Philoxenia consists of three basic elements:
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Literature, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Culture, Greece UNESCO, Homer's Inn, Hospitality, Ios, Life, Travel
After taking the bus into Naxos town we walked to the top of the town to find the Venetian Cathedral tour that was highly recommended in the Island hopping guidebook. We waited around in the courtyard outside the Cathedral and not a lot seemed to be happening and we wondered if we were going to be disappointed.
Eventually an old lady in an extravagant floral blouse and with a worn out old dog for a companion ghosted in from a secret door in an adjacent room and enquired if we were there for the tour and we told her that yes we were.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Beaches, Europe, Food, Greece, Greek islands, History, Hotels, Literature, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Culture, Greece UNESCO, History, Holidays, Life, Museums, Naxos, Naxos Cathedral Tour, Photography, Travel
As we walked around the town and couldn’t help noticing that there were three distinctive smells. Proctor and Gamble Tide detergent (no longer popular in the United Kingdom) which clung like velcro to the fresh linen hanging on the washing lines outside the houses, then incense, leaking out under the doors of the churches and finally the divine aroma of fresh moussaka and other Greek specialities being prepared for lunchtime in the tavernas and the bars.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Beaches, Europe, Food, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Natural Environment, Postcards, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Culture, Cyclades, Greece UNESCO, Greek Ferries, Holidays, Life, Milos, Photography, Travel
Whilst these string of Cycladic islands are all the same they are all completely different at the same time and Livadi had a unique quality that set it aside from other places we have visited.
Serifos is not a popular holiday destination for overseas visitors and a bit like Amorgos (in my opinion) a place that the Greek people have sensibly kept back for themselves because close to Athens it is convenient to reach and it doesn’t suffer from the excesses of, say, Santorini or Mykonos.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Beaches, Europe, Food, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Blue Star Ferry, Culture, Cyclades, Greece UNESCO, Life, Livadi, Photography, serifos, Trave
Every time we travel to Greece for the annual island hopping holiday we have to make room in the itinerary for a day or two of beaches and in 2011 we chose Koufosinia and we travelled there from nearby Amorgos on a six o’clock ferry.
Posted in backpacking, Beaches, Food, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Hotels, Literature, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Amorgos, Culture, Cyclades, Greek Ferries, Holidays, Ios, Koufonisia, Life, Photography
The little beach at Valmas is delightful where a shabby taverna with a shaded terrace overlooks the shore and the little bay and it is run by an old lady who probably should have retired years ago and who has a limited but interesting menu with the sort of prices that suit my budget.
Going to the beach and the taverna is part of the Ios routine and every day we do the same things as the day before, walk along the same path, go for a swim, then to the taverna and sit at the same table and stare out to sea.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Beaches, Cyclades, Europe, Food, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Hotels, Natural Environment, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Culture, Cyclades, Greece UNESCO, Homer's Inn, Ios, Life, Photography, Travel
Thassos is the most northerly of the Greek islands, rwelve miles from the mainland and the city of Kavala, in that part of Greece known as Macedonia, which is where we flew into before transferring to a ferry boat for the short crossing over Kavala Bay and arriving in Liménas, the main town on the island.
It is a medium sized island and we were staying at Liménaria which was just about as far away from the port as it was possible to be on the island so we had to stay on the transfer coach for another hour before we reached our destination.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Europe, Food, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Literature, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Culture, Greece UNESCO, Holidays, Life, Marble quarry, Thassos, Travel, World Heritage
While we were there we had to visit the Acropolis. We had waited until Sunday because sometimes museums and archaeological sites are free on the Sabbath so we thought it was worth the wait until the last day in Lindos. When the time came to tackle the steps I was disappointed to find that you do have to pay on a Sunday after all.
The walk and the climb to the entrance to the site actually turned out to be the easy bit because once inside there was an energy sapping ascent up a steep stone staircase with a sheer drop on each side to the entrance to the medieval fortress which was built by the Knights of Saint John in the fourteenth century to defend the island against the Ottoman Turks.
A couple of weeks away in Greece are just not complete without going to a traditional Greek food and entertainment night and this really must include participative Greek dancing. A real enthusiast will prepare for such an evening by purchasing a CD of Greek music to practice beforehand but this is not strictly necessary and all you really need to be able to do is to recognise the opening chords of ‘Zorba’.
Posted in Arts and Crafts, backpacking, Beaches, Food, Greece, Greek islands, Greek Taverna, History, Literature, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Bouzouki, Culture, Dance, Greek Dancing, Life, Travel, Zorba the Greek
Have Bag, Will Travel 