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Post by yorkshiremouth on Sept 10, 2023 8:24:21 GMT
I think it’s 4 weeks. Usually ends after the first week in October.
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Post by balddave on Sept 11, 2023 7:54:52 GMT
I think you’re correct for uk visitors, but i think some other nationalities season lasts a tad longer
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Sept 11, 2023 9:27:40 GMT
I think you’re correct for uk visitors, but i think some other nationalities season lasts a tad longer You’re absolutely right. However, probably because such a large proportion of visitors are from the UK, virtually everything outside town (hotels, bars, tavernas) closes sometime during the first week in October. In some ways, the season never ends, as there’ll always be somewhere open to lay your head, and somewhere to eat. I suspect tourists in the last three weeks in October number in the hundreds, or very low four figures. I’ve often said, once retired, with more time on my hands, I’d love to go for three weeks, to take in the penultimate week (almost everything still open), the last week (everything outside town closing) and the first week post-season, where the island is more like it’s ‘natural’ state, without (many) tourists.
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Sept 11, 2023 13:18:44 GMT
Just had a quick look at the flight figures for last year. www.jsi-airport.gr/uploads/sys_nodelng/2/2895/Skiathos_12_Traffic_2022vs2021.pdfSo (international), 130,00 in August, 83,000 in September, plummets to 7,500 in October, then plummets again to just 151 in November. Given that the UK in still flying in more or less as normal for the first week in October, that probably accounts for most of that 7,500. I think literally just hundreds - possibly just a few dozen - of holiday makers on the island from 7th October onwards, even taking into account visitors by ferry.
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Post by katet on Sept 13, 2023 9:13:53 GMT
Sorry for the silence - been a bit distracted by the storm and then the enforced evacuation to the Palace, followed by a joyful return to the Alkyon on Monday. I seem to have spent a lot of this holiday unpacking and repacking!
I’ll do a proper write up when I get home. What an experience!
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Sept 13, 2023 10:43:00 GMT
Sorry for the silence - been a bit distracted by the storm and then the enforced evacuation to the Palace, followed by a joyful return to the Alkyon on Monday. I seem to have spent a lot of this holiday unpacking and repacking! I’ll do a proper write up when I get home. What an experience! Looking forward to it. I was wondering if they’d return you to the Alkyon, or just keep you at the Palace.
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Post by balddave on Sept 13, 2023 18:06:48 GMT
Thanks Kate, just glad you’re ok, it will be interesting to read an ‘ on the ground report’ so to speak, the resilience and must do attitude of our Greek friends appears to be amazing. Also the input of British tourists with regards to the clean up. If the storm occurred in the uk we’d still be arguing about fault,compensation, tender for works etc,
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Post by dennisn on Sept 14, 2023 10:31:45 GMT
If the storm occurred in the uk we’d still be arguing about fault,compensation, tender for works etc, Nah! We’d be wondering who would call a meeting and when and of which members or should it be all of them?
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Post by kelso on Sept 17, 2023 18:46:27 GMT
Hi Dennis. I hope your airport experience and your flight home went well. It was a real pleasure to meet you and Vera, if only briefly. Now that you are back home can we look forward to hearing more about your trip? Bob
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Post by katet on Sept 25, 2023 10:22:40 GMT
Still Monday 4 Sept:
Well, we did make it to Paraxenos, huddled in our rainwear and dodging the puddles. Unfortunately there was just three of us as our island friends didn’t dare risk the drive along their lane in Ag Pareskevi as it was already showing signs if flooding. It was a good job they didn’t, as the lane collapsed into the stream that night and they were unable to get out for several days. The food was as lovely as ever at Paraxenos - I had the delicious, artistically presented sea bass. It was difficult for the restaurant staff as the rain started to come through the roof awning in places. We skipped an after dinner drink and headed straight back to the Alkyon as it was raining really hard by now. Then the thunder and lightning got properly started ⚡️💥
Storm Daniel! An experience I hope never to repeat. Trapped in the hotel without elec & running water, just a sandwich, bottled water & fruit - lonely and scary. I was lucky to be on the middle floor, at the front. It was also lucky that I’d taken a torch - something I don’t usually do. (Once my iPad & phone had lost charge I could at least read a paperback after dark at about 7 pm.) Watching the storm increase from the safety of the hotel was a bit like watching a disaster movie. I’d never seen water rise so fast and was horrified to see large items (inc 2 cars) swept into the sea. The thunder and lightning was continuous for around 36 hrs and it rained incessantly for three days, starting in the early hours of Monday and petering out on Wednesday, when I managed to get out to a taverna to charge my phone - despite being under a curfew. We were all evacuated on the Thursday morning to Skiathos Palace as there was no hope of getting electricity back at the Alkyon until the flooded basement was pumped out. I received very short notice to get packed & out (10 minutes!) and it was, understandably, a bit chaotic on arrival at the Palace. However, we were safe and hadn’t lost anything but it was very sad to see the damage and destruction along the whole island. Just awful.
