Skiathos review

[john]

We had a great time in Koukanaries. What a lovely laid back resort this is. After a VERY shaky start, we were stuck on the plane for 3 hours and 15 minutes because of not beng allocated a slot and then technical problems and then having to wait for another slot . We should have been landing at Skiathos when we were taking off!
Our hotel,the Muses was wonderful. Set in blocks of around six units in lovely gardens, our room was spacious and very clean with great views to the Strofilia lake and the hillsides. The Hera taverna ( the hotel's restaurant ) offered a great selection of meals and was very popular with the tourists.
There were plenty of tavernas and restaurants so we could have eaten somewhere different each night. Our favourites were the Strofilia restaurant and Georges taverna, a traditional greek taverna with a traditional home cooked menu. Even the bread was cooked on site and it was gorgeous! Captain Michaelis' is also worth a visit.
the eastern part of Koukanaries is the busier part of the resort..and the louder with Stamilos' bar, the Bussola bar and the big bad wolf all blasting out music but it wasn't really overpowering.
The buses to Skiathos were frequent running every fifteen minutes and costing 1.5 euros into town. The beauty of getting on here is that you are guaranteed a seat, although when we were travelling there was no one standing.
Koukanaries beach is as stunning as always but i feel they have spoilt it this year by putting an extra row of sunbeds and parasols up making it (to me anyway) very overcrowded. I feel it is much better to visit Aghia Eleni beach or Mandraki or Elias beaches, a very easy 30 minute walk through gorgeous woodland for the latter two and a 15 minute walk for Aghia eleni by road. these beaches are much quieter and all have tavernas.
There is some great walking to be had on Skiathos and i experienced quite a bit this year. I feel it would almost be possible to walk around the island in a day if you set off early enough!
Skiathos town..........well, what can i say! Great as ever for sitting and chilling out in the old port, the windmill restaurant for great views and great food, Papadiamantis street for the shop and bars and of course the fantastic old town with the maze of narrow street and restaurants which seem to spring up every where!
I could not spend a holiday with my accommodation in Skiathos town, i love the tranquility of somewhere like Koukanaries. I do however, love the bus ride into town and sampling the delights of Skiathos for four or five hours now and again. It is a must see place at night as it takes on a whole new appearance. It is captivating!
We took the Kassandra cruise to Skopelos and Alonissos for the day. Two wonderful islands. We stayed on Skopelos in 2001 and it felt like going home revisiting it. We were told that it had been very busy on Skopelos with the filming of Mama Mia this year. The 2 guys from Abba had apparently been on the island for a while during the filming Can't wait to see the film.
I love that island and must go back soon. We also had the added bonus of seeing 5 seperate pods of Dolphins during our time on the boat.great stuff!
All in all, we had a wonderful holiday. It was hot without being unbearable. However, on about 3 evenings we had to wrap up as it got quite cool.
We booked the holiday through Travel Republic making a saving of about £400 on the identical holiday offered by First Choice and also saving £85 on the return train fare to Manchester where we would have had to fly from if we had booked First Choice. We could not find self catering accommodation for what we paid for the hotel! (£338)
I loved this resort and hotel. I have already got 12 Sept 2008 pencilled in for a return visit...........You up for it Jamie? :

[Teggsy]

Cracking review John.
Sounds idyllic may just have to put it on list of islands to visit one day. If I ever get sick of Kef that is.

Shaz

[Kerrie]

Great review John, my friend met Pierce Broslan in a bar out there, he's in mama mia.

Kerrie