First Day on Skiathos Island, Greece

Hello there – Kalimera!

Moi here lounging at the Gold Fish, one of the many cafes on Skiathos Old Port... having a chilled Greek frappe here to welcome our summer holiday on Skiathos island.

Dutchman and I have been on Skiathos Island for a week already. It’s both our first time on this lovely Sporades island. Our original plan was to go to Karpathos in the Dodecanese Islands but we saw this Skiathos deal that we could not just pass up, so instead, we booked Skiathos =)

RED EYE FLIGHT

Skiathos is the only island in the Sporades group of islands that has an airport. The island has charter flights starting end of April (or beginning of May) until October. Most of the charter flights coming from Amsterdam are helaas, red-eye flights.

We arrived on the island at half-past 10 on the morning of Thursday last week on a 06:10 red-eye flight which means we were at Schiphol Amsterdam airport at 04:00 (leaving home at 03:00). I didn’t get to sleep well the night before but I managed to doze off a bit during the less than 3-hour flight, however for the middle-aged me, that was not enough. Checking in to our apartment was easy which I will post a separate entry soon, but I guess I am really getting old because my body just cannot handle a night without the right amount of sleep anymore. I can take a few hours’ sleep but I MUST have a proper laydown rest of at least 4 hours.

You know that saying – The spirit is willing but the body is weak, is very true when you get older. I can only imagine how it is going to be in my 50’s soon. Going downhill, lol. My travel style will for sure drastically change. Maybe I will even travel less?

Location of Skiathos island in Greece's map, on the northern part of the archipelago very near to the mainland.

This is the view from our apartment's balcony. The apartment itself is not something to rave about, but the location and the views are lovely and very relaxing. I will post more soon about this place.

Needless to say, I slept through the whole afternoon while Dutchman was quick to lay down beside the pool of our apartment village.

‘I thought you were just going to take a nap but instead, you slept for hours!’ complained the Dutchman.

Our holiday apartment is located outside the old town, approximately a 15 to 20-minute walk but we rented a scooter to make things easier for us. Skiathos is a very small island (compared to the islands we have holidayed in the past) so a scooter is the best holiday transportation here unless you are a family then a car would definitely be handier.

SKIATHOS OLD TOWN

Now fully recharged – moi with sleep and Dutchman with the pool relaxation – we walked to the Old Town and picking up a rental scooter on the way. A 50cc scooter is approximately 8-10 Euros per day here on Skiathos. We rented a 50cc and kind of regretted that we should have taken a 70cc instead because the roads to the mountains were quite steep. Very steep that I have to get off the scooter and walk so Dutchman can throttle it up.

On our first day in the Old Town, we only checked out the main pedestrian road, the Papadiamanti street and the old harbour where a lot of cafes, restaurants and boat tours are located. We just needed some welcome drink to Skiathos in our system. We are staying for 2 weeks on the island, so we are not rushing.

We took a gazillion of pictures of course, even on our first day. So these are the shreds of evidence =)

The Papadiamanti pedestrian street is the main shopping street of Skiathos old town that leads to the old and new port.

The Mamma Mia film was staged in the Sporades Islands, on Skiathos and Skopelos. The right picture is the house of Papadiamanti, a celebrated Greek author born on this island. His house is now a museum.

They have an open-air cinema for the Mamma Mia film. I have not seen the film (nor I am interested in seeing it) but I have seen the Mamma Mia Musical in Utrecht Jaarbeurs more than a decade ago.

Bourtzi Peninsula dividing the old and new ports of Skiathos.

Lots of outdoor cafe terraces here in the Old Port of Skiathos. Great place to hang out and people watch with a drink in hand.

We sat down at the Gold Fish cafe bar terrace in the Old Port for some welcome to Skiathos island summer holiday drink.

The harbour promenade at the Old Port of Skiathos.

One of the boat tour vendors. He is one very jolly chap, think he is English. A lot of people holidaying here from the UK and Scandinavia.

The harbour promenade, this was taken during the golden hour, unfortunately the sun sets down on the other part of the island.

The old port is busy with lots of cafes, bars and restaurants. Great place to hang out after a long day at the beach.

The fishing profession through these traditional Greek fishing boats is still alive in Skiathos, however, they are few and far between. Many of the residents have moved into the tourism industry as Skiathos is a popular island holiday destination.

There are regular on the hour (some more frequent especially during high season) daily ferries that connect Skiathos Old Town to other areas on the island. I believe 2 ferries going to Achladies-Vassilias and Koukounaries-Troulous-Kolios area.

There are many restaurants with a stunning view in Skiathos! Not just in the old town but in other parts of the island.

There are many yachts (also catamarans and sailing boats) that offer sailing trips for a maximum of 8-10 people on board. You can either buy just a ticket for 1 or 2 with other people on board or hire them exclusively.

Travel Period: June 2017
Destination: Skiathos Old Town, Sporades (Thessaly), Greece

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Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)

All pictures were taken by a point and shoot pocket camera or a smartphone.