Ursula’s Travels in Sunny Greece

Ursy is back on track !

Dear readers and travelers

it has been a while since my last post….. almost 4 long years …..

During this prolonged silence indeed I had a look at my blog – every time feeling a little pain in my heart. I knew that there were readers waiting for my precious advice … and I was feeling ashamed of myself, for not finding the energies to fuel my blog, to keep my hobby alive and respond to my readers……

The reason of my silence

Last 4 years have been a real challenge for me and my family.

Unfortunately the economic crisis in Greece hit my family as well, leaving me unemployed, in a country of more than 25% of unemployment rate – more than double in the Eurozone’s average – with dramatic salary cut reduction for my family and a child to grow.

I had to focus all my energies to find a new work, keep a new work in a very challenging world, for my family, for my daughter, for myself

So we decided to leave Greece, our home, our family and our friends, looking for an opportunity in Great Britain, a country we always only heard about, looking for a new start, looking for a future.

Looking back it has been the best decision we made. It has not been easy, disarming sometimes … overall very challenging. However this experience made me stronger, more open minded and mostly flexible.

We now live in London that after almost 4 years I can call home and my daughter can call herself a “londoner” – I am super proud of her amazing accent :)

Feeling happy again

After 4 years I feel finally happy and I have the energy to dedicate myself to my travel blog again, to talk with my readers – I am back on track !

Watch out for this space !

During these 4 years I have been travelling to Greece in Summer, to visit friends and family and I am ready to write about my trips in my next posts.

I have plenty of tips to give on my recent trips to Paros – an island that i did really love! and last Ios, and island that I recently visited that really surprised me.

To my readers that asked me for advice – with no reply from my side – my sincere apology. I hope you had wonderful holidays in Greece and it would be great to hear from you, again.

So watch our for this blog !

Ursy is back ! with lots of interesting tips and nice pictures to share (also 360)

ciao !

Finally Skopelos … in Summer !!

Finally we did it my dear readers ! Finally we visited Skopelos in Summer Time, for Summer Holidays !

As you may have read in my blog I already visited this lovely Island “the Island of MAMMA MIA !” a couple of times …….

I went there in October, end of Season and everything was closed ….. I came back for Easter and still everything was closed but the weather was way better and finally I came back in June for my fantastic fairytale MammaMia! Wedding – but spent almost all the time to get ready for THE Event !

And now … after 3 years we decided to go back to Skopelos and to enjoy it in Summer !!!!!

Coming back to Skopelos was like living a deja vue! We remembered what we did, places we visited and people we met …. I must admit that many people of the island still remembered us – as the “couple that got married in our island” and told us that we are also from Skopelos, since we decided to marry there ….. they made us feel at home …. and thinking to move there ….. maybe in the future ……

Also doing shopping was amazing …. things I did not buy in previous trips finally I did it this time – and mostly I refer to very expensive hand made pottery that really have not found some where else ……

So this time this holiday was very relaxing, nothing to really discover since we already visited Skopelos many times ….. it was like being at home ………

So the question could be “which are the differences between Skopelos in high Season and Skopelos in low Season?” As you might guess the huge difference is mostly the beach life ! since now we could really enjoy it! The beauty of the island never changed in these years …… and also restaurants that used to be fantastic – are still fantastic.

For this reason this post will be dedicated to the beaches.

Beaches

Panormos is by far the best beach for family with kids ! Long and very nice white pebble beach is the one that best suits for family with kids ! the water is almost always very calm and kids can enjoy their swim without any problem. This is the beach where the famous and nice hotel Adrina http://www.adrina.gr/ is located and just now opened another nice hotel with rooms on the beach (super tiny rooms but nice) http://www.bluesuiteshotel-skopelos.com/en/accommodation/

Melia – for my personal opinion is the best of the Island (but go at the end, left side). The colour of the water is simply fantastic ! you can see Skiathos from there and … there is a beach bar with amazing caipirinha and music !

Castani (Mamma Mia! Beach) is very beautiful, well beautiful and organized beach but personally too overcrowded ….. too many (and too close) umbrellas and lot of tourists coming with the touristic boats to invade the beach for a couple of hours …..

Limnonari is the only sandy beach of the Island, with crystal clear and quite water

Stafylos – one of my favorites!

After visiting many Greek Islands … and coming back to Skopelos for the 4th Time we left thinking about maybe buying a house in this island …. maybe in the future …. It is definitively a place where I wish I could spend more time …..

Back to Greek Maldives – Koufonisia

My dear readers,
yes finally I did it ! I managed to go back again to Greek Maldives Island – the beautiful cosy and tiny island of Koufonisia – in small Cyclades Islands.
For more info concerning the island and how to get there please have a look at my previous post

http://www.sunnygreece.it/koufonisia/

Let’s go to my trip

Last year finally we decided to spend our holidays in Naxos and I could not miss the opportunity to go again
to Koufonisia since due to its location it is really convenient to combine it with a vacation to Naxos.

This trip was different from the previous one … that I did years ago ….This time we went there with our little daughter Carmen that was only 5 months old ….. and I had lot of expectations since I have been saying and stressing to my husband that that was an amazing island – it looked like Maldives – and that there I ate the best ever souvlakia in Greece, ever :)

Looking for an accommodation was not easy – not because it was over booked but since we went there mid September most of the hotels were closed or were about to close therefore I could not book the Aeolos Hotel that I really liked during my first trip but ….

Since I have a good memory I remembered a nice structure, very characteristic that I read in TripAdvisor – I did a little research and decided to call Mr Antonis!

This was already a first funny trip planning experience: imagine calling an Artist, only greek speaking – with no email and with a non marketing approach – well … that was Mr. Antonis! http://www.koufonisia-diakopes.gr/en/antonis.htm – Kostas was a little bit disappointed by his behavior but i really wanted to go THERE ! therefore I took the phone and made finally my reservation – and I did well.

