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Post by Tre on Jul 11, 2019 20:58:18 GMT
Boring club sandwich, funny aren’t you 😅, I asked for a menu to peruse, no menus due to dust & sand & general mess when the aircraft take off!! Or at least that’s what I thought he was saying 🤣 He pointed to a chalk board, probably chalked up last season or the season before. The only entry I could legibly read was club sandwich. It came fairly speedily (unlike the taxi 😂) after ordering & I suspect the said sandwiches were prepped & frozen some time ago. The lettuce, tomato & cucumber in the sandwich, though toasted were still very cold. BORING 😂
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Post by Tre on Jul 11, 2019 21:11:19 GMT
Tuesday How have we reached our last day. With it being so very hot this week we’ve had minimal retail therapy. Needed to buy little Luca a gift. So a morning stroll to Benetton, a bit of browsing, not buying but only in the “cold” shops like Arkos 😅 A dip & a snooze round the pool & though we thought about water taxi to Paradise Taverna at Achladies, it was far more appealing to pop over the road to Limminaki. Greek salad & chicken Souvlaki to share. A glass or 2 of €25 And back to Alkyon pool. 5pm was declared packing time. Heck, why hadn’t we noticed on arrival that suitcase zip was broken 🥺 A couple of safety pins & a bit of good stitching fingers crossed 🤞 it holds 🤞 Had planned to meet old friends coming in on Birmingham flight, landing around half 6. They said they’d have a quick shower & come into town. Last minute change of plan, I decided it would be far kinder for us to meet them at their hotel in Troulos. She was delighted with this idea. So off we went for the bus. I did message Dennis as we were on the bus but he had “retired” for the evening. I would have bought him a Baileys. Now we’ve only ever passed through Troulos but as we walked down to the Troulos Bay Hotel I was stunned. Beautiful beach. Anyway, our friends joined us and the drinks started flowing. We initially thought we’d stay an hour or so & head back to town to eat. Well the best laid plans & all that...... Great evening, lots of laughs. 11:30pm, Realised we’d not eaten except for nibbling the nuts & crisps. We said our farewells & taxi back to bus stop 4. Midnight Meze at Little Balcony. Can recommend. Sharing “finger food” & cheesy chips, oh yes & more wine €18 great value.
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Post by katet on Jul 12, 2019 8:16:56 GMT
Lovely reports, Tre .... makes me want to experience your holiday (except for the boring club sandwich!). I, too, have never been down to Troulos beach, but will make sure we remedy next visit ~ sounds delightful. May also try Xanemos for the plane spotting - but don’t fancy being blasted by grit at all 😣
Your birthday sounded idyllic .... meze lunch, shopping and Infinity Blue! I don’t get to have a birthday in Paradise, as mine is 5 May and it’s too early for us. We usually try to go somewhere, though.
You’ll be home now .... bet little Luca was beaming with delight to see you both 😍. Makes coming home more bearable!
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Post by Tre on Jul 12, 2019 16:33:27 GMT
Thanks Kate for your kind words. Luca was definitely beaming 😍 How can a little one progress so much in just a week!! Wednesday Smooth check in, cases underweight, coffee in the posh new upstairs cafe area before going through security. It was so hot up there, we went through security earlier than planned. Good choice. Really good aircon. A browse in the now fully operational duty free, butties & water bought from one of the downstairs cafe bars. Boarded & took off time & yes we had to refuel. On boarding the cabin is full of “smoking” air con, I mean really full. It looked like fog. But it was so & once airborne the fog cleared. An hour on the ground making it 5 hours 40 mins before we arrived in Manchester. In summary, a wonderful much needed relaxing week. Too much food, too much wine, never short of wonderful company.
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Post by Tre on Jul 12, 2019 16:46:33 GMT
So, Staying in Town V The rest of the island? To date we’ve stayed at Theodora, Kolios, several times, love it. Skiathos Palace, loved the hotel, location not so, Esperides, wasn’t too keen on the hotel but liked the beach & the availability of the water taxi, oh & loved Paradise Taverna. And now the Alkyon. Actually we stayed at the Alkyon 5 years ago but it was a time when we were still “getting to know” the island. We’ve decided our future visits will be early or late, I think we’ll be back in Kolios. The view from our room at the Alkyon was just stunning. Full sea view right over the port. We soon realised that it was only lovely to sit out as the sun rose, I did this a couple of time but then getting up at 6am is not really for me. Managed 10 or 15 minutes on a couple of late nights, but otherwise we could only admire the view through the window. Just far too HOT. Loved just being able to walk out morning & evening straight to “the happening” (now there’s a clue for TA followers😀) And fab to just walk back along the port at night. Missed the peace & tranquility of Kolios, the friendly family, 10 mins walk either way to wonderful beaches. Yes, I know there is Megali Amos beach, but it’s not for me. Too narrow, too busy. Though the adjacent tavernas are seriously worth a visit. We thought by staying in town we’d avoid the crowded buses & easily get a taxi. Not so. Maybe if it hadn’t have been so very hot we’d have done more walking. Only my thoughts. Can you imagine the feedback if I posted this on FB Boomers 😳😂
Until next time............
