Skyros |
Hi Matt, Sorry for the late answer: a lot of work today as usual (yesterday it was a "happy" occasion: our database
that I work with was dead most of the time, so I had time to visit favorite places on the Net).Here are a few words about the island. Skyros is famous in ancient Greek history for its the Tzar Lycomedes's castle, its ruins are still quite picturesque on the top of the hill in the center of Skiros village (the island's capital). The legend says that Achilles was hidden by his mother (sea nymph, Thetis) in this castle,dressed as a girl , to avoid the Trojan War. There is also on the same hill a ruin of an early Christian Church, and besides, the sights from the hill are very beautiful. Unfortunately mypictures made from the other side of the hill, to the village itself, are not so good (I had made something wrong while shooting, or my camera was not good enough for such photos), but I have bought some very nice pictures of the sights -- both photos and aquarelles -- and can scan some of them for you later. Another picture (above) shows a typical street of Skyros village --almost all of them are actually stairs, not roads. To get to Skyros one should get a ferry boat (actually it's THE ferry boat, named Lykomedos, for there is only one ferry that connects the island with the "big land") from Kimi, a little town on the South-West of Evia. The ferry comes to Lynaria, a port situated at the opposite from Skyros village side of the island. There are a lot of other very beautiful places at Skyros, but I have seen them only in pictures (I can also scan them for your site later), because I had no time to travel through the island -- now it's my dream to go and stay there for a few days to see more. As to the crafts of which the islanders are famous, I loved the ceramics, it is quite special, not like other Greek pottery (of course I had purchased a few things, it is impossible to refuse oneself such a pleasure). One more thing I loved about Skyros -- its very friendly inhabitants: after a few hours I had spent there I felt as if I know everybody, and everybody knows me. Though sometimes we had no common language (some of the people I tried to ask something spoke only Greek), we somehow could at last understand each other and I got all the needed explanations: the problem with me was that I traveled alone and managed several times to loose my way... Sorry for such a brief story, there are quite more impressions to describe -- English is not my mother language, and it takes a lot of time for me to express myself. Thank you once more for a possibility to return to my favorite land --only in memories, alas -- Wishing you success in your great work, Elena pimen@park.ru (Elena Pimenova) For Hotels in Skyros try Mike
Constantinou at www.greecetravel.com/travelagents/greeceaccommodations Be sure to visit Skyros during Carnival season which ends 40 days before Easter. |