Trips throughout Greece

Athens - Pireaus - Cape Sounion - Poros - Santorini - Zakynthos - Rhodes - Mikonos - Delos - Corinth - Theater of Epidauro - Nafplio - Mycenae - Delphi - Arahova - Ioannina - Vikos Gorges - Meteora - Messenia and Peloponnesus

The Saronic islands are the closest islands from Athens and they are located near the Peloponnesus. In proximity order, they are Aegina, Poros, Hydra and Spetses. They are reached in ships coming from Piraeus. They are perfect for a daily or weekend stay. We selected Poros because we wanted to do a day trip and Hydra (considered as one of the most beautiful harbours in Greece ) or Spetses are a little further. We took the ferry, much slower and cheaper than other fast ships. Besides the ferry allows more freedom to enjoy the landscape during the journey.
The ferry leaves the Piraeus and it offers magnificent perspectives from the important harbour, full of ships, ferries and cruises that sail towards the Greek islands. It was the first ferry that we took in Greece, so everything amazed us. It was September and there was no problem with seats or place, so we could move freely. The splendid weather accompanied to us the whole day.

The ferry makes a stop in Aegina , 1 h. far from Athens. We found the village and the port very nice, but nothing special. Its advantage if compared to the rest of islands is the proximity to Athens, that makes many tourists come here from the capital.

Some months later three friends of us visited it and confirmed what we had thought. It is a pleasant place, and that's all. Nothing compared to the marvels of Greece. Aegina is the capital of the Pistachios, a famous nut that is obtained with excellent quality in Greece.

The ferry sails along the Peloponnesus coast, which shows a great landscape of mountains in this historical and beautiful region. The Greek landscapes are unique, and although you can expect little vegetation due to the hot, Greece is plenty of pines and olive trees, and although there are not leafy forests like in the northern Europe we found a warm environment and surprising in many occasions. So we enjoyed the ferry journey.

At the end the ferry enters a narrow sea branch located between the Peloponnesus and Poros. The arrival to the village shows a small pyramid of compiled white houses , very beautiful. The trip had lasted for 3 h.
We made a fast excursion to the monastery of Zoodochos Pigis , located at 30 min. far by bus. The white monastery is located in a fresh environment, under trees. The landscape and the beaches that we saw from the bus were better than the monastery itself.

When we understood that the main charming was in the village we returned. We made a stop to eat in a Greek tavern with a nice looking and in front of a beach in the middle of nowhere. It was good, but they had an annoying problem with bees, that flied around all the tourists and were a bit stressing. They solved the problem by burning coffee, as the smoke seemed to move them further away.
Just in the village, we decided to walk to the upper part of Poros. On the summit there is a bell-tower and a marvellous unequalled landscape during the dusk and the sunset .

The sea seems a sort of lake, as mountains of Poros and Peloponnesus surround it. The roofs go down sharply towards the shore. This place invites to sit down for a long while. At the end of the sea, in front of us, we could see the so-called "asleep woman", a mountain whose shape reminds a lying woman. At our left there is the strait before the Peloponnesus , and a village called Galatas, 10 min. far by boat from Poros.

We went down very tranquil and a Greek man sat under a shadow near his souvenirs shop started a conversation with us and asked about everything without any intention of selling us anything. If you spend your holidays in Greece, you will realize the open nature of Greek people and it is easy to find yourself talking to them. If you stay for long you will experience their natural curiosity, that you can find offensive if you don't know about it, but you have to understand that this is the way they are. You can be asked in the second question: Are you married? How much do you earn? and many other similar things that can surprise you according to where you are from. The Greeks have special affection for Spanish people, possibly because of the similitude between their customs and nature.

The port of Poros is charming, plenty of terraces, the houses are cubic and white, adorned with little yards and grapevines. The houses ascend through the slope until the top of the hill. The temperature and weather were perfect (it was September). There were fewer tourists and the walk through the village, the fish taverns and the cafes was delicious.
In the island we saw many ship boys wearing military suits, as the School of Ship Boys is located nearby.

We returned on board of a "Flying Dolphin", a sort of speedboats with less capacity than ferries and more expensive, but much faster. Sometimes it is worth. We felt like very little to travel for another 3 h. and the fast boat left a bit latter from Poros, so we could enjoyed the island for longer. Hence, we arrived into the Piraeus in an hour and fifteen minutes. The journey is very comfortable and the interior is arranged in a similar way to a plane. It is forbidden to stay at the outside.
Despite we tried some days to go to Hydra we never got it, sometimes because the boat was full and others due to bad weather.