My Other Favourite Island

May I introduce a lovely, quiet, Greek island? It is in the Saronic Gulf and lies a mear 20 miles from the city of Athens. There are 4 villages on the island and if an international airport were to be constructed there we should have no island left for inhabitants. In the past this island has been overlooked or disparaged by those who call themselves travel writers. My task is to show, through this blog, how wrong they are.

Pauline and I first visited the island courtesy of SunMed, a travel company known for their frank portrayals of Greek islands in their brochure, "Go Greek". It was in 1988 that we first set foot on Anghistri as I prefer to spell it. The "Go Greek" brochure told us it was a two hour sail to our destination from Piraeus. But in 1988 they decided to use a private boat called the "Kitsolakis Express" to transfer customers from a port called Trocadero via Aghia Marina on the island of Aegina. This followed a night flight from the UK. Needless to say I was at a low ebb as I boarded this boat which stank of diesel fuel. After two hours we offloaded those people staying in Aghia Marina on the far side of Aegina from Anghistri. It was a further hour before we embarked at the tiny port of Mandraki that serves Megalohori (or Mylos) on Anghistri.

We loaded our luggage in the correct reverse order for dropping off on a small pick up and walked slowly up the steep hill to the village where our rooms were. We were shattered! At the top of the hill I saw the village centre and exclaimed, "I like this place!" This was the start of a great love affair with this tiny Greek island that is still continuing. The difference between then and now is very marked and all for the good. Watch this space!!!!!

The Island of Anghistri

This blog is dedicated to the most alluring island I have ever visited. As the title suggests, there are three ways of spelling the name of the island in English. Two are based upon the local style whereby the name suggests the inclusion of an N. It is a place we have visited many times and one which draws us back, time after time. The population is only 700 out of season but swells to 4 figures when the sun is shining!

Athens is a mere 20 miles away and yet the island appears to be an isolated gem. There are no ruins to visit and little is known of its history. Three villages constitute the community - Skala, Megalohori and Limenaria. Skala is a classic but small summer resort where most visitors gravitate. It's name comes from the fact that when anyone wished to travel to the neighbouring island of Aegina, they had to take a boat from the beach using a ladder. Ladder, in Greek, is Skala, hence the name of this resort. Until very recently it was the main port for visiting Anghistri. Indeed it is the one to which the daily car ferry sails to collect passengers and vehicles. Megalohori is the capital and its centre is marked by a cafenion, a supermarket and the main church for the island. As for Limenaria, it has remained untouched as it is an inland community. There people still function within the small agricultural activities on this side of the island.

Since the opening and blessing of its new port in 2006, Megalohori has seen a vast improvement to its transfer services between the island and Piraeus, the port of Athens.