Tuesday, March 29, 2011

ΣΚΟΠΕΛΟΣ

Mamma Mia, what a great weekend! I’m back from Skopelos and just had an amazing time. We actually didn’t end up visiting any known Mamma Mia sites, but I had a great time anyway. It was very chill and relaxing—we spent the weekend biking, hiking, and laying out on several gorgeous beaches. The food was divine, the locals were friendly, and you couldn’t have asked for better weather.

We left on Friday, which was Greek Independence Day—even on Thursday you could see Greek flags popping up everywhere in Thess. We took the bus to Volos, which is a pretty port city, and its Paralia was packed with people fresh from church enjoying the nice weather. From there, we took a boat to Skopelos and arrived around 5 in the afternoon.

Based on the website, we thought the hotel we were staying at was further in the city, but we lucked out; for what amounted to 10 euros per person per night, we got to stay on the water literally  a second away from where the boat docks. Our room had a view of the water, and there was a patio directly above us where we could go and sit whenever we wanted. The owner of Pension Kyr Sotos, Alexandra, was really cool and very helpful with information regarding anything we wanted to know about the island.

That night we ate dinner on the water, and watched a small parade, made up of the Greek equivalent of boy scouts and girl scouts, go by, and went to sleep relatively early so that we could wake up equally early.

Saturday morning we tried to rent motorbikes, but because it was offseason no one would rent them to us—something to do with the insurance needed and it not being worth it to rent to four people for 2 days. We ended up renting regular bikes instead, which I actually loved. Not going to lie, Skopelos was pretty mountainous. We would push our bikes uphill, baking, for what seemed like forever, only to reach the top and go zipping down at frightening speeds around the curvy roads; but of course, we would have to push the bikes back up again. It was definitely worth it, though, because of the amount of time saved on the downhill/flatter portions.

That’s pretty much how we spent our two days. We biked to Glisteri beach the first day, which was the closest to Skopelos Town but also harder to get to because we had to cut through a much more up-and-down terrain than on day two. It was amazing, though, to come around a bend and see the road funnel down between two mountains to a beautiful secluded cove. All the beaches on Skopelos were like that—only one we went to was sandy, the rest were rocks or pebbles, but it was absolutely gorgeous. Cliffs would go right to the shoreline and you just wanted to fling yourself off one into the water. And there were coves and bays everywhere.Day two we biked farther, but for a large portion of the time we traveled through a valley where it was flat or only slightly uphill so the going was easier. We stopped first at Stafilos beach and explored there, and stumbled upon a path that led to a second, secret beach (which, upon looking at the map, I believe is actually the island’s nude beach during season). We then pedaled farther up the road (and up the hill) to Angostas, which was small and pretty with a dock but windy, and from there to Limnari, the best beach on Skopelos. It was a beautiful sandy beach sandwiched between two cliffs. We had made sandwiches and packed chips, cookies, and wine that day and had quite the picnic. It was an absolutely lovely time with friends I just adore and had such fun hanging around.

We also did quite a bit of hiking; if, while biking along, we saw a footpath that looked intriguing, we would stash the bikes and explore, ending up in beautiful olive groves or beside beautifully run-down little old churches. When we got back from Glisteri, we locked the bikes up by the Pension and went for a hike in the hills across the bay—after a couple hours we reached the top of a mountain and just turned around. Back on the ground, looking up to where we had been, it was impossible to believe we had climbed that high.

We were all alone the entire weekend. There were no other tourists but us, and every beach was deserted, save once when a family walked by with their dog. The islanders were great about it; they stared with with mild, friendly interest but always said hello, kalimera, and waved to us from their cars if they passed us biking along. We talked with the owner of Γοργόνες ουζερί, the restaurant near the Pension where we had dinner twice (not much was open out of season, and the food was fantastic—the best stuffed grape leaves I’ve ever had, squid, Greek chicken and rice) and he made it clear that the whole island knew four Americans were roaming around getting sunburned. It was also interesting to talk to him about the crisis; even during season business has fallen by 50-60 percent. He was really nice and gave us each a huge poster with the restaurant’s logo on it, which I hung on my bedroom wall.

All in all, it was a great weekend; I was actually in motion for a large part of it, hiking or biking. It was more exercise than I’ve gotten in the past year and a half total, and I felt it each night as I went to sleep worn out but happy. And like I said, the weather was amazing; 65-70 degrees every day, with a strong sun and weak breeze that was just enough to cool you off when lugging your bike up a hill but not enough to make you chilly when lying on the beach. To anyone planning a tour of Greece, I strongly recommend Skopelos for an amazing and traditionally “Greek” time.

Here comes the fun part: pictures! I had a hard time narrowing these down from over 500 taken, but I think they give a good idea of what the island is all about. There are more pictures on facebook for anyone interested.

This is a picture on the ferry; we stopped first at Glossa, on the opposite end of the island, and got a tour of the coastline on the way to Skopelos Town.

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The view from the window, the room itself, and the patio above us at Pension Kyr Sotos.

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Some shots of Skopelos Town when we went exploring.

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I love olive trees—you can definitely tell nymphs have inhabited this grove. Me, mid-hike. The last is the picture as we head towards Glisteri, the little cup of beach between the two slopes.

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These were taken on Stafilos beach, expect for the last, taken of Stafilos on the road to Limnari. You can see how far we’ve climbed already when this was taken, and there’s only more to come!

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These were taken on the secret beach you can reach from Stafilos; the last picture (the little green mountain bit that looks like it needs a goatherd standing there) is the bit you have to hike to get to ‘secret beach’.

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These were all taken in/on the way out of Limnari. The first is the path in. We were here for hours and only saw a family, briefly, walking their dog along the beach.

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Finally, Skopelos Town this morning as the sun comes up and we head out to get our ferry back to Volos. It was a great trip!

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1 comment:

  1. WOW! Beautiful pictures! So glad you had a wonderful time!

    ReplyDelete