Tag: swimming pool (page 1 of 2)

Where we could have cooled off during this week’s heat wave

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Tolo beach IMG_3496

The beautiful golden sand seafront at Tolo stretches for approximately one kilometer from Psili Ammos beach (seen here) to a harbour barely visible in the center-top area of this photo

 

Extreme temps: We’re never happy after we return home from one of our Greek holidays, as we did three days ago — we always wish we were still in Greece. But this time we’re actually a bit relieved that we’re not there — we simply could not have handled the heat wave currently sweeping across the country.

Sunshine and temperatures hitting the low 30s (Celsius) hindered some of our walking and sightseeing in Nafplio, Monemvasia, Tolo and Hydra on several days of our vacation from May 30 to June 16, but since we left Greece on Thursday temperatures have soared even higher, approaching and even exceeding an absolutely sweltering 40 degrees in many places, particularly on the mainland.

 

 

On Saturday, for instance, the temperature reached 43.4 at Sparta, which we had found hot when it was in the low 30s during the day we spent there. As I write this post today, it’s 37 in Nafplio, where a few 30-degree days forced us to limit our activities during the first week of June. And temperatures are forecast to remain scorching hot for several more days. If we were still in Greece, we would either be hiding inside our air-conditioned hotel rooms, or swimming as much as possible.

Fortunately there were plenty of excellent places to take a dip in the sea at most of the destinations we visited. Click on the link below to turn to page 2 and see photos of the great swimming spots we discovered near Epidaurus, Hydra, Monemvasia, Nafplio and Tolo.

 

Hydronetta swimming spot on Hydra

Bathers cool off in the gorgeous turquoise waters at Hydronetta, a popular coastal swimming spot on Hydra island

 

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Cool pools: Santa Maria Village hotel on Milos

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Santa Maria village hotel

A quiet moment at the Santa Maria Village hotel swimming pool

 

September swims: For our fourth trip to Greece, in 2007, we decided to travel during the second half of September instead of taking our holiday in late May or early June as we usually do. We figured that, after a long hot summer, the sea would be comfortably warm and so would hotel swimming pools. At least, that’s what seasoned travellers had told us to expect, and that’s what I kept reading in the TripAdvisor.com forums.

But when we got to the first hotel of our island-hopping trip that September — the Santa Maria Village at the port town of Adamas, on Milos — we were shocked to discover that the swimming pool water was ice cold. Other guests who said they had been expecting to do a lot of swimming were also taken aback by the water temperature.

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Top 6 memories of my Mykonos holiday in 2012 #1: A fabulous fourth stay at Hotel Tagoo

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Hotel Tagoo Mykonos

A rainbow arcs above the Hotel Tagoo swimming pool and bar on May 18 2012

 

Holiday home away from home: In my five previous “Mykonos memories” posts, I  have recounted how the scenery, weather, beaches, restaurants and the charming labyrinthine streets of Mykonos Town were highlights of my 2012 visit to the island in May. However, I know this would not have been my best-ever trip to Mykonos if I had not stayed at Hotel Tagoo.

This was not just the fourth consecutive time I stayed there but also my longest visit so far — 8 days. And it was an amazing experience.

I was travelling by myself (my partner couldn’t come along because of work commitments), and before going I had some worries that I might get bored or lonely being on my own. But there was no chance of boredom or loneliness at Hotel Tagoo, thanks to the exceptional friendliness of the hotel management and staff as well as many of the guests staying there — interesting, fun and personable people from England, Ireland, Canada, the USA, Australia, Sweden, France, Spain, Brazil, Singapore and several other countries in southeast Asia.

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Swimming laps & lounging at the Yria Hotel pool

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Yria Hotel Paros

Paros’s Yria Hotel has a beautiful big pool that’s perfect for swimming laps …

 

Yria Hotel Paros

… plus a comfy poolside terrace that’s perfect for lounging and relaxing

 

Dreamy setting: Our only visit to Paros, so far, was back in June 2005, but I still recall how relaxed I got chilling out on the beautiful swimming pool terrace at the Yria Hotel near Parasporos beach.

I remember getting a drink from the bar and plunking myself down in a big wicker armchair near the pool, where I quickly drifted off into daydreams while watching the thin beige drapes in the sheltered poolside lounge billow in the soft breeze blowing off the nearby sea.

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Cool pools: Fab views of three Mykonos beaches from the pools at Petasos Beach Resort & Spa

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Petasos Beach Resort & Spa Mykonos

The hotel restaurant building, plus rows of seaview lounge chairs and umbrellas, reflect in the almost-smooth-as-glass water of the main swimming pool at the Petasos Beach Resort and Spa at Platis Gialos beach on Mykonos

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The Naxos Imperial Resort’s Figure 8-shaped swimming pool

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Naxos Imperial Resort & Spa swimming pool

This pic from the Naxos Imperial Resort & Spa website shows the Figure 8 shape of the hotel’s swimming pool above Agios Prokopios beach

 

Swim in circles: One of the big changes we noticed on Naxos during our May 2009 visit was a brand-new resort just a few steps down the road from the Lianos Village Hotel, where we have enjoyed staying on our last two Naxos holidays.

We could see that finishing touches were still being applied to the five-star Naxos Imperial Resort & Spa, which had been built during the winter of 2008-2009. But the large luxury resort (it has a main building with restaurants, bars and spa facilities, plus six separate wings with single, double, triple and quadruple hotel rooms) didn’t appear to have any guests at the time. At least, there were none that we could see.

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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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Cool pools: The Coco beach club pool & bar above infamous Super Paradise beach on Mykonos

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Coco beach club Super Paradise Mykonos

Coco Beach Club‘s pool overlooks Super Paradise beach and bay

 

Beach view: Ask someone if they can name a “party beach” on Mykonos, and there’s a good chance they’ll mention Super Paradise. It’s not surprising, since Super Paradise has been one of the island’s most popular beaches for decades. But many people still think Super Paradise is a hedonistic destination primarily for gays and nudists, along with a smaller crowd of open-minded straights. Though it was the top Mykonos “gay” beach from the 1970s through the 1990s, times have changed and most of the gay scene has moved farther down the coast to Elia beach. Nowadays, Super Paradise draws a mainly straight crowd, but still sees its fair share of gay visitors — as well as beachgoers who love to frolic in the sun and sea au naturel.

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