![]() My, my, is it lovely, with a road whipping along its mountainous spine, cliffs dropping to waters of stained-glass blue, and alley-woven villages where bone-white houses glimmer in the heat, cats doze in doorways and every bend is a photo op. Like a seahorse drifting in the deep-blue Aegean, the island of Amorgos, in the eastern Cyclades, presses all the fantasy Greek island buttons. Ikaria Studios in Manganitis (0030 2275 032030 ) has simple studios from £38 How to get thereĭodekanisos Seaways ferry from Kos (3 hours 20 minutes, £12.50) Where to stay But it’s all worthwhile for heavenly bays like Seychelles Beach, with white pebbles sliding into a brilliantly azure sea. You need to be as nimble as a goat to hike the monopatia (old footpaths) dipping into the island’s thickly forested, boulder-scattered mountains, and the narrow roads swinging precariously along clifftops are life-flashing-before-your-eyes stuff. The winds and waves are more powerful, the granite peaks higher than most other islands, punching up to 3,402ft Aetheras. Ikaria is the classic Greek package but with the drama turned up. Sulphur-rich hot springs and a diet rich in wild greens (try hortopita pies) and natural wines contribute to its longevity, but there’s also something untouchable. ![]() Reclusiveness bred resilience, and today Ikaria is one of the world’s five “blue zones”, with an exceptionally high number of centenarians. For much of history, islanders hid from pirates in giant rock houses. This is where the party-loving, wine-swigging god Dionysus was born, and where Icarus fell and drowned after flying too close to the sun. ![]() There’s magic in the air on wild, savagely beautiful Ikaria in the eastern Aegean. The Greeks don’t rush – neither should you. Oh, and that week you booked off? Make it two. And you’ll still find trails to blue-domed, incense-misted chapels trails to half-moon coves trails threading high through pastures into cloud-wisped mountains.Īfter doing the Greek salad-tzatziki-beach thing to death, you swear it’ll be Italy next year – but deep down, you know the tug of your new favourite undiscovered Greek isle is too strong. You’ll still find remote villages with one-pan tavernas, where families bring slow-cooked lamb, aubergine fritters and fish so fresh it has just leapt out of the sea to the table. Do the legwork and you’ll find under-the-radar islands where you can still rock up on a ferry and book a sea-view room with change from €50 (£43). The nostalgia-inducing Greek island dream still exists. But there is a third category – a Greece beyond the sunset-hogging Instagrammers, two-for-one-cocktails and sirtaki dancing on tables. ![]() And then there are the likes of Symi, Sifnos and Serifos – islands that were once totally untouched by tourism, but have gradually seen ferries multiply and prices rise as a trickle of foreign visitors became a gush. There are popular isles with crowds and cruise boats, of course, like Crete and Corfu, Mykonos, Rhodes, Kos and Santorini. For what could be more exciting than opening a dog-eared map and tracing a curious finger over its 6,000 islands – some inhabited, some little more than specks of rock – then high-tailing it to Athens, hopping on an old bone-shaker of a ferry and alighting on one with a name you’ve never heard of. Siga, siga – slowly, slowly, the magic is working.Īnd what magic. Suddenly, it’s an effort to shuffle a few feet from the sunbed to the taverna for a frappé, to the sea for a dip, or to those ancient ruins of Homeric legend. After a few days, you’re breathing deeper, moving slower, tuning into forgotten biorhythms. There is something elemental about these islands: the light bouncing off white walls the warm, silky sea the wind and waves. From that first sidestreet pitta souvlaki, with a stray cat rubbing against your ankles, and that first icy Mythos on a white-pebble cove, the colossal weight of the world slips from your shoulders the minute you arrive. They are the stepping stones to sun-dappled freedom, thyme-scented breezes, drowsy olive groves and retsina-soaked nights under a brilliant frieze of stars. ![]() Scattered across the teal-blue sea as if the gods had dropped their marbles, the Greek islands are like nowhere else on earth. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |