The Skiathos Bulletin Board

Graham & Caroline

Hope you all enjoyed Part One, had to have a rest 'cause my poor little fingers were aching as I'm not the world's quickest typist & can only take so much of sitting here pecking away like a demented chicken! Anyway, I've got Kosmo Radio playing online so in the right frame of mind to get on with the next fascinating installment!

Thursday 5th July
Had a bit of a lie in this morning then had usual breakfast on the balcony. It was very hot even at 10 o'clock in the morning. We decided to go for a mooch around town today so wandered down & caught a bus, which again was fairly empty. After we had wandered about for a while we went to The Bourtzi & sat in the shade on one of the seats that faces the old harbour as it was extremely hot. We sat & watched life go slowly by, read our books for a while & just chilled out thinking how wonderful it was to be exactly where we were. Later we strolled along the new harbour & marina trying very hard to be polite to the Nostos timeshare/holiday club touts. (I must admit that I didn't succeed in being very polite at all!! Do they think we are stupid?) We went down club street & settled in at Taverna Milos for a nice lunch. We shared a Greek salad, some meatballs & some grilled peppers along with a few cold beers. Very pleasant indeed, worth a try if you are down that way. We managed to pry ourselves out of our seats a while later & went back to Vasso for a cooling swim. In the evening we started off, of course, with a drink with Gregory then met our friends Frank & Anne & headed back into town . It was a very warm evening so we had a gentle walk about, went to Jimmy's Bar in the Old Port for a couple of 'refreshing' cocktails then on to Taverna Mouria (as recommended by Kriandos on this forum) to eat. It was a good choice as we had a very enjoyable meal. All the staff
were extremely helpful with food choices & very friendly. Nice evening. Got bus back to Ag P for once, surprise, surprise, went straight to bed without nightcaps or 5 for the road!!
Friday 6th July
While we were on the balcony having breakfast in the sun we realised that this time last week we were sitting on a plane in a very wet & miserable Manchester. Where had the last week gone? It was a bit depressing as we only had one week left here & then it was home to the same old same old. I know it's different when you are on holiday but we feel so at home on Skiathos & find it very relaxing, especially where we stay, with Gregory at Vasso. We have done many Greek islands & some mainland resorts as well as Turkey & have had many motorcyle touring/camping adventures in France, Belgium, Holland & Spain & I also spent 3 months in New Zealand 20 years ago, & we always said we would not go to the same place twice as there are plenty of other places to see but here we are, back in exactly the same place we were last year, & the year before, & the year before. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I think you all know what I am talking about. Anyway, slight digression there but it was scribbled in my little diary so thought I would include it.
We went & met Frank & Anne at Zorbas & got a bus down to bus stop 23 & walked up through the pine forest to Mandraki. There were a lot of wasps about when we got out of the forest & on the beach as well. People were coming off the beach because there were too many wasps. We went back & along to Elias & had some lunch in the beach taverna. There were a lot of wasps there but thankfully, most of them were swimming in the large bottle traps that had been put up everywhere. We then walked along the beach continually swatting wasps until we climbed up at the end then down to Agistros beach. Thankfully the wasps didn't like this beach, don't know why, I love it! We had a couple of hours here. It was quite windy, maybe that's why no wasps & the sea was very choppy with a strong sideways current which made it hard work swimming but good exercise to work off all the lovely food we had been eating lately! We set off back aiming for bus stop 21 & had a lovely long walk up around the top with some beautiful views over Koukounaries. It was hot hot hot & a very nasty, now dead & squashed extremely flat, wasp flew up my shorts & stung my inner thigh. Could've been very nasty & I got a large swelling. . . . Behave yourselves, this is smut free post!!! We got to 21 just as a bus arrived & went back to Ag P. We bumped into Nana in Tassos's & arranged to meet later. Quick shower, drink with Greg then just down the road past elizabeth Studios to Calna Taverna. We met up with a few others there & were waiting to eat but Frank & Anne seemed to have got lost so I borrowed Nana's pushbike & went in search of them. That was an interesting ride especially with no brakes coming back down the hill from Zorbas to Avli. (for those of you who don't know the area, that is a *#$"*@! steep hill!!) Calna is a newer type place & we found it to be lacking a little in atmosphere maybe because it was early & not very busy but the company was good & the food & service were excellent. No complaints in that department at all. Then down to the bar at Pegasus for a few for the road then home to bed. Home? well, feels like our 2nd one!
Saturday 7th July
Usual breakfast sitting on the balcony in the sun which you may be getting fed up of hearing about but as I'm writing this on a very cold frosty February evening in Yorkshire I'm going to put it in every time as it conjures up wonderful images in my head & I can almost feel the heat of the sun & the smells & sounds of the plants & flowers & the birds, sheep, goats & chickens etc that are around the area. Bit of a chill out day today so we headed down to another of our favourite little bits of beach. This one is at the far right hand end of Kolios beach & you get to it by either climbing over the rocks or wading through the water or going down the path next to Stefano's House at bus stop 15. (Not sure if this is a private road or not but nobody seems to bother) Shouldn't really be telling you this as you might decide to go there the same time as us & that would make it a little busier! We were the only people there & we don't usually bother with sunbeds & umbrellas but we only get charged 5 euros for them so we splash out for a change! A couple of English ladies came down to read their books in the shade of the trees at the end, a couple of other people stopped for a chat, 2 others swam out to their boats sailed off, some ducks & ducklings came for a waddle along from a bit of freshwater behind the beach, Roger came along for a swim, & all in all, it was a very laid back enjoyable afternoon, chatting, swimming, snoozing & doing very little else at all! We walked back to Vasso & after usual cooling off in pool & shower etc we had a few glasses of wine with Gregory then went down to Pegasus to meet Frank & Anne & her sister & family who had arrived today & were staying in Troulos. We left them to catch up & got a bus to stop 12 & went to Taverna Sklithri. We have been here before but the place has now been taken over & done up very nicely. If you are feeling really romantic you can have a table on the beach lit purely by the moon & a few candles. We ate grilled Feta, swordfish, grilled mackerel served with cold (intentionally) potatoes, spinach, carrots, beetroot & courgette. It contrasted wonderfully with the warm grilled fish & made a nice change from the chips & rice that seems to get served with a lot of meals. The setting, atmosphere, excellent food & service (& a couple of bottles of good wine!) made this a very pleasurable & memorable evening. Well worth checking out. We walked all the way back to Vasso, had yet another couple of wines with Gregory & some other guests at Vasso & collapsed into bed! What a wonderful day.

Well, that's the end of part two. Hope you are not bored yet. I'm just trying to explain what we do when we go to Skiathos & why it is so special to us. I hope maybe I'm making some of you think of the nice experiences you have had there & remind you why you all, hopefully, feel the same as we do.
Yammas, Graham & Caroline.

TO BE CONTINUED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(2 more posts should finally wrap it up!!)

PS. Hi Terry
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I'd rather have a full bottle in front
of me than a full frontal lobotomy.

suejet · Posted: Sat Feb 16, 2008 3:30 pm Post subject:

eagerly awaiting the next bit - - - - - - - - -

(listening to Kosmoradio as I read)
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you heard it here first - BOJAN!