The Skiathos Bulletin Board

Graham & Caroline

Well, here we go at last with part three of my ramblings. I'm writing this at 7 am on Easter Sunday morning, there is a snow blizzard blowing outside & all around is totally white, I know Easter is early this year but didn't realise it had been moved to December! Global warming? Not around here!! Anyway, let's see how far we get with this fascinating installment of my 8 month old holiday report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sunday 8th July.
Today started with our usual breakfast on the balcony (see part one for what this consists of) There were still quite a few wasps about but not as many as the last few days thankfully. It was very hot even early in the morning & we could tell it was going to get hotter as the day went along. We decided to go into town to do a bit of shopping & get a few little presents to take home (little gifts for nephews & nieces & biscuits & honey for the staff at the cattery where Molly stays while we are away)(Molly is our cat, not one ouf our nieces!!) We went for a walk up to the clock tower to take some pictures, it was extremely hot so we thought it was time for a bit of shade, some lunch & a couple of cold beers, always a good idea! We went down to Taverna Milos again as we had had a very nice lunch there before & we had exactly the same as we had on Thursday because it was so good (grilled peppers & meatballs with a Greek salad, only starters but just right for lunchtime) We sat chilling there for quite a while then ambled off back into town. We saw that there were going to be some choirs singing in the Bourtzi that evening & checked out the times as we thought that would be interesting. We walked up past Taverna Hellenikon & had a nice chat with the couple there who were getting ready to open. They showed us the menu & we decided we would try it out later that evening. As it was so hot, we went back to Vasso for a cooling swim. The evening started as usual with a couple of drinks & a natter with Gregory. This might sound boring to some, always starting off the same way but we have become good friends with Gregory over the years & it is nice to feel as if you belong, & anyway, we're on holiday so we can do as we like! We were meeting Frank & Anne in town so we went for the bus which we just missed. A taxi pulled up with 1 couple in already & the driver asked, as they do, if we wanted to get in as well. "Poso kani?" I asked in my best Greek, 8 euros per couple he said, "Oxi epharisto" I replied! Another couple came to the bus stop & asked if we wanted to share a taxi into town & we got one for 8 euros altogether, half price although I must say that the ride into town was even faster than normal!! Shocked

. We met Frank & Anne & had a stroll along the marina. The big expensive, sorry, very, very expensive boat we had seen earlier, Sunday I think it was called, looked nice with lights shining below it illuminating all the fish swimming about. We then went to the Bourtzi to listen to the choirs. We got there & took a seat at about 9pm. the choirs were introduced which took about an hour as I think every single name was read out & the first one stared singing at 10 o'clock. Now we had intented to stay & do out cultural bit but, even though the choir we saw was very good, hunger won the battle so we decamped & recamped (is that a word?) at The Hellenikon. The place was full, nice setting, good live Greek music & the food & service was excellent. It seemed to have been a long day & we were a little tired by now so we caught the last bus back home & believe it or not, went straight to bed without a nightcap!
Monday 9th July
Breakfast on balcony just for a change!! It's going to be very hot again. we thought this was the hottest we had ever known it here & talked about the fire risk with everything being so tinderbox dry as we had noticed on our walkabouts around the island. Little did we know what was to come later in the week!! We wandered off for a walk around the Kalamaki peninsular. It was getting extremely hot even for a gentle stroll. There are some very nice villas in this area with some beautiful views, slightly out of our price range at the moment, still, you never know, someone has to win the lottery & I'm sure it must be my turn soon. Very Happy

