Well, I know I said we're spending most of our time in Greece in the mountains to avoid the heat and tourists, but it's not peak summer yet so we headed to the wonderful island of Skopelos. Skopelos is a rare 'green' Greek island - it's a fertile and well-treed place.
We picked up our rental car in Thessaloniki and drove to Volos. We then had a long ride on a huge ferry to the port of Loutraki on Skopelos. The ferry was so large that it took trucks and semi-trailers.
The view of our side of the island from the ferry.
Driving out of the ferry was fun!
LOUTRAKI:
Our accommodation was only a few hundred metres from the port in the tiny village of Loutraki. It's in a great location but the apartment was pretty tiny.
The port looked stunning at sunset.
It was about 5pm when we arrived and it was quite hot. I had read that there was a beach with ruins of Roman baths at it nearby so we headed there. The ruins were well and truly ruined but the little beach made for a great swimming spot. This quickly became 'our' beach. I would swim here even when John didn't want to swim. We came here many times.
This Roman pebble floor was exposed to the waves as well as the weather.
The water was really clear although it wasn't the stunning blue of some other places as it didn't have a sandy bottom. Sometimes we snorkelled. We found some pink jellyfish, which was a bit concerning as one was right where we usually swim!
I think I should call these 'seabeams'!
These little sea plants were so cool! They looked like underwater mushrooms.
In some areas there were so many of these that the whole seabed looked white!
On our first night we followed a track and found that it led to a long-abandoned bar. The building was falling down but it was in the most magical location. It sat above a small beach and the sun set over the water directly in front of it. What an amazing place!
People just park wherever. A popular spot is near the port. I love the view from our car park one day!
We've been surprised at the number of huge ferries that pull into the port here, just near our accommodation. As I write this, the glass in the windows of our tiny apartment is rattling from the huge motors of a ferry. It feels like there's an earthquake. It's quite strange!
I had fun scrambling around the rocks of the jetty looking into the clear water. It was all so lovely.
I don't know what it is about Greek fishing boats that makes them so attractive.
Nearby was the local church. Every square inch inside was decorated with colourful paintings of saints.
We ate at a number of local restaurants but none were exceptional. It was quite disappointing after the amazing food we had at Thessaloniki. We're also finding that both places we've been to so far, Skopelos and Thessaloniki, are quite expensive. Cafe and restaurant meals are costing at least as much as they would at home. Large cappuccinos have consistently been around $8! This wasn't the case in our past visits so we will see if this continues or if it's just these popular areas that are more expensive.
AROUND THE ISLAND:
If you've heard of Skopelos before, this could be why.....
Do you recognise this? It's the setting for the wedding in the "Mamma Mia" movie! It was just as spectacular as you'd expect, however the strings of lights running up the track in the movie were replaced with strings of tourists looking for all the world like lights in their bright clothes. There were heaps of people making the climb to the top.
A Welsh guy asked us to take a photo of him so he took one of us. I think he needs a lesson in how to take a photo of the mountain. He took three photos and didn't get the mountain top in any of them!
The church at the top was tiny. I'm sure they didn't fit all the Mamma Mia guests in here!
The views from the top were stunning.
The walk up and down was steep and very narrow in places. It was a hot, muggy day and by the time we got to the top we were sweating so much that even our forearms were wet. Funnily enough, I don't remember Meryl Streep looking hot and sweaty when she reached the top in the movie!
We picked up an Albanian couple and gave them a lift there and back. They spoke very little English but we all enjoyed the trip together.
We started our bike riding and walking routine. We had to go early in the mornings as it got hot early. The island is steep so every walk or ride involved a fair bit of effort!
I had some beautiful views from my walks.
As this is such a green island, there were bugs everywhere. The sound of cicadas filled the air and cicada skins still clung tightly to the plants they were shed on. We were plagued by huge horseflies though. They weren't a problem in the towns but they hassled us endlessly on some of our walks and rides. They bite and they were awful!
We explored the north of the island and saw some stunning views. Skopelos is known as the blue green island, for obvious reasons:
Small but gorgeous beaches are scattered around the island, often with a handy taverna nearby!
The rocky outcrop towards the back of the photo below is the Mamma Mia rock.
The road took us past a restored, but unused, monastery. We had a bit of a look around. John found a small stone room with a thick mesh window. We wondered if it might be a cool room of some sort. It was hard to see past the mesh but what we saw was totally unexpected. The room was full of skeletons! Arm, leg and other bones were stacked in neat piles and skulls were stacked on top. There were probably about 50 of them. We can only assume they're the skeletons of monks who used to live here. How bizarre! I took a photo through the mesh, assuming it wouldn't work as the holes were really small and I couldn't get a good angle. To my amazement, I somehow got an image.
One day, we drove out to the central part of the island. John went for a bike ride and I walked to Sedoukia, a site on a hill where there are three ancient graves dug into rock. It was a lovely walk up through pine forests. There was a rough track across the top of the rocky hill that eventually led to the tombs.
Nobody knows who made the graves. They were all open when archaeologists discovered them as they had been raided. There are so many theories about who made them. I read thoughts ranging from Neolithic people to early Christians to Romans to pirates!
The graves were located on a lovely scenic spot with big views.
Each grave was very square and was originally covered with a huge rock which was leveled flat at the bottom. Apparently the lids fit the graves perfectly. I thought the graves were rather large for the times. Maybe there were important things to be buried with the bodies. They also had raised ends, like pillows, carved into the bottoms!
It was lovely sitting here by myself wondering about the ancient people that had the skills and the time to create something like this in a fairly remote location.
It was a day of potential rain and the view of the sky from the hilltop was stunning.
Meanwhile, John was having a lovely ride. He came across hundreds of beehives lining the dirt road. Needless to say, he took this photo fairly quickly!
GLOSSA:
The town of Glossa sits a few hundred vertical metres above Loutraki. It's a beautiful village. Traditional houses cling to the steep hillside and narrow cobblestoned lanes wind through the town.
This has to be the world's prettiest petrol station, surely!
There were a plethora of fruit trees in the area. In a few hundred metres I saw oranges, lemons, figs (still not ripe yet!), almonds, plums and quinces (I think). Many were just rotting on the ground.
On two nights we ate a nice restaurant here. This was the only place we ate at where we thought the food was fantastic. Again, we loved the views!
As dusk fell, swallows and swifts soared overhead. On the second night, swifts circled excitedly near us. We have no idea why they kept going around in circles but it was very cool to watch, especially as we were so close.
SKOPELOS TOWN:
The main city in Skopelos is, confusingly, called Skopelos. It was at the other end of the island to where we were staying. We drove to a certain point one day, I dropped John and his bike off, and he rode into Skopelos and I drove. I parked the car in the town and set off to explore.
I saw the most amazing thing before I even left the car park though. I know Greeks park anywhere but this one really took the cake. There were parks on either side of wide access roads and this car was parked right on the road when there were heaps of spare parks around! When I returned later, we found the car park was reasonably full and this car was now one of many parked in a string down the middle of the road. I then realised that the park might have been full when this car parked but still, the concept of just parking on the roads when the parks were full was bizarre!
Skopleos was a really pretty town with whitewashed buildings lining old, narrow roads. It apparently has 123 churches! This little one was gorgeous.
I walked up so many steps!
Blue sky, bright sun, blue sea and a whitewashed church. So classically Greek!
Add in an eating place in a gorgeous location and you've got the full Greek shebang!
A few crumbling walls were all that was left of an old Venetian castle.
Not all buildings were whitewashed but many were prettily decorated with flowers.
John and I met at a cafe on the seafront. We watched with interest as people kept going up to a little boat moored at the waterfront and bought fresh fish direct from the fisherman. This woman worked at one of the nearby restaurants. You can't get much fresher fish than that!
I ordered a Skopelos pie. These are traditionally filled with cheese but, trying to eat a bit healthier, I ordered one with vegetables. It turns out that 'vegetables' meant 'spinach'. I don't even like spinach!
We did a detour home via a nearby mountain. The views back over the town and the bay were wonderful.
For some reason unknown to us, there are a large number of monasteries in this area. We visited one. Inside the small church, the decorations were amazing!
A beautiful scene inside the monastery.
The dome shapes of the churches on this island are different to most others we've seen.
We really enjoyed this lovely island. A greener Greek island is so much prettier. The island was a good size to explore and there was plenty to see.
Apparently the next island across, Alonnisos, has a huge marine park and is even less busy. Hmmm, now there's one for next time!
Hooroo!
Heather and John
Heather and John
