Donoussa in the "Small Cyclades", the quiet Greek island

Donoussa is one of the smaller islands that lie around the much larger island Naxos. This group of islands has been given the name "Small Cyclades". Donoussa is the most isolated of the group and is situated on the eastside of Naxos. It is te most quiet of them all and not frequently visited by ferries. If the ferries go on strike, like they did during our visit, it can become too small. It does have its charms though. First of all I have to say that it is not really an island designed for the tourists and that most people don't speak English. The two restaurants and the supermarket in the village (with one piece of goat-cheese and one bottle of ouzo - but I did get updates that the supermarket is much better utilised nowadays) are limited for choice. Consider yourself lucky if you find the ticket-office for the ferries open on the time that it is supposed to be open. On the other side we did make what I concider to be the most beautiful walk we ever made. We walked for three hours along the coastline and back for two hours through the mountains, and we did not see anybody except for a couple of people that lived in a little village that we passed (just a couple of houses and a church). Next to that village we found a small dream-beach with little rocks in the water, which overlooked the most gorgeous small island Skoulonissi, surrounded by crystal clear turqoise water. We stayed there for a couple of hours to rest from the walk and to take a dip into the water. We had the beach to ourselves all the time. This is where we ate a piece of dry toast with some sweaty cheese, and drank some water....the most delicious meal I ever had.

Donoussa is nice to visit for a day or two and make walks. Other people like it so much they want to spend a couple of weeks or their whole holiday here, because they think it is the most beautiful small island in the whole bunch of the small Cyclades. If you like it quiet you came to the right place. The sunsets were along the most beautiful I've ever seen. It goes down over the mountains of its bigger neighbour, the island of Naxos. We would make sure to be at home at the time it was about to go under and have a cup of coffee while looking at it. The main village looks inviting with a big, quiet sandy beach, but the sand is rather hard. You will find a couple of quiet beaches in the south of the island (Kendros and Livadi) and in the north (Kalotaritissa - the one we visited) but you have to be prepared to walk. There is also space for people that like to swim in the sea without their textiles on since a lot of the beaches are mixed or they are taken over by the naturists. There are no busses and you can't rent a car or a motorcycle (at least not when we wre there). There's a tap in the village / harbor Agios Stavros with fresh natural water that you can drink (we didn't try, but stuck to the bottles as usual). We had a hard time finding a public telephone (usually in the front of a harbour, but here it was situated somewhere in the back of the village - we did not have mobile telephone yet) and the baker (in the harbour next to the restaurant). I have been told that there were some more tavernas on the island by now, so you have some more choice if you want to go out for diner. Summarized it's not too bad for having a look around.