Skopelos – an island in the Sporades group
By Helen Grubner. Filed in Uncategorized |
Skopelos town (I am intrigued by how this photo looks more like an oil painting)
My last day in Damouhari passed quietly. I lounged on the beach for some time, the wind from the days’ before had all but gone and the Aegean Sea was calmer, however, still far too many rocks to contend with. I kept good company for a while with a Greek couple from Piraeus and they invited me back to their accommodation for a wine but as it was some 8km away, I unfortunately had to decline, my legs had done enough walking those previous few days.
With only six nights until I must head for the island of Skyros, I decided to skip Skiathos, the most touristy of the three islands in the north Sporades group, and head straight to Skopelos, the fictional Greek island of “Kalokairi” in the movie “Mama Mia”. With a full moon on my last night there and an early start to the day yesterday, Damouhari farewelled me with the most glorious red sunrise (see More Photos II). Walked up the stony path to await my taxi from Kissos to take me to Mouresi 5km away up the mountain, via a winding road. Set me back 20 Euro which I was not too pleased about, however, there was no other option. After an hour’s wait in Mouresi for the bus to Volos, it eventually arrived and I made a special request of the driver to let me know when we reached the nearest stop to the port. He forgot but I sensed it was close and when I approached him for the second time – yes, we were there.
I was hoping to make it in time to catch the Hellenic Seaways “Flying Dolphin XXIII” hydrofoil at 1000 hours and with only 20 minutes to get there, I thought I would give it a go. Arrived at the dock, had to return back to find the ticket office (b….. expensive, 45 Euro) and only just made it on board before the ramp was taken away. A speedy 2 1/2 hours to Skopelos, via Skiathos and Glossa, where I was met by Sophie who owns the accommodation where I had pre-booked a studio www.skopelosweb.gr/delsol/ A wonderful place it is here, 700m from Skopelos town and a pleasant walk along the harbour, where you will find rooms/studios/apartments and a villa, all in a delightful garden setting, complete with tennis court and swimming pool.
If I was happy to wait until later in the day, Sophie would upgrade me from a studio to an apartment for the same rate – actually the upstairs floor of the villa. It was a worthwhile decision, I have everything I could need here – a large balcony off the bedroom with uninterrupted sea views as well as a side balcony, extremely comfortable king size bed, lovely bathroom and living area with kitchen so I have decided to do some self catering for a few days to save some Euro. Until this morning, I had thought to stay for three nights then on to Alonissos. Now I have decided to spend the six nights on Skopelos, however, I will have to move to a studio on Saturday.
The island of Skopelos is mountainous and reputed to be the greenest in the Aegean. The economy relies heavily now on tourism and in Skopelos town, the charming capital and main port of the island, the narrow, cobbled streets climb up the hillside. A steep slope, largely inaccessible to vehicles, however, there are more than enough of those in the streets below. Stacked on the hillside you will find white washed houses with red tile roofs, wooden balconies and lace curtained windows and by law, new buildings must retain the old style. There are many many churches and this morning I visited the 2,500 year old little church of St Nicholas, to light a candle and say a special prayer for my family, on this my dear Mum’s 93rd birthday.
Today I read that Skopelos is a matrilineal society and wealth is past on via the family line. It is customary for the parents of each Skopelitan bride to provide the new couple with at least a house and a property which remains in the bride’s name. This custom is particularly insular as in most other parts of Greece, especially on the mainland and Crete, wealth is patrilineal.