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Post by balddave on Jul 12, 2019 19:34:09 GMT
Tre, excellent honest and heartfelt response, we have ventured out of town but keep returning, we also like visiting early doors , booked in for May next year, we did visit at the end of September in 2003, only to bring our daughter home who had worked the season on the island, but also enjoyed visit. It’s a shame flights are becoming stupidly expensive, and excluding many folk the opportunity to visit the island. Reports today speak of up to 20 unoccupied seats 💺 n the plane, for July unthinkable, I can only envisage empty rooms , so sad for locals. TC obviously in financial difficulties, but who is going to take up mantle ?
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Post by Tre on Jul 12, 2019 20:25:13 GMT
Yes, I read about the empty seats today. Also heard about the Chinese company interested in TC 😬 To add, we’re seriously looking at planning a visit via Athens. We flew a couple of years ago via Athens with Aegean from Manchester. Saved us about £200 But more thinking Easy Jet to Athens, a couple of nights stay to take in the city....... then, coach & ferry or hopper over. Early days but I do like an adventure 😅
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Post by dennisn on Jul 12, 2019 20:40:08 GMT
Can you imagine the feedback if I posted this on FB Boomers 😳😂 Oh boy, the temptation to copy and paste it (without attributing it to you though).
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Post by Tre on Jul 12, 2019 22:14:01 GMT
Dennis..... 😂
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Post by katet on Jul 13, 2019 6:20:26 GMT
That would be so naughty Dennis!!! But it’s sad that we now feel we can’t express ourselves on fb ..... there’s not really much point to it being a discussion group where you can’t have a discussion! .
I, too, have a dilemma about town v a beach resort Tre. It was good to split it this year - although a faff to have to pack/unpack twice. I love that everything is so close in town and that I could go shopping or on my wanderings in the back streets if Paul wanted to rest in the room. There is also the bonus of having so many excellent places to eat & drink ... spoilt for choice. I also enjoyed taking the water taxi to different beaches, but (like you) am not keen on Megali Amos beach. We walked to the tennis club pool a couple of times, though Paul struggled the second time. The bonus of Koukounaries for us is obviously the various lovely beach choices and the lovely ‘locals’ that we know - although none of them live on the island in winter! I also love the sound of the little Scops owls at night and the peace and quiet of the forest and the Strofilia nature reserve.
Will just have to keep going back to both until we decide!!
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Post by Tre on Jul 13, 2019 6:39:46 GMT
Kate 😂 Looking forward to your next trip.........
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Post by balddave on Jul 13, 2019 6:45:36 GMT
Tre, we are travelling via Athens next year, easyJet from Manchester, yet to decide if we catch ferry or fly from Athens to Skiathos. We are spending 4 days there to take in as much as we can, then 17 days in Skiathos
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Post by cariad23 on Jul 13, 2019 7:40:14 GMT
Lovely report Tre i cant wait to try kolios and report back from opposite perspective, as we have always been in town. we are thinking of trying Leros next year a friends just been,and is full of praise, you have to fly to Kos stay overnight then ferry over. That would get howls of rage on facebook too !.Ive been reading the forum to pick up tips and get a taste of the place and see Ellias who has been to Skiathos many times is trying it in september so i will be keen to read reports. I woke very early , we fell asleep early as had a full day stripping wallpaper was flicking through phone looking at facebook there was a post on there of a smug man bragging about being in a bar all night and having a beer for breakfast the sight of him in budgie smugglers with his huge stomach made me feel quite ill, why would you want to post such an unflattering photo ?
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Post by Tre on Jul 13, 2019 11:08:32 GMT
cariad, I’ve seen the same photo 🤢 I believe his wife posted the photo too, why🤷♀️ Strangely I met up with Elias in Fuerteventura in 2017. Lovely lady. We’d planned to meet up again in Skiathos in a May but didn’t get round to it due our rather stressful time. Will be interesting to see what she thinks of Leros Dave, that’s given me a bit of determination to look into a city/Skiathos holiday further
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Post by dennisn on Jul 13, 2019 12:13:42 GMT
Well, I absolutely LOVED that photo - it made me feel thin again! Actually, VERY thin again.
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