Greece - Korina Miller [364]
Sleeping & Eating
Domatia owners don’t meet ferries. It’s wise to book in high season and at weekends.
United Europe ( 22880 21362; uekeastudios@yahoo.gr; s/d/tr €40/60/70; ) Big, airy self-catering rooms make this quiet place an excellent option. All of the rooms are well kept and some have been refurbished in recent years. It’s about 200m along the river road behind the beach.
Hotel Karthea ( 22880 21204; fax 22880 21417; s/d €65/85) Architectural blandness from a lost age defines the Karthea, but rooms are clean and comfortable and those at the rear overlook a quiet garden area. There’s no lift to the several floors. In 1974, the deposed colonels of the Greek junta were said to have been imprisoned in the then newly opened hotel. You sleep with history…
Porto Kea Suites ( 22880 22870; www.portokea-suites.com; d €159, ste €197-338; ) Korissia’s top option, these rooms and suites are luxurious and their decor features white-painted stone walls and bright, stylish fittings. They all have small kitchen areas and there’s an outside pool, a cafe and a restaurant.
Red Tractor Farm ( 22880 21346; www.redtractorfarm.com; d €90, studios €120-150; ) Tucked away in the handsome hills of Kea alongside the owners’ olive grove and vineyard is this lovely complex of buildings. The farm has received EU backing for its ecotourism achievements. Organic products are a feature and there are various seminars and activities.
Steki tou Strogili ( 22880 21025; 6976401015; mains €7-13) Popular with locals and in a pleasant setting above the main quay and next to the church, Strogili has a decent menu of traditional Greek favourites. Its selection of salads features a special version that includes chicken.
There are several tavernas along the waterfront, all dishing up fairly standard fare for about €5 to €11, with Akri ( 22880 21196) being one of the best.
Kea has more supermarkets than most islands. On Friday nights they get very busy as the weekender influx stocks up.
Drinking
There are traditional bars and cafes along the waterfront but for a more modern upbeat scene try Jamaica for mostly rock, or next door the bigger Echo Club ( 6947004625) goes for Greek sounds.
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A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME
Piosses (or Pisses as once enunciated) has grown self-conscious of its unfortunate English slang connotations and is struggling to rechristen itself as Piosses. The Greek is, technically, Pioses. The form Piosses is now used on signposts and even the camping site uses this form. We see no reason why we should not help them with their semantic makeover!
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IOULIDA ΙΟΥΛΙΔΑ
pop 700
Ioulida (ee-oo-lee-tha) is Kea’s gem and has a distinctly cosmo feel at weekends. It’s a pretty scramble of narrow alleyways and rising lanes that lies along the rim of a natural amphitheatre among the hills. It was once a substantial settlement of ancient Greece, but few relics remain and even the Venetian kastro has been incorporated into private houses. The houses have red-tiled roofs like those of Dryopida on Kythnos.
The bus turnaround is on a square just at the edge of town. Other than taxis and delivery vehicles there is no parking here. Cars should park in the car park, which is located below the square. From the car park follow steps up to a T-junction and turn right for the bus turnaround, from where an archway leads into the village. Beyond the archway, turn right and uphill along the main street and into the more interesting heart of Ioulida proper. The post office is partway up on the right.
There’s a bank in the turnaround square but with no ATM. There’s an ATM in the square by the town hall, halfway up the main street of Ioulida.
Sights
Ioulida’s archaeological museum ( 22880 22079; adult/child €3/2; 8.30am-3pm Tue-Sun) is just before the post office on the main thoroughfare. It houses some intriguing artefacts, including some superb terracotta figurines, mostly from Agia