Category: Greek Islands

  • Serene & secluded Kolitsani beach on Ios

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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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  • Greece holiday pic of the day

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    Temple of Apollo columns at the Asklepieion

    Replica columns from the Temple of Apollo ruins at the Asklepieion on Kos

     

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

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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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  • Greece holiday pic of the day

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    steps at a hotel in Oia on Santorini

    It almost looks like you could literally step right into the deep blue sea from this steep staircase at a cliffside hotel in the village of Oia on Santorini

     

     

  • Greece holiday pic of the day

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    Potamos village on Patmos

    Enormous clouds soar above Potamos, a picturesque village on a mountainside high above the port town of Egali on Amorgos

     

     

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

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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

  • Greece holiday pic of the day

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    Mylopotas beach Ios

    Overlooking Mylopotas beach and bay from a hillside on Ios

     

     

  • Our windowless cave-style Santorini hotel room with its low ‘hobbit’ door

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    Cliffside Suites Santorini Room 119

    Room 119 at Grotto Villas/Cliff Side Suites in Firostefani had no window …

     

    Grotto Villas Cliffside Suites Suite 119

    … and the door was only 5 feet 5 inches tall. Don’t forget to duck!

     

    Head knocker: Santorini is world-renowned for spectacular scenery, and its magnificent caldera views drew us back to the island three consecutive years in a row. We just couldn’t get enough of the breathtaking landscape, colourful clifftop villages and endless views of the gorgeous blue Aegean Sea. So imagine our reaction when we arrived at the Grotto Villas/Cliff Side Suites hotel in Firostefani to discover that our assigned room — #119 — didn’t even have a window!

    That happened back in 2006, but I still remember our surprise and disappointment like it were yesterday. It would be bad enough to be assigned a windowless hotel room anywhere when you’re travelling on vacation. But on Santorini of all islands? There ought to be a law against it! To add insult to injury, the room door had a low frame, and I kept banging the top of my head on it whenever I went in and out. I’m only 5’7, and until I arrived at Grotto Villas/Cliff Side Suites I never expected that I would ever be too tall to walk into a hotel room while standing upright!

     

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