The island group of Sporades; Alonissos, Skopelos and Skiathos
Alonissos
We had an amazing sailing from Skyros to Alonissos. I could stay on deck most of the journey.
We anchored in Spartines Beach Anchorage and were invited onboard to Tuula and Pekka from Finland to eat homemade chocolate cake. It was delicious!! Thanks a lot for the invitation Tuula! (Tuula and Pekka are friends to our Swedish friends Ingela and Lars)
This is actually not from the Sporades islands. We picked theese shells on Antipsara. Aren`t they amazing? They are so small so it is hard to take a good photo. I am not sure what to use them for 🙂
It was really beautiful in this anchorage and it was time to inflate the paddleboard for the season.
Tuula and Pekka wanted to invite us for dinner on Midsummer Eve, but since we were late yesterday they invite us for dinner the day after instead. That day Houkje and Hank from Netherland also arrived in the bay, and they had met before, so they were also invited. Delicious pizza Pekka!
The next day Tuula and Pekka left and Houkje and Hank invited us to join them for an evening walk. Of course we said yes!
We passed a farm with a lot of chicken.
And a turkey!
It was a really nice aroundtrip, through farms and forrest, walking of all types of ground.
The view down to the main village of Alonissos, Patitiri. Hank had made a trail on the map before we started, but at this point we checked out how far it was up to Chora, the old town. It was not too far so after some discussions we decided to walk to Chora.
We walked along the main road to Chora, but when we returned we found out there was a nice path to walk.
Beautiful details on this house!
It was really worth the extra distance to walk to Chora, beautiful village!
A lot of flowers and old beautiful houses.
And narrow, peppled streets.
Not many shops, and very touristic.
So beautiful!
Chora is laying on a hill, so you had a nice view everywhere!
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We had a short walk around town, we probably could have used more time here, but it started to get late.
Restaurants waiting for their guests. I had prepared dinner in our boat so we couldn`t eat here.
Some very old buildings.
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You know… when your memory on the phone is full in the middle of a busy day…. yep, that happend to me!! I was frustrated, and I asked Astor to take some photos.
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We found a nice place to have an icecream before returning to the boat. And I could delete some photos/videos on my phone.
We manage to come back to the boat right before darkness, and had a quick swim before we had Houkje and Hank over for dinner.
A video from todays walk:
Here is tracking of our walk:
The next day we left this lovely anchorage, but just around the corner, closer to the village.
Only us and a catamaran in this bay. Short way to the beach and a nice place to put the dinghy.
We walked over the hill to the village. There were a lot of sailboats, most of them charterboats.
A nice quiet place.
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The next morning we woke up early for a hike. We didn`t take more than a few photos.
At the end of the hike, the view to the village.
Here is the trail we walked:
When we came back to the boat we hoisted the anchor and sail further on to Skopelos.
Chora seen from below.
We had a good sailing wind so we sailed north on Skopelos, to the “Mamma Mia” church, and anchored in the bay. It was many boats there when we arrived and it was difficult to find good holding, but after they left we anchored well and used a line ashore.
A small beautiful beach in this bay. A lot of people there when we arrived, but we waited for a while to go ashore, because of the heat. Sunbeds and Sunbrellas, and a restaurant on the hill.
Steep stairs from the beach up to the restaurant and road.
From the top of the stairs.
We anchored close to the beach.
Have you seen Mamma Mia? This video is from the first movie, and this clip was filmed right here where we are!
Meryl Streep ran up the stairs to the church. It was really steep!
Why did they build a church on this rock??
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Needed some photos on the way up!
A dronephoto of the Rock/cliff, the bay and our boat.
It is steep! And just to let you know: If you have seen Mamma Mia and you think you will see the same church here, no, you will not. This is a much smaller church. Where the church from the film actually is, I don`t know….
The next morning, before everyone else came to the bay (almost, there were a couple before us) we had a morning exercise up to the church:
Unfortunately it was not nice to swim here, it was a lot of dirt in the sea.
We sailed south again, and anchored first outside the harbour of the town.
But after a while we realized it would be a lot of swell there, and it was a lot of space in the harbour.
And, do you know, it is 1 year since we started this journey?? We had to celebrate with a nice dinner!
If you haven`t followed us since the beginning, here is the first post after we had our splashday and start our journey:
We went to this restaurant, Nostos, wich was really nice!
It was some windy days in Skopelos so we stayed a lot in the boat, but we had to explore the town before we left. The harbour is huge and there is space for many boats. It can be a bit rolly for the boats which are furthest out because the big ferries coming into the harbour. But that is only through the day.
Skopelos town is laying like an amfi theater, so it is worth walking up the hill to get the view. You can start by the church at the end of the harbour.
The church seen from above.
Nice decorations in the window.
Someone wrote about a restaurant on the top of the hill, driven by an elderly couple. I think it has to be this!
A really nice place. I guess it is full here in the evening.
The view!
Another nice restaurant on the top of the hill.
…like an amfi theatre…
Yes it is nice walking around in town in a dress, but when you are “running up the hill” it is better to wear something comfortable! (I think!)
A beautiful pink hibiscus!
And the bouganvilla is the most beautiful flower!
Everywhere!
The next morning I went for shopping/and photo while Astor prepared the boat for sailing.
It is most touristic shops, and I think it was expencive. But it was nice to have a walk around.
I really liked Skopelos town, hope to go back here! It is best from 11 – 15 after all the charterboats are gone and the new one is coming in.
The harbour
The harbour and a lot of restaurants.
The church where you can start you walk up the hill.
The harbour
Skopelos town, laying like an amfi theatre.
A video from Skopelos:
We sailed to the northwest coast of Skiathos and anchored in the beautiful bay of Ligaries and got a stunnning sunset.
It was three boats anchoring there. The boat in the middle is a couple from Switserland who we met in Skopelos, and the boat to the left is an Australian boat. And the couple there, Patrice and Greg, had the same plan as us the next morning. We met them on the beach 8.00 and we both had the plan to walk the Magic Forrest. So why not walk together?
I read about Magic Forrest and I have seen some videos from there, but I thought we couldn`t see the river in the summer. It is so dry in summertime…
It was really amazing! And all the trees made shadow for us.
You need enough time to open your eyes and have a look around, it is so many spectacular trees there!
I guess many of them are really old.
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And there were running waters!!
Astor exploring an old tree.
It was also possible to go inside!
It is always nice to share experiences together!
Running water!
Have you tried Geo-caching? I read somewhere it is three caches in Magic Forrest.
A nice view from the hill down to where we started the hike.
Nice trail all the way!
And a lot of green trees!
Our small boats…
On the end we walked on a gravel road and met a gate in front of some apartments. But it was possible to open up and walk through.
Greg, me and Patrice! Nice to meet you, hope to see you again somewhere!
A video from this amazing hike:
Here is tracking for Magic Forrest:
And from there we left the Sporades for this time. We are sailing up to Chalkidiki to prepare holiday for our fosterdaughter Miriam who is flying in to Thessaloniki. We had a beautiful afternoon sail with gennaker.
