Georgioupolis, Crete

[Fina]

Ithaca was OK, not the most beautiful Greek island I have ever been to. Very hot good 10deg up o Kefalonia.

[Gemma1]

Sorry I was getting confused as when I mentioned Ithaca and Fourni I was thinking of Ikaria not Ithaca. Went to Ithaca on a day trip from Kefalonia but it was back in 1997 and I can't remember an awful lot about it.

[STEVE]

We've been to many of the Dodecanese Islands, Symi, obviously, more time than we can count but Astypalea is a firm favourite as is Leros and Nissyros. We didn't, really, take to Tilos but we liked Patmos and, for a few days, Kastellorizo is worth the effort if only to say you've been there! Ferries to Astypalea are difficult because they arrive, mostly, in the middle of the night but the Olympic inter-Island flight from Rhodes or wherever isn't expensive and works fine. We stayed in Livadhia at the better than excellent Studios Manganas who will collect you from the small airport. On Leros, try Tony's Beach in Vromolithos (we went out one Saturday and came back to our apartment in the afternoon to find the Kitchen had been completely re-fitted - with no mess left whatsoever) and on Nissyros the superb Hotel Porfyris in Mandhraki.

Next June were planning on a 3/4 week trip up and down the Dodecanese using the Spanos and the Olympic inter island flights and are looking at re-visiting some of the above together with Kalymnos, Karpathos and, of course, Symi.

Steve

[Gemma1]

It would be lovely to have 3/4 weeks to go island hopping Steve, you really can't do the islands justice in 2 weeks though it's the longest I can have off work at once. Sounds like a great trip, it would be lovely if you could post a trip report on here

[STEVE]

How we've done it in the past Gemma is to fly to Rhodes and then go to 'another' Island for a week or so before returning to Symi for the balance of our two week holiday. We love Symi but, eventually, took the view that if we went there every time for our two weeks we wouldn't get to go anywhere else. We've done it this way since about 2007. Before that we'd pretty much always had our full holiday on Symi since the late 1990's. Both of us should be retired by next March so 2015 is the 'Big Holiday' we've been saving up for and promising ourselves for some years!

Steve

[snoopy2]

Has anyone else come across Mike Barratt's Travel Guides? I was following up on Naxos on google and happened across his site - smashing for Greekophiles!!!!

[Gemma1]

That's sort of what I did when I went to Tilos Steve. I booked 2 weeks on Symi and went to Tilos for 3 nights halfway through the holiday. Because I travel to Symi solo it works out a lot cheaper to go on a package with Olympic than travelling independently. I usually go to Symi for my one week 'solo' holiday in September and go island hopping with my partner in June for 2 weeks. He gets less holiday than me so I always have one holiday a year on my own and Symi is ideal for that

[Val]

Somehow for me the idea of island hopping by airline is just a step too far. Call me old fashioned but I just love the whole coming and going by boat. The arriving and departing is a massive part of the whole idea of travelling, and I think I'd feel a teeny bit cheated if it was any other way. Having said that it was lovely to fly so close to Tilos this September to pick out the walks we'd done and all the hidden coves and churches, and I always carry my map of Greece to identify as many islands as possible on the flight down to Rhodes or wherever. Don't get me wrong Steve, I love flying but sailing is just too big a part of island hopping to miss out on.

[SueL]

Did a holiday to Ikaria in the Laskarina days stayed at Armenistis came into Ag. Kirikos journey across the island on a coach was intereseting we went over the central spine on small roads.
2 lovely beaches at Armenistis we hired a car and drove around it was very quite and traditional, got hijacked by an elderly lady who when we stopped - she was standing in the middle of the road jumped in the car and told us where she wanted to go - her family apologised when when we took her home. The politics and recent history were interesting the communists had been exiled there after the 2nd world war. The village in the hills was nice stayed open late lots of farming enjoyed the holiday but we've not been back

[mr wotsin]

Went to Nissyros about twelve years ago on a day trip, on Symi-1, if my memory serves me[Sunday School trip] organised by Francis in Symi. We chugged along at no great pace. Everywhere was painted dark blue, decorated with the little black and white stones, as imported to Symi. Drove into the volcano, did not smell too good. Had a lovely day out with all the regular September people.