. We noticed a small sign for The Three Brothers Taverna & although we could only just spot it down on the small beach far away in the distance, we set off down the steep track to Koutsouri beach. There were 8 people on the beach & we sat in the shade & had a cooling drink. After a while the smell of cooking wafted across from the little hut next to the bar, it was approaching lunchtime after all. Smells good we thought, maybe we should have something to eat. Well, before we could place our order, what seemed like hordes of people descended on the beach from all directions, They came down the track on foot, via the sea in boats, (about 10 adults, 6 kids & 2 dogs in one small craft!) I was half expecting more to come parachuting in & hang gliding out of the sky!! We soon found out the reason for this mass invasion, (in all we counted 35 people that had appeared out of nowhere) yes, the food. It was like the old Bisto advert where people are lured along by a wonderful visible aroma. We managed to order some sardines & a greek salad. This was all fresh as fresh as you could possibly get & along with a small bottle of Ouzo made for an extremely pleasant couple of hours. We shall definitely be making another trip there as we wanted to sample the calamari but unfortunately we were too slow in ordering & it was sold out! Next time. Suitably sustained, we carried on with our walk seeing more nice villas & views & eventually came out at the bottom of Nostos. We headed back early to Vasso as we had a big night out coming up. Today was Frank & Annes 25th wedding anniversary. We first met them at Vasso in 2004 & have met them in Skiathos every year since. (only met them once in Uk when they visited York for a weekend) They couldn't get booked into Vasso in 2005 & now always stay at Zorbas which is just down the road up the bloody steep hill behind Pegasus. We always manage to get our holidays to at least overlap so we can spend some time with them as it feelslike we have known them for ever & we have a good time in their company. We don't knormally 'hook up' with other holidaymakers as we travel to experience local life & like to see how people live in other parts of the world although we now only seem to go to Skiathos even though we always said we would not go to the same place twice as there are so many other places to visit. I have heard it said that Greek island travellers always find their own favourite island & I think we have found ours. The boomerang struck after our first visit!! We normally earlier on in June but as it was a special occasion for Frank & Anne, they wanted to spend it in Skiathos & asked if we would like to join them, that is the reason we are here in July. Anyway, back to the plot. . . . . . we put on our gladrags & went down to Zorbas to meet them. We enjoyed champagne & strawberries with Cointreau sitting out on their balcony in the early evening sun, looking out over the sea, where did it all go wrong?! Billy then came in his new 'S Class' Mercedes taxi, very luxurious, & drove us out to Taverna Agnadio, (on the road to the Evagelistra monastery out of town) one of our favourite eateries, where we had a table booked. Our table was right at the front corner with views back over the town & we ate, drank, talked & had a wonderful evening celebrating their silver wedding anniversary. Later we went back to Zorbas for a few nightcaps then off to bed after a most enjoyable day. ( when I get sorted I will post a load of pictures on the photo section covering all parts of this epic 4 or 5 part, haven't got to the end yet, holiday report so keep a look out for them)
Tuesday 10th July.
Breakfast,blah, blah, blah, you should know the routine by now, then down to Zorbas. Frank & Anne had a jeep for a few days & as we had explored most of the island before by motorbike, (proper one, not a little scootery thing!) jeep & mainly by foot, we said we would be their guides & take them to some parts they hadn't been to. We went up the platanias valley road & up to the yellow, now white (see previous post, part 1 I think) & then up what we call the high road on the way to Profitis Ilias & Mt Mitikas. you get really good views over the town from up here although I must say that we preferred it when it was just a dirt track instead of the near motorway like concrete road it is now. you used to get more of a sense of adventure, yeah I know, progress, tourism etc, but still. . . . . Anyway, we carried on with our guided tour & stopped at the Aghios Charalambos Monastery. This has been beautifully restored & there are som good views but mind the steep drop at the back! We were the only visitors but I think the resident cats & kittens were pleased to see us. carrying on , we dropped down to spend some time at Nikotsaras Port Confused

