Nederlandse versie

NEWSLETTER THE GREEK ISLANDS - NIEUWSBRIEF DE GRIEKSE EILANDEN
The May Holiday
Hello lovers of the Greek islands, here is the update of my website The Greek Islands. If you have received this newsletter by mistake or if you want to unsubscribe please reply to this email and write "unsubscribe" in the subjectmatter.

Sorry if it seemed like I have been lazy lately, because the last newsletter dates from januari already. I have been locked up un Holland though dreaming about the coming trips to Greece. The news is that I have booked my May trip, just like maybe some of you also already did. We leave the 8th of May for the island of Samos and we are going to take a better look at it than we did before. The plan is to visit a couple of islands in the area as well. We wanted to book a flight only, but we found a combination flight/transfers/hotel (Oceanida) that was cheaper than just the flight at Martinair (or was it Transavia? I keep mixing the two up). So this time no flight only for us. To spend two weeks on the same island is not for us so in between we are going to hop islands for a week. First we will go to our old love, the island of Patmos, where we have rented a studios for two days at Mathios Studios, which is situated a bit outside Skala (the village where the ferries sail in), nice and quietly situated and alone on a hill, with a view of the blue sea. I think it is just our style. I had a vision of myself on a veranda there with a glass of ouzo in my hand. After Patmos we go to the island of Leros, which is unknown to us and not very far from Patmos. This island has been on my wishlist for a long time, eversince I saw a picture of a balcony in the village of Vromolithos, and somehow we still never managed to visit it. It is said that it is still pretty quiet there and that is what we like. Someone that lives on Leros told me to book at a hotel that he described as the prettiest hotel and most romantic place of the island, where you could have great breakfasts in a garden filled with flowers. I read some good things about it on the internet as well. It is situated in a village with the largest beach of the island. Okay, we will see, ahah... It has got the difficult name of Archontiko Angelou. The emails with the owner went quickly. It's a bit of a fancy stylisch hotel :), actually an old Italian villa with beautiful rooms, so a bit of a treat for us. Marianna, who runs what she called her guesthouse, but what looked more like a palazzo to us, seemed very friendly. More when we return! After Leros it is still a bit unclear. I will probably try to finally go to Ikaria, because between Samos and Ikaria there are regular ferry connections. So enough plans. Where ever we go we are going to rent a car and try to see as much as possible. Also on Samos I want to see every corner. At the end of May I will than start to make the website a little prettier with new pictures and texts.

What else is new on the website? First of all I have made a schedule on the main page for the most asked questions and the answers to them. They are questions about what islands are the most quiet, which islands I prefer myself and why, and what kind of islands they are, where the people are the friendliest, what the nightlife is like, wheather it is expensive on the islands, where the best naturist beaches can be found, what the cheapest or nicest hotels are, if it's better to book a flight only or a complete package, things about the ferries and the schedules....those kind of questions. These are questions that regularly appear in my mailbox, so I thought it would be useful to write them all down.

Peter Hendriks has send me a number of pictures and a story on Chios. At first the plan was to travel from Samos to Chios, but it turned out to be a bit of a journey, not really enormous, but in a two week holiday time is limited. Besides that there is a piece of my friend, the artist Jessy Boelen who gives courses in sculturing marble on the island of Antiparos. I have also added a nice studio-complex in Antiparos Town, with studios and apartments, as another option for people that travel to the island. It is called Rocco's Studios. Besides this hotel there is a "lost hotel" at Naxos added where we once stayed for a day. It is called Faros Studios. At the time the pictures were blurry but that problem was solved. In the capitol of Paros, Parikia, idem dito, I have added the Rodia Studios. So you see: if there is a kitchen and a fridge I will go there, ahah

Okay my friends, this is it for now. All the best from me to you, Hans Huisman.