mean that quite literally.
This 1-minute clip, which was created as a promotional video for their cinematic production services, shows amazing aerial views of popular Mykonos attractions that the vast majority of visitors will only ever get to look at from sea or ground level — the Mykonos Town harbour and Old Port, the Delos island ferry boat pier, the Little Venice seafront and the iconic row of windmills on the Alefkandra hilltop. (The first five seconds of the clip shows the drone that carried the video camera into the air for the film shoot.)
Aslanis Films specializes in commercials, music videos and video editing, and is spending the summer on Mykonos to film Little Venice, Super Paradise beach and numerous other island locations for the Travel Channel. You can view screen shots from some of their video shoots on the Aslanis Films Facebook page.
Some of the mules used to transport tourists up and down hundreds of steps between the cruiseship tender dock and Fira, the main town on Santorini
Animal abuse: An international online petition is urging local authorities on Santorini to make significant improvements to the welfare and working conditions of dozens of mules and donkeys that are forced to repeatedly carry tourists up and down hundreds of steps on the island every day, often without adequate water, shade and rest.
The petition is the latest in a series of efforts The Donkey Sanctuary has undertaken during the past 8 years as part of an ongoing campaign to reduce and prevent abuse and cruelty toward donkeys and mules on Santorini, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Greece.
I described The Donkey Sanctuary’s earlier initiatives in my April 12 2013 post, Don’t ride the donkeys! Why tourists should avoid taking the mule ‘taxis’ on Santorini, which has since become the most-read report on my website. (Please click on the link to see the article and photos if you aren’t already aware of the Santorini donkey situation.)
Animals are denied access to shade, water & rest for long periods
The Donkey Sanctuary decided to launch the latest course of action after an independent report produced in 2013 “revealed that many of these animals are forced to carry overweight passengers and are denied access to shade, water and rest for hours at a time. Poor quality saddles and bridles are often used and safety guidelines are regularly ignored, placing tourists at risk of injury. “
“Over the past few years we have attempted to work with the town municipality to provide training and equipment for the taxi operators although unfortunately, the standards have not been maintained and the level of complaints has risen yet again,” The Sanctuary explains on its website.
The petition calls for a number of “urgent improvements” to the welfare of Santorini’s mule taxis, including provision of adequate shelter and shade, access to fresh water, predetermined weight limits for passengers, and regular veterinary and tack inspections, among others.
Names collected on the petition “will be presented to the mayor of Santorini as part of our campaign to improve standards for donkeys and mules working in the tourism industry,” The Sanctuary says.
A screen capture of The Donkey Sanctuary website post explaining reasons for its petition to prevent cruelty to mules and donkeys in Santorini