I was not happy or impressed with the Palace, although I know that many love it and I was grateful to be somewhere that had electricity! It’s definitely not the best place for a solo traveller to stay. Too big; too many steps; old fashioned bathrooms; damp room (on floor 6!); small, greying and thin towels; awful ‘school canteen’ dining room. The plus points are the lovely pool area and the stunning view of Koukounaries. After the first evening in the hotel I spent as much time as I could out of it - either walking down into Koukounaries or catching the bus into town.
On the fourth full day there (Monday) I had just caught an early bus to town and settled at the tennis club for the day when I received a phone call to say I could go back to the Alkyon that day if I wanted to … did I!!!! So, a taxi ride back to the hotel, packing (again) and a taxi “home “ - fabulous! The staff had worked tirelessly to get the hotel up & running again and - apart from the basement being out of use - you wouldn’t know anything had ever happened, until you looked into the side garden and saw the huge pile of ruined furniture and debris awaiting removal.
Next door to the hotel, the restaurant Liminaki had suffered severe damage as the front terrace had been destroyed and washed into the sea. The staff were working so hard to rebuild it and, unbelievably, the restaurant was open again by the Tuesday evening! This Herculean effort was being repeated all over the island and it was both humbling and inspiring to witness. One of the worst hit restaurants on Pap St was Dinos, where the block paving outside was ripped up by the torrents and the inside was flooded out. By the Saturday evening Roula had reopened so my friend and I ate there to show her some support and we had a really lovely meal from a very reduced menu, as she had lost so much stock.
After settling back into the Alkyon (next door to my previous room, but with a huge double bed instead of two singles - thank you Lina!) I met up with my friend Ann for a pre-dinner cocktail at Turquoise but it ended up being a drinks-&-snacks-only type of evening as we settled in there to keep lovely Heather company. They’d also had flood water rushing through the bar, from the back door to the front, but were lucky not to lose anything. Everywhere was pretty quiet, as many uk holidaymakers had been flown home and none were being brought in until Wednesday. This was very apparent at the hotel - I think there were only about a dozen rooms in use.
Tuesday was my last day, so I made the most of it: a water taxi to a lovely and peaceful Achladies beach, lunch of Caesar salad at Mojo and later drinks at Gerani and then dinner at Hellinikon with a lovely couple - Val & Dave - followed by a nightcap at King & Queen’s as Dave wanted to watch some football. A lovely end to a rather different holiday!
My journey home was smooth and uneventful, thankfully. It’s taken me a while to process the events of this trip and think it’s perhaps because there was often just me and my thoughts in enforced isolation once the phone had died. I’ve never felt that lonely before and I am definitely always taking a power bank from now on! I will always be using Jet2 in future, too. They have been excellent and I’ve already received some compensation without even asking 😄 (A total surprise as it was hardly their fault!)
So that’s all from me for now until next May, when I’m planning to experience Greek Easter - weather permitting!
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Sept 25, 2023 10:25:28 GMT
Floor 6, is that the separate block?
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Post by balddave on Sept 25, 2023 14:32:31 GMT
Thank you Kate, it’s marvellous how resilient island folk are, glad you kept safe, interesting to read your views on the palace I’ve heard contradictory views over the years. Hopefully the current forecast bad weather won’t result in the same carnage
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Post by katet on Sept 25, 2023 15:58:16 GMT
Floor 6, is that the separate block? Not sure, Steve. Don’t think so … I always used the stairs from the swimming pool terrace and it was one floor up (a red themed floor) and near the entrance to the White Room or whatever it’s called. The room was 617 … and had a most unsuitable red picture on the wall for a family hotel! 🫣
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Post by cariad23 on Sept 25, 2023 16:17:25 GMT
Thanks for updating us. Must have been very boring for you stuck in alone no power etc I presume no water meant can’t flush toilet either note to self always carry power bank in future, I’d be lost without kindle and phone. Well done to alykon getting sorted so quickly. My friend is in skiathos at moment first time travelling alone since her husband died, but she was meeting and staying at same accommodation as friend already there. She arrived Friday and promptly got storm warnings but all well so far
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Sept 26, 2023 8:57:57 GMT
Thanks for the fantastic update, Kate.
You’ve certainly had your experiences with Skiathos this year. Regarding the Palace, it’s a shame you didn’t enjoy it.
My dad agreed on the steps - it’s the main reason we went to the Alkyon this year (it has a lift).
I found the bathrooms at Alkyon to be near-identical, and we’ve never seen damp - my guess is that you were in one of the old rooms. I think floor 6 is in the block at the back, which I’ve never been in. Towels were never an issue, I don’t remember a difference between Alkyon and Palace.
I’ve only ever eaten in the White View, apart from breakfast where we always sit outside.
How many times are you going next year?
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