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Koufonisia
9 – 11 October
Being in the Greek islands in the down season I wasn’t
expecting to be able to get to some of the smaller, secluded
islands around Naxos. Fortunately, the Skopelitis Express
was still running and happened to be running on the day that
we wanted to go to Koufonissi. Many people have raved about
Koufonissia’s beauty – with good reason. It is a beautiful,
small secluded island where everyone seems to know everyone
and the whole town (all 50 of them) hang out along the
narrow streets in the evenings to chatter and gossip.
Walking through the streets felt like walking in someone’s
backyard.
We spent the day at Pori Beach which we arrived at via a one
hour walk along the stretch of spectacular coastline. It was
so quiet that the only thing I could hear was the crunch of
our shoes on the gravel and the waves lapping at the shores
below the cliffs. The island itself looked quite barren –
not sure if this is how it normally looks or is a result of
a dry summer and lack of tourists. We would see a house here
and there but on the whole it was a mixture of low sand
dunes and wild shrubs which dotted the coastline.
At Pori beach we found one lone tourist and some men working
on what appeared to be the construction of a house, both on
opposite ends of the beach. We plonked ourselves in the
middle of the long stretch of sand along the sheltered bay
and spent the day relaxing and swimming in the cool, super
clear water. It was so secluded that we were able to go
skinny dipping and saw an old man sail in, drop anchor and
got out to go for a leisurely walk along the beach – wearing
only a Greek fisherman’s hat!
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