Category: Greek Islands (Page 39 of 93)

Walls along a footpath on Sifnos

April 20, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

A footpath winds between tall stone walls in Artemonas village on Sifnos. We appreciated the walls while hiking because they offered some protection from the strong cool winds that buffeted the island for three full days during our visit in late September 2007. Sifnos has an extensive network of trails and footpaths that link villages and lead avid walkers and hikers to scores of scenic locations. Click here to access directions for nearly 50 different walk itineraries on Sifnos provided by the popular multilingual website Walking, hiking and trekking in Greece.

Take home a Mykonos ‘sugar cube’ house!

April 19, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

Wooden Mykonos houses handcrafted by artist Eugenia Triantopoulou are available at Triciclo Art Shop in Mykonos Town

Super souvenirs: Brilliant white “sugar cube” houses with blue doors and window shutters are often the first images that come to mind for many people when someone mentions travelling to Greece.

It’s no surprise, of course, since a substantial proportion of travel guides, posters and tour brochures for Greece feature photos of the cute whitewashed houses as well as white churches with gleaming blue domed roofs — even though that particular style of architecture is found primarily in the Cyclades islands (but also in some villages in the Dodecanese and in a few other parts of the country).

The sight of white cube-shaped buildings clinging to barren brown rock hillsides is one of the features that tourists enjoy most about Mykonos in particular, since it boasts an extensive array of traditional Cycladic architecture both in Mykonos Town (one of the prettiest villages in all of the Greek Islands) and elsewhere on the island.

Mykonos visitors can now take one of the cute “sugar cube” houses home with them as a souvenir. Local artist Eugenia Triantopoulou has created a collection of charming hand-made wooden houses which are available from Triciclo Art Shop in Mykonos Town.

Triciclo offers a variety of other hand-made gift items from a number of local artists. The shop is located a short walk behind the Mykonos Town Hall at 3 Voinovits Street, which is the lane that leads from one of the most popular restaurants on the island, Niko’s Taverna, to Skandinavian Bar, one of the most famous party clubs in all of Greece.

There’s more information and photos — as well as a map showing how to find the gallery — on the Triciclo Art Shop Facebook page.

Kokkari’s waterfront restaurant row

April 19, 2014 / admin / 2 Comments

Taverna signs compete for customers’ attention along the waterfront pedestrian promenade in Kokkari village on Samos island.

Another view of “restaurant row” from a position a bit farther along the strip

A view from across the bay of restaurants along part of the Kokkari waterfront

The tavernas have sheltered dining terraces either right next to the water or beside the narrow shore that extends along part of the harbourside

The tables offer scenic views of the harbour, in all directions …

… while some waterfront bars offer comfortable cushioned seats for customers to relax in while enjoying drinks and the Kokkari scenery

Louis Cruises adds Samos, Symi, Syros, Ios, Milos, Kos & Chios to Greek island destinations for 2014

April 18, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

I shot this photo of passengers an upper deck of the Louis Cristal as the ship (below) approached Mykonos for a port stop a couple years ago

New ports & themes: Louis Cruises has added seven new Greek islands to the roster of destinations travellers will be able to visit on tour itineraries being offered this year by the Cyprus-based cruise operator.

Louis Cruises has long offered popular 3- to 8-day tour packages that take travellers to Istanbul and Kusadasi in Turkey as well as to the Greek islands Mykonos, Santorini, Patmos, Rhodes and Crete.

For 2014, the company has expanded its roster of destinations to include two more ports in Turkey — Bodrum and Cesme — along with seven new Greek island stops: Syros, Ios and Milos in the Cyclades island group, Kos and Symi in the Dodecanese, and Samos and Chios in the East Aegean.

New themed cruises available

Besides the new ports of call, Louis will be offering 60 specially-themed cruises with itineraries based on: gastronomy, wine & spirits; culture & heritage; history & archaeology; and music.

Representatives of the cruise line told a recent press conference in Athens that bookings for its cruises are up significantly so far this year — over 20% higher than in 2013. The company is expecting to carry 820,000 passengers during 2014 on its ships the Cristal, Olympia and Aura.

Full details about itinerary themes and destinations, as well as the ships, are available on the Louis Cruises website.

