Ursula’s Travels in Sunny Greece

Back again to ….Elafonissos

Enjoy the video of my trip to Elafonissos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMy5O918WOc

Dear Reader, Elafonissos !
It’s middle of August … and I am so depressed because my holidays are over :) Still I must admit that I cannot complain as I really had a great Summer ! Where I visited many beautiful places and there are much more to come :)

The current post is about Elafonissos – that I visited 3 years ago for the first time … and that this year we decided to go back … to the beautiful and outstanding beach of Simos (or Sarakinikos as some people say)

Please have a look at this post in order to have all the information about the island and how to get there
http://www.sunnygreece.it/2010/elafonissos/

Let’s go to my trip
As anticipated this Summer I wanted to visit something new and some places that I already visited and that I really loved.
Since we planned to visit the very far away island of Kythira, we decided to come back to Elafonissos and to Monemvasia since those places are on the way to Kythira …..

After having spent 9 fabulous days in Kythira – at 10 am we were ready to catch the first ferry to go to the Mainland – destination Elafonissos. We didn’t want to miss any moment of Elafonissos fantastic sea !

From the port of Neapolis to Elafonissos is only about 20′ with the car – including the transfer with the ferry !

As it happened 3 years ago …. we jumped into the ferry and we enjoyed the short but beautiful trip to Elafonissos – hoping to see a sea turtle …… (I was told that sometimes it happened :) )

Unfortunately as arrived ….. we had the first let’s say … delusion…. the studios Magnatis was not really as I was expecting it to be …. pretty small ….. super tiny kitchen with minimal kitchenware (2 dishes, 2 glasses, 2 forks etc .. ) and the bed was even a little bit damaged (and extremely uncomfortable as we discovered later). The view from there was outstanding as in the pics I found in internet … still I think a studios should be bigger than a room ….

But ok – we said …. we are not here for staying in the hotel …. but to enjoy the island ! and we ran to Simos !

You cannot imagine how much Elafonissos changed in the last 3 years …. we immediately noticed it when we arrived in Simos and we saw a constant and infinite raws of umbrellas …. that were covering pretty the whole huge beach.. I think that this is the first and only greek island where I saw so many “private” umbrellas – since usually most of the beaches are free – and whenever there are umbrellas it’s just for a small place ……

What a delusion ! parking on payment (1 out of the two) ….. hotels built everywhere …. on Simos and on Panagitsa – but the most disappointing thing is that I think it is becoming a destination of low profile tourism … that will exploit the island in a short time …. therefore all benefits from tourism will be only for the next years ….. and not for a long period ….

Our short stay of 4 days in Elafonissos became immediately a “long” stay … and we regretted not to have spent a couple of more days in Kythira.…

Still I must admit that the beaches are fantastic and I wish at least they will remain as they are now !

Food was ok in the small town – I strongly recommend to go to “Ta nisia tis panagias” a delicious taverna, after Panagitsa beach – on top of the hill. The food is very good and from there you have a fantastic view too

Φιλάκια

ps if it happens to you to go and find a beautiful black cocker – female – please give her some food and best give her a house … a family ……. we were told that she has been abandoned last year … she survived Winter since locals took care of her …. but she was living in the island …….

I was looking for her in the last 2 days ….. I may have found her a family in Athens but I have not seen her …… I wish somebody took her :)

Kythira

Dear readers, Kythira !
I just came back from my Summer Holidays with fresh good memories, nice pictures and of course willing to share with you my experience …….

This Summer I planned my vacation again in Peloponnese, again because I wanted to visit a couple of places that I really liked – Elafonissos and Monemvasia – and of course add a new one …..

