Our Itinerary:
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Skiathos, Greece
Athens Airport to Skiathos via Agios Constantinos
Having landed at the Athens airport in the
late morning after an overnight flight, our
first destination was Skiathos Town, in Skiathos,
Greece for a two night stay. Skiathos is
an island a few hours north east of Athens
that is rarely visited by North American
travellers but has been popular both with
the nearby residents of Athens and beach
seeking Europeans. The island has an airport
frequented by charter flights but for us,
we choose the bus.
There is a convenient and inexpensive (€3.20)
express bus (X-93) that picks up curbside
outside door 5 (all the way to the right
as you exit the building) and makes a thirty
minute trip to the two Athens bus stations
(one for buses to the south and west and
the other for buses to the north). Buy your
ticket form the agent at the booth by the
bus stop. A free city map is available nearby.
We wanted the Liosion Bus Station,
which
is near the end of the route
on the northwest
side of town, but it is surprisingly
difficult
to spot, so ask the driver to
let you know
when the bus reaches there (there
is no use
counting stops, because the stops
are not
clearly marked and the bus will
whiz past
them if there is no one getting
on or off).
Your one clue is that the bus
leaves the
main highway and starts winding
around narrow
streets like a mouse in a labyrinth.
Eventually
it stops just past the station,
so get off,
retrace the bus's route thirty
feet or so
and turn left down what could
easily pass
as a driveway to a construction
site if it
weren't for the buses parked
another hundred
feet or so ahead.
Buy your ticket from the agent for the route
you want (we wanted the bus to Agios Constantinos
-- Saint Constantine to us -- which is a
stop on the Athens to Lamia route) which
leaves hourly and costs €12.30. The
ticket gives you a seat assignment on a particular
bus; return tickets must be bought at the
other end. In addition to the ticket agents,
there is a food stand and a sundry shop in
the waiting room and a clean but primitive
bathroom (marked "WC") accessible
from outside by the bus lanes.
A little over an hour after we left Athens
on a comfortable coach (but no bathroom),
the bus made a ten minute stop at a coffee
shop where food, drinks, and a bathroom are
available. Note: there is no smoking on the
bus, but eating appears to be permitted.
A total of three and a half hours later of
travel through mostly desolate, desert-like
terrain (picture southern Arizona without
any cactus), we pulled into Agios Constantinos,
and proceeded farther along the highway on
foot toward the ferry dock.
We had reserved and prepaid the Hellenic
Seaways ferry ticket over the internet and
only needed to pick it up, which can be done
at the port agent's office, which is Bilalis
Travel Agency, located on the main square
behind the church and a few doors away from
the ferry dock. We choose the 18:45 Flying
Cat boat because of its quick transit time,
and by buying the ticket directly from Hellenic
Seaways (€26), saved the €6 per
ticket charge. Bilalis Travel held our luggage
for the three hour wait.
Jet lagged and hungry, we found
some comfortable seats in the shade at a cafe
(see photo on the left) also on the square,
a few doors further away from the dock and
proceeded to enjoy what we believe was the
best pork souvlaki of the whole trip.
After lunch, we walked along
the highway
to the north but decided there
was little
to see in the town and so headed
back for
some ice cream at the square.
By boat time, a lot of people
had gathered
along with some tour buses to
await the ferry's
arrival. We collected our luggage
from the
helpful people at Bilalis and
joined the
crowd at the dock. The boat appeared
a few
minutes later, we boarded and
stowed our
luggage in the luggage area at
the back of
the boat, found our airplane
style seats,
and sat back for the hour plus
ride. The
ferry had a snack bar and bathroom.
Emy Hotel, Skiathos Town
 We arrived after dark at the port in the
center of Skiathos Town, where we met by
pre-arrangement the free Emy Hotel van. A
five minute ride out of town and up a small
hill brought us to the hotel. Our non-peak
rate for two was €32.10 (without breakfast).
The Emy Hotel is a clean hotel of faded glory,
suffering from the general decline of tourism
to the island and the quiet of it being just
past high season. Its location south of town
puts it off the beaten track and out past
the airport but still only about a 25 minute
walk to the center of town and the public
bus, and a ten minute walk to the closest
restaurant. We made the walk several times
during our stay but would not recommend it
at night for the solo traveller because of
the path down a lonely country lane at the
hotel's end of the route. The hotel van does
make a few scheduled runs to and from town,
and the €7-8 for a taxi is an inexpensive
alternative. The owner, Chrisos, is a pleasant
host who provided a number of helpful recommendations.
Milos Restaurant
A ten minute walk from the Emy
Hotel is Milos,
a traditional Greek restaurant
with seating
on both sides of the road. We
choose the
outdoor tables between the road
and the shore,
beside the round building that
once was a
windmill. The meal was quite
enjoyable and
only moderately priced.
Koukounaries Beach
The next day we had set aside for recovering
from jet lag. We ignored the options of a
boat ride around the island and a walk up
the castle (Kastro) on the north side of
 the island, and choose to head for Koukounaries
Beach at the west end of the south side of
the island. The bus (€1.40, bought
on the bus) leaves every half and hour during
the morning and afternoon from the square
at the east end of Skiathos Town for a thirty
minute ride to the beach (last stop).
Our guide books (Lonely Planet
and Michelin)
indicated that Koukounaries was
the finest
beach in Greece; our later experience
in
Greece supported their contention
as far
as Greece is concerned, but it
paled beside
many of the Australian and Caribbean
beaches
we have visited. Unlike most
other Greek
beaches, the sand extended out
into the water
and so you could wade out without
worry of
sharp rocks. The cool water made
a refreshing
contrast to the heat on the beach
but was
not warm enough to convince us
to take a
plunge. Rather, after cooling
our feet and
legs, we headed back to our chairs
beneath
an umbrella (a man comes around
to collect
€8 for using the umbrella
and two chairs).
Skiathos Town
 Most of the town's eateries line the new
harbor on the east end of the town's shore,
stretching from the square (where the bus
to Koukounaries Beach stops) to the castle-like
municipal structure where the shoreline turns
north; and most of the bars and coffee shops
line the old harbor on the west end of town,
although there is a blending of the two throughout.
We also noticed a number of restaurants and
bars lining the road to the airport (which
is also the road back to the Emy Hotel) to
the east of town. There are also a few popular
shopping streets that lead from the new harbor
into the center of town.
At night, several artists set-up on the water
side of the road and display there crafts
that range from charcoal drawing to shell
collections. Particularly memorable to us
was a baked goods stand set up outside of
the local Women's Folk museum at the far
western end of the old harbor. There, a woman
sold us an assortment of delicious homemade
almond pastries for €1-2 each. We found
a comfortable bench nearby beneath a tree,
and then people-watched and admired the nighttime
beauty of the harbor as we ate our selection
before we went back for seconds to fortify
us for the thirty minute walk back to the
Emy Hotel. |
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