Day 13: Astypalea beach day

Trip

Greece 2022

Location

Astypalaia 🇬🇷

Date

September 8, 2022

Beach day today. We started with the assorted pastry from our host. I have to say Aphrodite-Studios has been the absolute best. Our host caught up with us to know how we were leaving the island and let us know that since the room isn’t booked the day we leave, we can use it until our ferry departure at 17:30. I doubt we would be staying anywhere else if we come back to the island.

We stopped at Notos for coffee on the way to Livadi, a little over a kilometre away. We chose to walk that distance to the beach instead of going to the beach meters from our hotel, as it looked sandier. Most beaches on the island seem to be a mix of pebble, sand and very fine rocks. Livadi seemed the beach we were the closest to, with a mix closer to sand than large pebbles.

We chose to establish our roots at Island Coffee Cocktails. It had soft cushioned sun beds and was the furthest on the beach, where it was the sandiest. At 10€ for two beds, it’s a bargain. It came with service at our sun beds on the beach. Maybe it’s the season, as we are in the low season for the island, but it’s the lowest price we’ve paid for chairs and umbrellas, for the highest quality installation we’ve had yet.

We spent the afternoon listening to books, relaxing, and doing a couple of laps in the Aegean Sea (the Mediterranean). Had some food somewhere in there. I barely avoided sunburn thanks to Karine noticing my neck getting red, but Karine wasn’t so lucky, landing a couple of light sunburns on her side that was facing the late afternoon sun. It took us a while to notice, but as we were lying there relaxing, we were never accosted by a random person selling crap on the beach. There were no crap vendors at all. It seems like a small thing, but it does make a big difference.

We headed back home for a shower and recharge… for our phones. Then back out to Athelas Cocktail bar for the sunset and some apéro. Despite the warm temperature of the day, it got very windy and cold in the evening, enough to require me to go back to our room to get our long sleeves. The sun and wind do have a big impact on perceived temperature. The mercury might still have said it’s above 24°C, but it surely didn’t feel like it.

Diner was at Barbarossa. It’s the first time the Routard steered us wrong. The food was OK, but nothing special. The only exception was their orange cake. We would have eaten a whole pan. I'm curious how they achieve the coconut texture in an orange cake, and it’s something worth researching.

We did get quite the cat show. We hypothesize that with fewer tourists, the 5 or 6 cats roaming around tables and the one very insistent larger cat are probably more noticeable. They sure don’t seem to mind getting diner scraps. The staff seem to be feeding them to get them away, but that only works as long as there is food in the bowl. And like our cat would tell anyone who comes to our houses: food doesn’t last more than 5 minutes in a bowl, 10 if they’re slow about it. The lesson here is that if somebody doesn’t like cats, they should not come to Astypalea.

We’re leaving the island tomorrow. Not sure how we’ll fill the time while we wait for the boat but it won’t be strenuous.