This post is about the new destination that I decided to visit this year…. the island of Kythira

Some info about Kythira – ελλ. Κύθηρα

Kythira (Kythera) is a Greek Island that despite it is located right at the end of the foot of Peloponnese belongs to the Ionian group

It really looks more like to be a Cyclades island (at least the East Coast) that is dry and also the Chora has delicious white washed houses… typical of Cyclades

Kythira is known also to be the island of the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite – that emerged first here and then in Cyprus

In Kythira there is the airport with daily connections with Athens or you can drive until Neapolis – about 5 hours from Athens – and then take a ferry for about 1 hour and get to the nice island of Kythira. For booking the tickets you should contact +30 273 40 24 004 at Neaopli port

For sure you will need a car to move in the island in order to visit it – best a 4×4! And be prepared to drive a lot …. average distance is about 15km …… so good luck !

Let’s go to my trip

Our first Summer destination of this year was the very far away island of Kythira .…… there is even a Song that talks about it as it is considered a very far and last destination for all greeks …… imagine … after Kythira the next stop is Crete ! and in the middle.. only the Aegean sea…..

Enjoy it :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqKA5Az2ILk

We woke up very early in order to get to the only second boat of the day (and the last one) .. at 2pm from Neapolis …. we packed our luggage and we left Athens at 7am …. ready for our exciting holidays !!

Since we arrived pretty on time (there was no traffic at all) we decided to have our first stop at Pounda (in front of Elafonissos Island) and then we went to Neapolis for taking the boat tickets and got into the ferry ….. our Holidays was really about to begin …..

Only after about an hour we arrived at the port of Kythira – Diakofti – a charming place that really looked like to me as a very cozy fish town, with nice beaches and the colour of the sea was outstanding ….. between emerald and turquoise ….

We took our Map and pointed to Palaeopolis – near Avlemonas – that was where our studios was located …..

First good surprise … was that finally … the Palaeopoli Villas http://www.kythera.gr/en/wheretostay/papapelekanos.php gave us a whole house – to spitaki – instead of giving us a room there … imagine .. we had a huge house just for us .. on top of the hill with view sea and a huge veranda where we spent nights … drinking ouzo and watching the stars and the milky way …. so romantic …… and so quite ….. and even the baker was delivering us fresh sweets (bougatsa) and bread every day at about 10am – that was absolutely perfect ! + all daily presents (fresh fruits and vegetables) the owner of to spitaki was giving us every single day we spent there …….

What we immediately understood was that we really need a satellite navigator ! Kythira is amazing big (like Malta) and has lots of roads that at least at the beginning you need some indications in order not to get lost … and save some time and money for the fuel …. that nowadays is a pretty big issue in Greece …. From that you can tell that it does not look like the Cyclades island, where usually there are only a few roads that connects the main centers …. but Kythira is different … and we were told that there were about 60 small villages in the island …..

Kythira has lots of things to do and it was really difficult to pick up 10 beaches to visit out of the 40 … and also what else to do … it needed a strong planning … that of course I carefully prepared in order to get as much as possible from our visit

The first thing we did was to visit the Chora and the Castle. We went for dinner in the Chora and the day after we had a coffe there just before visiting the very nice Kastro.

Kythira Chora
Comparing to other islands I visited the Chora of Kythira is not the main center of the island … it’s is a beautiful characteristic town but I guess in Winter nobody is living there. We discovered that the main life of the island is on the north, at Potamos (a very anonymous town) . There were nice shops but we didn’t find the common nice tavernas to enjoy a delicious dinner ….. We went to Zorba’s to have a good souvlaki thought.

The Kastro – in the morning we visited the nice Venetian Kastro that I think is the best monument it worth visiting in Kythira. From there you have an amazing view to Kapsali and you could dominate the Aegean, Ionian see … and in clear days you can even see Crete ….

After those places we had a very strict agenda to follow … beaches … beaches and again beaches and of course also the so famous Water Falls of Kythira …..

Neraida Waterfalls – close to the village of Milopotamos. We decided to visit this charming place .. imagine .. in one Greek island to find like a green tropical forest – full of butterflies and not only with rivers … but with water falls …… Of course we took lot of pics and then proceeded our walk to see also the watermills…. Our walk was not so easy … we had to cross some rivers .. walk a lot … sometimes with our shoes in the water …. but finally we arrived to see a fantastic Water fall just for us ! (at least for 5 minutes since then other 3 people came …. ) – still nothing comparing to the chaos of the Neraida – and for the first time in my life … I had a bath under the waterfall … such a beautiful experience ….. !!!!

