Tag: driving in Greece

Bumpy rides to blissful bays and beaches on Karpathos

April 11, 2015 / / 4 Comments
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 Click on the arrow to take a ride to Kato Lako on Karpathos

 

My fascination with Karpathos continues — I keep spending some of my spare time viewing photos and watching videos of the island. I won’t get to see Karpathos on my trip to Greece this spring, but it never hurts to research places to visit on future vacations, right?

I thought I’d share several Karpathos videoclips that I enjoyed watching today. All four were posted online by YouTube member 365Roman, and I found them interesting because they show what it’s like to drive to some of the island’s sights and attractions, including gorgeous bays and beaches as well as charming mountain and seaside villages.

As all the clips confirm, some of the most breathtaking views and scenery in the Greek Islands are off the main tourist path and take some effort to reach. But it’s worth it — and it’s all part of the fun of exploring Greece.

So sit back, relax and enjoy your tours on Karpathos while someone else does the driving!

 

The ride to Forokli beach

 

Driving around the northern part of Karpathos

 

Touring the island’s southern regions

 

Goats and sheep on the road and other perils of driving in the Greek Islands

October 18, 2011 / / 2 Comments
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a sheep on Amorgos

A sheep stands on a bend on the main Amorgos highway near Chora. We also passed many goats on the roads while driving around the island …

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goats on a road in Amorgos

… including these three, who were in a herd of several dozen goats ambling along a stretch of highway between Egali and Chora on Amorgos

 

Highway hazards: One of the features we love best about the Greek Islands is the beautiful beach, sea, mountain and village scenery, and our favourite way to see it is on foot. Some islands, including Amorgos, Folegandros, Paros and Sifnos, boast excellent walking and hiking routes, with networks of well-established footpaths and donkey trails criss-crossing scenic mountain and valley terrain. Santorini has some fantastic footpaths, too, including the famous clifftop trail between Fira and Oia that presents spectacular caldera views every step of the way. And on some islands, including Kos, Milos, Naxos, Patmos and Samos, mountain bike rentals have offered a fun fresh-air option for getting around and seeing the sights.

When it’s not practical or feasible to hike or bike to the places we want to see, we usually rely on local buses — a cheap and easy way to get around islands like Mykonos and Santorini. But since we typically travel in low season, bus service can be infrequent or unreliable, particularly on some of the smaller islands that aren’t as popular with tourists. So we have occasionally rented cars to tour around islands and see places we couldn’t reach by bus.

 

We don’t enjoy driving while on vacation, though, because we like to check out the scenery and take photos — something that’s difficult for a passenger to do (and impossible for the driver) when you’re speeding down an island road or highway. So you could count on just one hand the number of times we have rented cars in Greece (only once on each of Amorgos, Crete, Mykonos and Naxos).

But when we have used rental vehicles to get around, we have quickly discovered some typical road hazards and dangers that first-time drivers in Greece should be aware of before getting behind the wheel and heading off on a road trip.

 

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