Folegandros (Pop 765) is 190km or 4hrs from Athens and only one hour from my last island of Milos. The island is 11km long by 3km wide with highest point at 455m. It sits just 20km above Santorini (Thira) which is the most southern of the Cyclades before reaching Crete.
Folegandros is tree-less but gorgeous !!! Why ??? Because of two little bushes known in Greek as “Astivi” and “Flomos”. Flomos is always GREEN no matter what the season. On the other hand, Flomos is GREEN in winter, then RED in spring then YELLOW in summer then PURPLE in autumn !!! You can tell the season just by looking at this unusually beautiful landscape !!! So nice that this island is popular with artists. I met a bunch of French couples painting this changing tapestry of colour admist the cliff-hugging crevices of mountain-hugging slopes. The result is a tapestry of colour in an otherwise barren landscape bereft of trees !!!
Folegandros has two famous dishes – BRIAM and MASTELO. The first is a vegetarian paradise of local eggplant, zucchini, carrot, onion, tomato in the oven. The second is rooster and spaghetti in the oven. All tastes covered !!!
The main town of Chora where I stayed is simply stunning purched on the edge of very high cliff and overlooked by Panagia Church set high up on a hill - this is the signature feature of this town and indeed the island.
Meant to ask you all before just in case you are all wondering – where does all that electrical power come from? The answer is massive array diesel generators but guess what – Athens is laying a cable underwater to reach this and many other islands in the next 10 years !!!
My favourite beach was Angali with its rugged coastline, massive underwater boulders and stone of every colour and “warm spots” of water amongst the usual 16C of calm water.
What I liked most about Folegandros is that it is small and unspoilt by tourism. There are no nightclubs or big restaurants. It has a very Greek rural feel to it. If you want to experience real unspoilt Greek island life then this is the place to visit.
Enjoy the tapestry that is Folegandros...
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