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!!!!!
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