After that amazing experience we were ready to visit the beaches we thought to be the more interesting :)

My personal top list of beaches in Kythira

First of all I need to warn you – apart from Diakofti Beach all the other are with pebbles mixed sometimes with some dark sand … still amazing !!!

Fyri Ammos Beach (in the South) – close to Kalamos beach – that is my favorite beach ! Very long pebble beach with turquoise water. Pretty difficult to reach with about 10 minutes of dirty road ….. You can find a Taverna for refreshments and some umbrellas ! not bad :)

Kaladi – they say it is the best beach of the island. In order to get there you need to do 130 steps ! (I counted them).

Melidoni Beach – pretty difficult to reach with (they say) 5 km of dirty road (they seems 30km ….. ) but very nice indeed ! You can find refreshments there and umbrellas too

Chalkos is one of the most famous beach of the island – close to Kalamos and Kythira Chora

Langada – huge beach after Lorenzo’s beach. It is close to the touristic town of Agia Pelagia

Kapsali Beach – nice for a stop while waiting for taking to boat to go to Chytra – you can also rent a pedalo to visit the other 2 small beaches that are in that bay

I wanted to visit the beautiful beach of Kiriakoulou but we couldn’t find the path …. so we hoped to go there with the boat .. while doing the tour to Chytra but we didn’t stop there with my strong disappointment ….

Visiting the cave of Chytra with Glass Bottom Boat http://www.kythera.gr/en/whattodo/glass_bottom.php – this is for sure an experience to do .. still maybe it will be a little bit disappointing at the end …. actually they say that you will also visit other beaches … that actually you go and see them for 1 minute .. and then you leave … with no stops ….
Still you should go and visit that Cave in the middle of the sea – it’s like the grotta blue in Capri – BUT be aware – YOU NEED TO SWIM AND DO SNORKELING! and spend about 30′ in the water that could be a little chilly. The boat at some point stops and then you need to enter the cave and see them – swimming. I strongly suggest you to visit them late in the afternoon – when the sun goes down and you could see the amazing colours of the water…

Where to eat in Kythira
Filio at Kalamos ΦΙΛΙΩ http://www.kythera.gr/en/whattodo/filio.php – close to Chalkos, Kythira town – we went there 3 times it is simply delicious. Do not miss the tiganopsomo ! their fried bread …..
Maria at Logothikiana – fish taverna. The best ever in the island and she is so Delicious and friendly ! she won’t stop bringing you food and home made biscuits !!
Manolis at Diakofti – we really had a fesh nice dinner … sitting by the sea …..

Towns to visit
Milopotamos – is it a very charming town that you will find when visiting the water falls. I strongly suggest you to stop there- have lunch / dinner or simply a coffee
Mitata – the balcony of Kythira. From there you have a fantastic view of the island .. and the main square is a perfect place for having a coffee and take some pictures. Also do not forget to go to Meli Gala for shopping ! they are famous for their cheese and try the red wine too !!! Also visit the old house where they used to do oil – they also sell it and it is really good !!

Avlemonas – actually this is the location that I would strongly suggest you to look for an accommodation. Very pretty – characteristic and perfect if you have children for swimming

Kapsali – nice place for a stop, have dinner and on your way back do not forget to stop at KouKos http://www.kythera.gr/whattodo/koukos.php for a nice drink!

I hope you liked this post but mostly I hope I convinced you to visit this amazing island that is still so virgin and non touristic :)

φιλάκια
ciao !

Good to know – there are only two pharmacies in the all island – one and the bigger one in Potamos and the other one in the center of the island at Karvounades. ciao !

Back to Romantic Santorini …ΘΗΡΑ

Have a look at my video on YouTube – enjoy my trip to Santorini

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kizkjk5Vzdc&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share

My dear readers,
this year for the 3rd time I went to outstanding and romantic Santorini …….

