Greece - Korina Miller [533]
FESTIVALS & EVENTS
Karystos hosts a summer Wine & Cultural Festival from early July until the last weekend in August. Weekend happenings include theatre performances and traditional dancing to the tune of local musicians, along with exhibits by local artists. The summer merrymaking concludes with the Wine Festival, featuring every local wine imaginable, free for the tasting. Festival schedules are available at the Karystos Museum (opposite)
SLEEPING & EATING
Hotel Karystion ( 22240 22391; www.karystion.gr; Kriezotou 3; s/d incl breakfast €45/55; ) The Karystion is the pick of town lodgings, with modern, well-appointed rooms, along with sea-view balconies and helpful multilingual staff. A small stairway off the courtyard leads to a sandy beach below, great for swimming.
Cavo d’Oro ( 22240 22326; mains €4-7.50) Join the locals in this cheery alleyway restaurant, one block west of the main square, where tasty mains include goat with pasta (€7.50) and mackerel with rice (€6.50), along with homemade mousakas (layers of eggplant or zucchini, minced meat and potatoes, topped with cheese sauce and baked; €6) and salads featuring only local produce and olive oil. The genial owner, Kyriakos, is a regular at the summer wine festival, bouzouki in hand.
Other options:
Hotel Galaxy ( 22270 71120; cnr Kriezotou & Odysseos; s/d incl breakfast €45/65; ) On the waterfront.
Taverna Mesa-Exo (In-Out Taverna; 22240 23997; mains €5-12) At the western end of the waterfront.
DRINKING
Check out the late-night scene around the plateia (square).
Bar Alea ( 22240 23085; ) On the plateia; delivers decent drinks and sounds.
Club Kohili ( 22240 24350) This swank-casual place is on the beach by the Apollon Suite Hotel.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Boat
There is a regular ferry service between Marmari (10km west of Karystos) and Rafina, and from Nea Styra (35km north of Karystos) to Agia Marina. For details Island Hopping.
Tickets may be purchased from either the dock ticket kiosk at the port of Mamari, or in advance at South Evia Tours ( 22240 25700; fax 22240 29091; www.eviatravel.gr) in Karystos.
Bus
From the Karystos KTEL bus station ( 22240 26303), opposite Agios Nikolaos church, buses run to Halkida (€10.50, three hours, Sunday to Friday) and to Athens (€8.30, three hours, four daily), and Marmari (€1.70, 20 minutes, Monday to Saturday). A taxi to Marmari is about €12.
Around Karystos
The ruins of Castello Rosso (Red Castle), a 13th-century Frankish fortress, are a short walk from Myli, a delightful, well-watered village 4km inland from Karystos. A little beyond Myli there is an ancient quarry scattered with green and black fragments of the once-prized Karystian cippolino marble.
With your own transport, or taxi, you can get to the base of Mt Ohi where a 1½-hour hike to the summit will bring you to the ancient drakospita (dragon house), the finest example of a group of Stonehengelike dwellings or temples, dating from the 7th century BC, and hewn from rocks weighing up to several tons and joined without mortar. Smaller examples near Styra (30km north of Karystos) are nearly as fascinating.
Hikers can also head north to the Dimosari Gorge where a beautiful and well-maintained 10km trail can be covered in four to five hours (including time for a swim).
With a local map from South Evia Tours (left), you can easily explore the villages and chestnut forests nestling in the foothills between Mt Ohi and the coast.
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SKIATHOS ΣΚΙΑΘΟΣ
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Blessed with some of the Aegean’s most beautiful beaches, it’s little wonder that in July and August the island can fill up with sun-starved Europeans, as prices soar and rooms dwindle. At the island