Our arrival at Koufonisia was as expected – spectacular, fabulous, amazing green water! The little port was exactly as it used to be – nothing changed since my last visit !
I immediately identified where Antonis’ studios where and we got there with our car.
Mr Antonis was very kind and the people working in the village very polite ! they also allowed me to use the washing machine on a daily basis to wash Carmen’s towels and all her clothes. Our house “Giagias” was very nice – also Kostas was positively impressed by the structure.

Since we could not reach the other beaches on foot with Carmen we always went to Pori beach- with our car. There is a road that brings you there from the Chora – but of course I took my time to visit the island and take the amazing pics you will find below.

Comparing to my previous visit I found the island almost as it used to be – that is good ! that means that despite the huge tourism that is coming in the last years the landscape, the new buildings perfectly match with the island and nothing horrible has been done (like unfortunately in Elafonissos)

Carmen had her first swims in that amazing sea -she really enjoyed it! we spent lot of time in the water taking pics and video of her :)

I have lot of nice memories of our last vacation in Koufonisia and It still remains one of my favorite island – not only in Greece, in general.

IMPORTANT – I was told from friends of mine that last year in August Koufonisia was a real mess ! full of people everywhere – that was even hard to find where to put your towel / umbrella on the beach therefore it is strongly recommended to plan your holidays in Koufonisia in June / July / September – if possible avoid August !

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: Koufonisia Port

: Koufonisia Port

: Koufonisia Chora

: Koufonisia small port

: Koufonisia Port Beach

: Koufonisia Finikas Beach

: Koufonisia Beach

: Koufonisia Pori Beach

: Koufonisia Beach

Kea

My dear readers,
this post is dedicated to the charming island of Kea, located only a few miles away from Lavrio still known only by the Locals.

We decided to spend a long weekend in order to celebrate our birthdays and our 3rd Wedding Anniversary. First choice was Agistri – the Island where we first met that I really love …. but then ….I thought that I wanted to see something new …therefore we finally decided to spend our romantic weekend in Kea.

Some info about Kea – ελλ. ΚΕΑ
Kea belongs to the Cyclades islands, located opposite to Lavrio (close you Cape Sounio) from where you take the Boat.
From the Airport you can find a Bus connection every hour, it is about 1 hour drive from the airport

http://www.ktelattikis.gr/

Let’s go to my trip
The first impression I had about this island was that it really seemed to be very chic and … (unfortunately for our pockets) expensive too ….

While looking for accommodations I found amazing hotels that looked like Oia in Santorini, with amazing architecture, fantastic view and most of them with swimming pools – perfect destination for lovers, very romantic ….. still not perfect for a family with a small toddler, willing to discover the world and run anyway – wherever danger is ! and pools, low balconies with amazing view, stairs etc … are not recommended

So … with little of disappointment, we decided not to book those amazing and romantic hotels and better find a (nice) house in the countryside, far from chaos and dangers :).

For the first time I booked a nice “Spitaki” a small House with www.airbnb.com – that I found good in terms of offers but extremely expensive for the services provided. 28 euros fee for booking 2 nights I find it a little bit expensive ….

When we arrived in the nice port of Kea, Korissia also called Livadi – we were welcome by kids that were waiting for other students coming from the Land with a nice ” Welcome to our Island” message – what a pity I did not have my camera to take a picture of them …… it was so sweet ….. and it really touched me ….

In Korissia there are nice taverna, coffees and mostly AB Supermarket – best to stop there and buy water and whatever you need for your stay :)

Vourkari is the nice village and small port you can find a few km away from Korissia – It is a fishing village with nice taverna with tables on the beach, shops for shopping – the perfect place for having a nice and relaxing fish meal (if you can afford it ….. )

Ioulida: the Chora of Kea is located on top of the hill, about 10 minutes drive from Korissia. It is a traditional Village, with pedestrian center, nice shops and lot of steps – still we could move up and visit it with our pram. In order to visit it you need to leave your car at the entrance and … enjoy the nice walk and outstanding view of the islands surrounding Kea

When asking about “nice beaches to visit” and places to see our guest owner suggested us to visit Koundouros – a place where Athens billionaire live (yes! despite of the economic crisis there are still billionaire in Greece :) ) . I must admit that this place is very nice, with amazing luxury villas that are hardly visible since are built with stones of the same colours of the earth. The beach is very nice, soft and sandy with crystal blue waters. The place is perfectly organized with umbrellas, tavernas and restaurant – perfect for a stop even with kids. I was told that in Summer it becomes a super place for clubbing by the sea … (next life ! when I will be reach :) )

Nice beaches
Otzia – very nice and protected bay, with sandy beach, chrystal waters and an amazing baby playground and taverna
Gialiskari – for a weekend and if you do not rent a car and you stay at the port I think this is the best solution! Amazing colours of the water, nice sandy beach and a taverna on the beach for enjoying a nice coffee
Koundouros – very nice, organized – tres chic!

Spathi – this is an amazing beach that you can reach only with off road car – there are about 5 km of dirty road to do in order to reach it. The Beach is organized and is the perfect place for people that are looking for silence over all :). http://www.spathi.gr/ – I think it could be a delicious location for a Wedding Reception :)

We spent 3 amazing days despite the weather was not very good! We traveled around the Island, visited the Chora, enjoyed loukoumades and amazing views to all surrounding islands.
I strongly recommend this island for a long weekend – romantic weekend or family weekend :) – but be aware about the costs – it is pretty expensive and also eating outside is not cheap and with no reasons …. renting a house and cooking is the perfect solutions :)

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