(look on your maps!) & then on to Kalivia for lunch at Anatoli. we had a nice long, slow lunch here with very, very good food & some lovely ouzo (Frank was driving so he missed out on the ouzo!) If you have never ventured out here to eat it is well worth the making the effort to try it as I'm sure you have read on other parts of this site. we then had a quick look at Meghas Ghialos & on to the Evagelistria Monastery for a good mooch around. From there, we carried on our guided tour & took Frank & Anne along past Platenos Taverna & over to Kechria for some much needed refreshment. Frank & Anne have been here before when, last year, we took them on one of our little walks, (the long way by road to get there then back via the old donkey track down the valley.Very nice walk but it nearly killed poor old Frank!) It was nice to see the young lad who runs the taverna as we had chatted to him in previous years (cannot remember his name though) & he has smartened the little place up nicely. We had a natter then he gave us a drink that I think was probably Tsipouro, very useful if we ran out of petrol because we could just breathe into the tank & that would keep the jeep going for miles!! Seriously though, it's things like this that bring us back to the island time & time again. Back to Ag P via coast road & dog sanctuary, nice little days tour. Later that evening, after drinks with Gregory of course, we went to meet Shirley & Francis, another of Carolines work friends & her partner who were also here on holiday. We had a few drinks & a chat to Monica in Platanias bar, (Monica knows Vicky, another work colleague of Caroline & Shirley who also holidays here as explained in a previous post somewhere!) then along to eat at Green Park. To be perfectly honest, although te food is good there, they put far too much on your plate & when you can't manage to eat it all it looks as if you have left it because you didn't enjoy it. Not the case at all, just too much! We then had a wander around to walk off a few calories & ended up, surprise, surprise in the bar at Pegasus for several nightcaps!
Wednesday 11th July.
All I have written in my diary for today is; Liz had kittens. This is because I would usually write in my book in the morning about the previous days doings. I had popped to Tassos's to get some bread & saw that Liz, one of Gregorys cats, had given birth to 4, all healthly, lovely little kittens so I wrote this in when I got back. What I am trying to explain is that whatever we had done on Wednesday would have been written in the diary on Thursday morning but, as I'm sure you all know, Thursday morning brought some very frightening times with it, more of which will be in the next episode. (Ha, I can hear you saying "tell us now", but I'm sorry, you'll have to wait patiently!) All we can really remember about Wednesday is that we went into town probably for a bit of shopping etc & more than likely ate somewhere nice on the night.

That's the end of Part Three, Part Four will be coming & that will be mostly about the fire. Whilst writing this I am mentally transported to Skiathos & cannot wait until June which will be our next visit, hopefully for 3 weeks this time. Once again, I hope you haven't been bored by these posts but find them reminding you of your lovely times on Skiathos & wonderful memories of the island & people you have met there, especially if I have mentioned people or places that are known personally to you.
Thanks for reading, until the next one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Graham & Caroline

Ps Kept bumping into Tezza all over the place but didn't put every occasion in here in case it made him feel really important! Yammas Terry.
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I'd rather have a full bottle in front
of me than a full frontal lobotomy.

suejet · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:09 pm Post subject:

Hi Graham & Caroline,

You know I'md much happier reading your posts than watching a certain game of footy that's happening right now! It's so relaxing and I can't can't believe it's just over 10 weeks now til we go. Roll on June 6th. Eagerly awaiting the next installments.

BTW where is Agnadio - is it near Panorama Pizza?

Graham & Caroline · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:40 pm Post subject:

Just re read my Part Three post & noticed quite a few spelling mistakes & words missed out but I guess you'll all understand what it's supposed to mean! I'm not the worlds greatest typist & it's nearly Mythos time! Very Happy

Hi Suejet. Agnadio is on the road up to Evagelistria monastery. Coming out of town towards airport you turn left onto the'ring road' & I think it's either the first or second turn on the right. It's about 1km up there.
_________________
I'd rather have a full bottle in front
of me than a full frontal lobotomy.

Graham & Caroline · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:49 pm Post subject:

Sorry, pressed wrong button , meant to add this,

www.agnadioskiathos.com
_________________
I'd rather have a full bottle in front
of me than a full frontal lobotomy.

suejet · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 2:51 pm Post subject:

Thanks for that, I can't even place it! We go all over the island on our moped and can't recall ever seeing that view - will deffo add it to our must finds for June.

Ian · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:17 am Post subject:

Graham & Caroline, its a very good read, especialy for a wintery easter morning. We were on the island a the same time, so look forward to reading Part 4. As you know Tezza is a great guy and wherever and whenever you bump into him and Lindyloo its a fun time ...
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Counting down the months to the next visit - Click here to see why ...

markyt · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:12 pm Post subject:

Great read. Looking forward to the next part about the fire. I was horrified, when i heard my favourite island had caught fire. I just hope it has'nt spoilt it too much. Sad

Mark & Laura