Concerning the info about the island and what to see please have a look at the post of Santorini what I wrote some time ago
http://www.sunnygreece.it/2010/santorini/

We decided to go to Santorini for a very special occasion – it was our 1st year anniversary …. and we decided to celebrate it in the most ever romantic greek island ever – Santorini.

Let’s go to my trip
As stated before the 26th of June we celebrated our first year of marriage. Honestly our intention was to go back to Skopelos – where 1 year ago we got married … and this time have some relaxing time and enjoy this beautiful island as our guests did ….. but my daddy came to visit us a month ago and we went to Sifnos and we already had there a very long weekend ….. so no more holidays left and …. we switched for Santorini instead :) NOT BAD I should say :)

All the previous times I booked the hotel in Oia, this time since I was reading everywhere that Imerovigli was the best ever place – we decided to book there the hotel and we looked for a very romantic solution.

Kostas found an hotel that was ranked #1 in Trip Advisor – Villa Vallais http://www.vallais-santorini.com/ and booked there …. private Jacuzzi .. huge balcony for enjoying the sunset …. cozy room – everything was supposed to be perfect :).

At 7am we left Athens with an Olympic flight and in 50′ we landed in Santorini ... I was really excited !!! We rented a car and we moved to Imerovigli :)

The hotel was a nice surprise – first hotel on top of the hill – with amazing view to the Caldera – I never saw the Caldera so close …… it was impressive !
We really had a huge balcony, with umbrella, table to see the sunset … in the evening ……..The only “disappointing thing” is that breakfast was not included as a service … what a pity having such a nice balcony and had to move somewhere else for having your breakfast :( (of course you could also prepare it if you wanted since the room was equipped with a small kitchen .. but you do not go to Santorini and Imerovigli and cook :) )

After we left our things we decided to start our day …. first with a delicious breakfast with amazing view to the Caldera in a bar close by and then we walked till we got to Fira (about 5km) – facing the caldera with amazing view to hotels – houses … it was really fantastic ! I also saw a very nice shop where I bought a present for my friend Angela – and finally I was visiting the nice Caldera and the Hot Springs ! I always wanted to do it but never had the time ….

This tour is very nice and I suggest everybody to do it – just some advices:

wear proper shoes to visit the caldera – once you left the small port you need to walk up for about 30 minutes up and the path is not very convenient if you wear havaianas – you may hurt yourself
bring some water
for the hot springs you should be able to swim since the boat stops at about 100 mt from them (10 mt deep) and it takes you a little while to get where the water is little warmer and you can actually touch

After this exhausted day we came to our hotel, with some red wine and enjoyed the sunset … from our balcony …. for our great surprise a Sax was playing while waiting for the sun to set …. so romantic. …. actually I even cried… at the end …. really touching …..

The day after we decided to take our time – unfortunately we packed our stuff but started our day full of relax, sea and good food and …surprise ! I was meeting the Trip Advisor Expert of Santorini !! majinbu77 !!

First we had an amazing and full of calories breakfast in OIA ……..

Oia … what can I say … it was even more beautiful than I remembered ….. it is really like a post card ! Do you know that the only place in Greece where there are no electric cables in the air is in OIA ?? finally pictures with no ugly huge black cables!! We also went to see Kima Villas http://www.kimavilla.com/– I wanted to show it to Kostas ! the guy (as always) was very nice and showed us one room ….. and told us that next year they will completer renovate it :)

After that we went to the Red Beach for a relaxing day …. then went to eat to a fish taverna strongly suggested by majinbu77 ! (very nice food and huge portions at Remezzo tel 228 60 82 706 with view to Caldera and pretty cheap) and second and last sunset for this year at Santo Wines http://www.santowines.gr/index.php?lang=en where I finally met Stefano – my guru for Santorini

The day was pretty over … we took the last pics .. went to Kamari for a quick walk and then back to the airport … but what a nice weekend …… I wish I could move to Santorini .. maybe … one day ….. May be I will fulfill my dream and become a wedding planner and organize perfect Weddings in Greece …. for people like me that want a fairy tale Wedding …..

Following some pics … believe …. it has been hard to choose ….. I took 400 pics in 2 days! Santorini is really fantastic!!

Ciao !
φιλάκια

ps I know … maybe you are wondering …. better Oia or Imerovigli …. well .. hard to say … from Imerovigli you have a more fantastic view to the caldera …. but Oia is more repaired from the wind .. so if you want be sure about enjoining your Jacuzzi or private swimming pool or simply your balcony it is more easier to do it in OIA – Imerovigli is like Fira, pretty exposed to the winds ….

ciao !

Sifnos

Dear readers .. i just came from 3 days of holidays in the very beautiful island of Sifnos …….

Some info about Sifnos – ελλ. Σίφνος

Sifnos is the island of Apollo and it belongs to the Western Cycladic islands, close to Serifos, Kimolos and Antiparos.

There is no airport in the island, therefore the only way to get to Sifnos is to come with the boat (about 3 hours from Piraeus with the speedy boat).

They say there are as many churches in the island as the days of the year :)

The island is not very big – every location is about 10-15km from Apollonia, the capital of the island. In a couple of days you may have seen all of it. The West side and the north are pretty arid – Kamares is the most arid part of the island while on the easter side of Sifnos is full of olives, almond trees with lot of hillsides and valleys and a delicious smell of liquorice overall :)

Sifnos is famous for its night life and for the pottery. They say also for the food but honestly I cannot confirm it … apart from the loukoumades :)

What to see

The island is pretty small – in about 2/3 days you may visit most of the beaches and the main towns of the island – Kamares, Apollonia and Kastro.

Kamares is the port of the island and it’s about 6 km far away from Apollonia. There are nice shops and cafés while you are waiting for the boat

Apollonia – the amazing Chora of Apollonia is one of the most beautiful I saw. Actually all the island is very beautiful with all white washed and all renovated typical Cycladic houses. The main night life of the island is in Apollonia, with many nice restaurants and clubs. Lot of nice touristic shops (thought pretty expensive). In Apollonia you can have the most delicious “loukoumades” at 3 blond angels !!! don’t miss them :)

Kastro is a very beautiful medieval village – build on top of the cliff with amazing view to the Aegean sea and to Antiparos island. It’s about 5’ with the car from Apollonia. As Apollonia the main part is pedestrian therefore you need to leave the car and have a fantastic walk in this venetial town, with its fantastic mansions and 2 stores houses. In Kastro you may still find the old venetian walls of the fortress

Vathy Beach is about 10 km from Apollonia. It’s a very nice and cozy fishing village with a nice long beach (still not amazing waters) and the nice white monastery of Taxiarchis (Archangel). At Vathy you can find the very famous Elies SPA hotel with one of the biggest swimming pool you can find in Greece. There are nice tavernas, with tables on the beach – nice pottery shops and charming environment close to the monastery.

Faros is a cozy little fishing village, close to the famous church of Chrissopigi. It’s a nice bay, with sandy beach and nice ouzeries. Perfect place for a relaxing time :)

Platis Yalos Beach is the biggest beach of the island with golden and sparkling sand. It offers lot of facilities and you can also find free umbrellas J Waters are crystalline still not amazing (my personal opinion).

Heronissos is a small sandy beach located in the north of the island – about 15 km from Apollonia. The harbor is delicious, the water outstanding and here you can find the best tavernas ever !

Apokoftos Beach is located by Chrissopigi monastery. It’s a nice bay with sandy beach and nice tavernas.

Chrissopigi (golden fountain) is one of the most famous monastery in Greece. It’s located on a rock, connected to the mainland with a small bridge. The view of it is breathtaking, the place outstanding and it does not surprise me that it is one of the most famous place for Weddings and Baptism in Greece.

Let’s go to my trip

First of all I must say a HUGE thank you to our friend Kostas that came to our house to look after Pepe! As I already pointed out it is still quite difficult to travel with our pet friends in Greece :(

Secondly I must say THANK YOU to my friends Giannis and his wife Eleni that provided us with lot of info about the island, tips, what to see and what to do !