Passengers enjoy the cruises & island itineraries

Although we haven’t yet taken a Louis cruise ourselves, we have spoken to dozens of people who have. Almost all of our flights to and from Greece have been on Air Transat, whose sister company, Transat Holidays, offers Louis cruises in many of its organized island hopping vacation packages. Dozens of the passengers on each of our flights have taken the cruises, and their feedback about the experience has been overwhelmingly positive, with everyone reporting that they fully enjoyed the ships and the islands they visited.

And while we were in Athens last October, we spoke with two friends who had just taken a Louis Cruise that included stops at Kusadasi, Patmos, Crete and Santorini. Both are very well-travelled in Greece, and raved about how much they enjoyed their cruise. They told us their rooms were comfortable, the crew were friendly and helpful, and the food was delicious. They highly recommended the cruise and, in fact, urged us to take one on a future trip to Greece. It’s a suggestion we will seriously consider in light of their comments.

This photo of a waterfront scene on Symi is from The Symi Visitor website, an online guide that’s packed with pictures and travel information about the island

Along the scenic clifftop path on Santorini

April 18, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

A man passes Anita’s Villas as walks the clifftop footpath through Imerovigli village on Santorini. The path extends from Fira to Oia and the walk between the two villages takes from two to four hours. The cliff walk offers superlative views of spectacular scenery the entire way, and is one of our favourite ways to enjoy Santorini. We would describe the hike from Fira to Oia as a “must do” activity for visitors to the island. Click the image to view a larger photo.

In photos: Two weeks on Naxos

April 17, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

Approaching Filoti, one of more than two dozen fascinating mountain villages on Naxos. This image is one of just 600 photos from the Two Weeks on Naxos album on the MyGreeceTravelBlog Flickr page. Click here to open the album and view the photo highlights from our Naxos vacation last October.

Hotels we’ve stayed at: the Fildisi on Astypalea

April 17, 2014 / admin / 1 Comment

Fildisi Boutique Hotel is a 10-suite property on a quiet “away from it all” hillside location overlooking the Livadi valley area of Astypalea island

The hotel boasts superb views of scenic Chora village 1.5 kilometers away

Suite stay: Seeing some old vacation photos that friends posted online today inspired me to sort through pictures of hotels we have stayed at in Greece and start a “Throwback Thursday” feature to profile some of those places from time to time.

To kick things off, here’s a look at the Fildisi Boutique Hotel, which is situated on a hillside near the popular Livadi resort and residential area of Astypalea in the Dodecanese island group.

The Fildisi is a small luxury property with only 10 units — 3 suites, 3 lofts, 2 spa-apartments and 2 double rooms, each named after precious gems (Emerald, Opal, Ruby, Sapphire, etc.). The hotel has a seaview swimming pool, along with an indoor breakfast room / lounge / bar area. A basic breakfast is provided each morning.

Exceptional panoramic views

The hotel faces northeast and has an enviable vantage point from its hillside location, with sweeping views of much of the Livadi region as well as the island’s scenic Chora village, which is perched on the crest of a mountain over 1.5 kilometers away.

We stayed at the Fildisi in May 2009 on an island-hopping holiday that took us from Astypalea to Amorgos, Naxos and Mykonos. I discovered the Fildisi while doing online research about Astypalea, and must admit I chose the hotel mainly because of its great views.

Click on the image to see a full-size photo showing the panoramic view we enjoyed from the two private verandas for the Fildisi’s Pearl suite.

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Corfu’s picturesque Paleokastritsa beach

April 15, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

When freezing rain, snow and icy cold temperatures returned this week after our agonizingly brief interlude of pleasant spring weather, this lovely photo of a gorgeous beach at Paleokastritsa on Corfu instantly calmed me down and took my mind off the wintry conditions outside. The photograph was shot by Flickr member Marite2007 and appears in her Corfu Island photo set on Flickr. Click here to view her Flickr page, which includes beautiful photo sets for a variety of charming Greek islands I haven’t yet had a chance to visit myself, including Karpathos, Lipsi, Kimilos, Kalymnos, Poros, Agistri, Paxos, Antipaxos, Kythnos, Serifos, Leros and Symi. And if you’d like more information about Paleokastritsa,
check out the Paleokastritsa Bliss website.