Alonissos to Skiathos: Do not drink and blog, it causes you to hit publish before adding pics…..new and improved with pics

We followed our rule of grabbing the chance to do something when the weather is perfect because it may not be later….we rented a boat that we had fun taking around the island. Two days later, when we wanted to rent it, the wind came up and we would have missed our opportunity. We are thankful that we were able to talk him to letting us take it out in the afternoon…usually boats only rented in the morning.

We spent 4 nights in Alonissos and wish we could have been there another 4—maybe 40. This says a lot as we lost our electricity twice (hence explaining the many candles in the home) it had a shower that was basically just a shower head in the bathroom ceiling with a drain in the center of the floor. It had what I called a Barbie doll oven with cooktop. No screens, with railings on the stairwell that felt as though they would break. And a slant on the old slate floor that mimicked the effect of too much ouzo. Did I mention the washing machine that had to be pried open with a knife and the drain hose had to be placed in the toilet when you used it?

This was the walkway to our little house. Olive trees, and lavender.

BUT it was a magical spot. SO quiet and dark with shutters closed that we once slept till 10. At night you could hear strains of music from the town until about 11 and then it was suddenly completely quiet and still. I made mushroom risotto on the Barbie doll cooktop with leek sausage and we ate out on a patio set with candles (thanks Brant). It was a 2 min walk to a restaurant with a spectacular view….and of course many bars. There were so many footpaths we were still finding new trails the day we left.

Brant’s long arms came in very handy for fig picking off the balcony

The island was covered with pears, pomegranates, apples, figs, blackberries and grapes. I had my coffee and just reached over the railing for figs. And the food was excellent! One of my favorites was Vlita (described in English as local greens sautéed). I was finally able to find someone who told me it was amaranth, I’ve tried to grow without much success but now I need to try again. A bowl of vlita, grilled halloumi with tomato and bread is a perfect dinner. Of course you have to have a house wine—which in many places was excellent (and sometimes not)—but only 3-4 dollars!

Brant (and me to a much lesser extent)did a great job of navigating the boat through the islands , but we wondered why we needed to call Yogurt (sorry but that is what I though he said his name was) 30 minutes before we returned. After worrying how we were going to moor the boat to granite pier, it was a great relief to see Yogurt standing on the bow of a little boat. He glided up to us and deftly hopped over to our boat. Problem solved…..

Lots of sea urchins around here…in the water and on many shelves….

This was a great place to sort of relax. We kept saying we would just spend the day relaxing on the balcony but hard to resist exploring such a beautiful place. A hike to the beach, a rented motorboat to explore the coves with a swim in the cove, etc. And we got our wash done! My cat came every morning and evening for a little milk and I worry about who will feed him now. (Though he looked well fed).

These floats were just anchored to the ocean bottom for everyone to use. And yes they did carry the drinks out to those palapas, but not the floats….

After 4 days we hopped on the local bus, loaded our luggage and headed to our ferry. Beautiful ride to Skiathos. We decided against walking up into the hills of Skiathos and instead took a water taxi to another beach for dinner then came back and wandered around a bit before we headed to Naxos via Athens. This is the area where the first Mama Mia was filmed (actually most on Skopelos, a neighboring island). Yup, lots of Abba at the bars, day tours to the movie spots and a theatre in town playing it several times per week. Very tough to get that music out of your head.