My daddy – after 1 year ! – decided to come back to Greece … and I spotted this island for his relaxing long weekend. Not too far from Athens and still very characteristic. Moreover my daddy is very young and adores night life -and Sifnos is very famous for his clubs and night life in general :)

Booked the hotels 2 months in advance ! and honestly I had serious problems to find an hotel since the policy of the island is to book rooms for at least 3 nights ….. and we were only staying for 2 nights …. booked the boat 2 months in advance … we were ready for our long weekend!

After a nice evening at my favorite restaurant in Athens and a small stop in Athens Casino (we had to, for my daddy … I hate these places …… ) at 7.30 am we were already on our boat – destination …. Sifnos !!!

The first impression was very positive – Kamares looked very nice :) – with a nice beach with umbrellas, nice shops and cafes :) . In about 10’ we arrived at our hotel – a very nice surprise since it was pretty cheap comparing to the average costs of the island, located in a perfect location – facing Kastro – with very nice rooms ! http://www.agnanti-sifnos.gr/

The first thing we did was to visit the nice Apollonia where I took the amazing pics you can find here below :) We had a nice walk there, booked the strongly suggested restaurant for the evening (usually overbooked) and then we left for Vathy for our first swim in Sifnos.

I must admit that Vathy and honestly all the beaches in Sifnos have been pretty a delusion to me … I mean clean waters but I was expecting to find the beaches of Mykonos, or the very close Paros or Naxos …. but it was not like that ….. Anyway we had lot of fun and my daddy spent hours in the water – that was my first objective.

During the night we went to Apollonia that honestly was very charming … with all its tavernas, clubs and nice shops of jewels, pottery and very expensive dresses :) Still the first dinner in the island in the very famous restaurant Odos Oneiron was a huge delusion and honestly pretty disappointing …. they not only forgot to bring us what we ordered (my daddy had been waiting for his vegetables that finally never came but have been charged) but even included in the bill things that we never ordered … like extra wine and extra beer …. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g189434-d1065154-r113353199-Odos_Oneiron-Sifnos_Cyclades.html They were very busy with a table close to ours where very famous VIPs were eating (people working in greek TV stations) and simply forgot about us …… Anyway we left this restaurant for our night life and we had delicious cocktails in Apollonia.

The day after has been dedicated to visit Platis Gialos beach, the very famous Chrissopigi Monastery, the close beach of Apokoftos and the amazing Kastro – ah I was forgetting that we also stopped to have the ever delicious loukoumades I ever ate at 3 blond angels (tris xanthi angeli) in Apollonia.

Apart from the monastery that is really breathtaking I was very much impressed by the beauty of the Kastro …. the nice mansions, nice clubs … the famous CUBA bar with its tables facing the Aegean Sea ….. and the breathtaking walk on the hill of the kastro with the venetian ancient walls …..

Last day I think was the best ever in Sifnos ! We decided first to visit Faros where we stopped to have a relaxing freddoccino :) Then we decided to explore the island and to go north and visit the nice (and far) fish village of Hersonnisos. It is a fantastic small bay, protected by the wind – with the most amazing waters of the island :) a small but nice beach and delicious fish tavernas were we enjoyed fresh lobsters !!!

Then we left to Kamares …. our holiday was over …… but we were happy .. tanned with lot of nice images and memories in our minds :)

Overall it has been a nice trip – Sifnos is a beautiful islands in terms of landscape & town – still pretty normal for beaches …… They say that it is also pretty famous for the quality of the food that honestly I found it very standard …. nothing comparing to the quality of food of Skopelos :)

If you almost visited most of the cyclades islands and you want to visit something new I recommend you to go to Sifnos – but if you are coming here for the first time I would rather recommend other islands (if you are looking for amazing beaches !) like Mykonos, Paros, Naxos, Koufounissi and Milos. I was told that Serifos is also very nice … need to plan a trip there :)

Ciao !

φιλάκια