In Greece; I have visited many islands from Chios to Lesbos, from Kos to Samos, from Santorini to Mykonos, from Crete to Rhodes.. These wonderful islands, most of which can be reached by direct ferryboat from Turkey, have become a favorite of Turkish tourism professionals, especially in the last 5 years, and are starting to fill up during the holidays.. Since I am a Greek lover, I started looking for islands that are a little quieter, less known but easily accessible, close to Athens.. After all, what did Greece have in abundance from the island?
I will tell you about these in this series of articles.. If you want it to be easy to go but still very nice, so that everyone does not know, and there are not many Turks, here are the Greek islands that are not known to everyone.
Our first destination is an island whose sound is pleasant to the ears, Kea…
Ioulida, Kea island, Greece
ABOUT KEA ISLAND
In the past years, we were looking for an island where we could easily go on Eid but would not be flooded by Turks since the euro had not gone that crazy yet.. While I was looking towards the horizon one evening and thinking about which island we should go to, I thought of Kea, whom I had read on the travel page of a newspaper years ago and whose view I had never forgotten.. I immediately started researching.
Kea is the island of the Cyclades, which is the closest island to Athens, including Santorini and Mykonos, which are well known in our country.. It is mostly known as the first or last stop of the yachters in the Cyclades tour, we can say that it is a transit island rather than a touristic island.. But that doesn’t change the fact that the island has many beauties worth exploring.
HOW TO GET TO KEA ISLAND?
One hour to Kea from Lavrio port in Athens you can reach. This was one of the most influential things in my choice anyway.. You can fly to Athens in 1 hour and 25 minutes, rent a car, to the port in 50 minutes and to the island in 1 hour from there… You can swim in the sea about 4 hours after leaving your home.. You don’t have to rent a car to go to Lavrio, but I must say that this is the most practical way to go to the port and to get around the island.
You can rent an economic vehicle for 4 people for an average of 30 euros per day.. Ferry round trip from Athens 25 euro, car 60. So we gave 160 euros for 4 people including the vehicle.. I always bought my ferry tickets from Ferries.gr; a reliable site, the commission is more advantageous than many other sites, I recommend it.
Kea, Greece
WHERE TO STAY IN KEA ISLAND?
There are many hotels, large and small, in Kea. There are especially great boutique hotels, you will see if you do a little research.
We used Airbnb and rented this wonderful house.. Owner Sotiria is a very sweet person, the house is very close to the center, on a hill overlooking Kea. I have to say that both the large garden of the house of 4500 m2 and the surrounding of the island are a bit dry, but this is the common feature of the Greek islands.. If you have children, I sincerely recommend this wonderful stone house for up to 7 people (it is cool enough even without air conditioning), but as I said, when you do a little research, you will see that there are many more options than you think. We leave our membership link here. When you book at a discount, we earn credits so we can travel economically together.
Otzias Beach, Kea, Greece
BEST KEA ISLAND BEACHES
Vourkari, the most important center of the island. This is the most lively place of the island with both the marina and the restaurants and bars, especially on weekends.
Gialiskari beach, which is very close to Vourkari, is the easiest alternative to evaluate.. But my favorite beach that I will recommend to you is Koundouros.. It is located at the back of the island and can be reached with a half-hour drive.. I especially recommend the facility called Porto Koundouros, you pay 6 euros for an umbrella-bed, but it’s worth it.. Apart from these two beaches, Otzias, Spathi and Pisses are among the alternatives you should definitely consider.
Although we normally like to visit ancient ruins and museums, we had a sea and food holiday in Kea.. But I would definitely recommend the ruins of Karthea to those who want to visit.
Spathi Beach, Kea, Greece
WHAT TO EAT AND DRINK IN KEA ISLAND?
We ate at a different restaurant (4 of which were in Vourkari) every evening on the island where we stayed for 5 days.. The one I remember the most was I Strofi. Tables by the sea, courteous staff, fresh fish, appetizers. Don’t be fooled by the negative reviews, in general, it would be bad luck to have a bad experience at most restaurants in Greece.
Except I Strobe 2. my recommendation is definitely Vourkarion. This is a slightly more modern place than typical Greek restaurants and you can find more different experiments.. We came across one of the graduation nights of a Greek high school and we enjoyed it very much.
Aristos is the oldest and best known of the restaurants in Kea, I can say it’s a little more expensive.. This means an average of 5 euros per person.. Again, I can’t forget the lobster linguini we had at Ennea Kores on the beach in Vourkari.. A portion for 4 people was 80 euro, please let’s not forget that the euro was not that expensive at that time 🙂 If we hit the general average, a table for 4 people costs between 80-100 euros for eating and drinking.
Food Even if I have to recommend a nice bar after dinner, I can still say Zeus Faber in Vourkari.. Weekends are quite full and fun.
Sunset at Vourkari Harbor
KEA ISLAND ABOUT THE TRIP
Kea, with its beautiful beaches, tasteful restaurants, small but pleasant bars, yachts and more weekend Athenian summer houses, where you can relax, find everything you are looking for, but not search too much. a small, modern, pleasant island. Wants a visa, no gate visa application. A little note on visa: If you get your Schengen visa from Greece all the time and make your first entries to this country, you will have an increasing visa period each time.
See you on the next little known Greek island…
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Shed Existence
Twitter: @dokenvarol
The little-known Greek Islands expedition team
