Greece - Korina Miller [547]
Getting Around
BUS & TAXI
In high season there are daily buses departing from Skyros Town to Linaria (€1.30) and to Molos (via Magazia). Buses for both Skyros Town and Molos meet the ferry at Linaria. However, outside of high season there are only one or two buses to Linaria (to coincide with the ferry arrivals) and none to Molos. A taxi from Skyros Town to Linaria is €13; to the airport it’s €20.
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
Cars, motorbikes and mountain bikes can all be hired from Martina’s Rentals ( 22220 92022; 6974752380) near the police station in town. The reasonable Vayos Motorbikes ( 22220 92957) is near the bus stop, and Angelis Cars ( 22220 91888) is 200m before the bus stop.
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SKYROS TOWN
Skyros’ capital is a striking, dazzlingly white town of flat-roofed Cycladic-style houses draped over a high rocky bluff. It’s topped by a 13th-century fortress and the monastery of Agios Georgios, and is laced with labyrinthine, smooth cobblestone streets that invite wandering.
Orientation
The bus stop is at the southern end of town on the main thoroughfare (Agoras) – a lively jumble of people, tavernas, bars and grocery stores and flanked by narrow winding alleyways. The central plateia is another 100m beyond the bus stop, From there, the road narrows dramatically, marking the beginning of the town’s pedestrian zone. Motorbikes still manage to squeeze through, but cars must park in the nearby car park.
About 100m beyond the plateia, the main drag of Agoras forks. The right fork leads up to the fortress and Moni Agiou Georgiou, with its fine frescoes and sweeping views. The left fork zigzags to two small museums adjacent to Plateia Rupert Brooke, where a simple bronze statue of a nude Rupert Brooke faces the sea. The frankness of the statue caused an outcry among the local islanders when it was first installed in the 1930s.
From Plateia Rupert Brooke the cobbled steps descend 1km to Magazia Beach.
Information
Mano.com ( 22220 92473; Agoras; internet per hr €3; 9am-2pm & 6.30-11.30pm)
National Bank of Greece ATM (Agoras)
Police ( 22220 91274) Behind Skyros Travel Agency.
Post office (Agoras; 7.30am-2pm)
Skyros Travel Agency ( 22220 91600, 6944884588; www.skyrostravel.com; Agoras St; 9am-2.30pm & 6.30-11pm) This is a full-service agency that can arrange room bookings, travel reservations, car and motorbike hire, diving and excursions around Skyros.
Sights & Activities
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WIND FARM DEBATE
Gauging which way the wind is blowing is becoming trickier on Skyros, where a running controversy continues between concerned residents and a monastery, Moni Megistis Lavras, which owns the land, and which quietly began private negotiations in 2005 with a mainland contractor, Enteka, and the government’s Regulatory Authority for Energy. At stake: whether to establish a massive wind farm (at an estimated cost of €500 million) on the southern half of the island to meet the EU’s requirement that Greece utilise renewable energy to provide 20% of its energy needs within the decade. Although Greece is anxious to participate in the EU’s effort to mitigate climate change, not everyone is thrilled about the location.
If the plan is approved, little Skyros would be home to the largest wind farm in Europe, effectively putting the island’s delicate breeding grounds for the rare and endangered Skyrian pony and the Eleonora’s falcon at the mercy of 150m-high wind turbines. The proposal comes with the developer’s promise to dedicate a portion of the ‘wind park’ to the delicate ecology in question, and to be called ‘Natura 2000’.
The island municipality, together with the Union of Citizens of Skyros, have joined in opposing the proposal, and the issue has already moved to the Council of State, a Greek court that often hears environmental disputes. Of course, no one on Skyros is opposed to sustainable solutions to Greece’s energy needs. As one Skyros resident said, ‘It’s a matter of scale’. It seems that with so much money at stake, there’s not much faith in the