Goes island hopping
They provided the setting for Mamma Mia! but the Sporades are less well-known than other Greek holiday hostpots. FIONA WEBSTER
SIPPING chilled rosé by a sandy beach as clear blue water laps at your feet, it really doesn’t get any better than this. Sporades means ‘scattered’, and this understated archipelago does look that way – there are 24 lush green islands casually dotted in the Aegean Sea, only four of them inhabited: Skiathos, Skopelos, Alonissos and Skyros.
More rugged and less well-known than busier Greek archipelagos, it has retained an authentic character and isn’t yet overrun by tourists. You can also fly direct to the main island of Skiathos and be at your resort in just 20 minutes.
Not that I’m in a hurry. In Greece no-one rushes and after supper by the sea just hours after landing, I feel the same.
The islands date back to Palaeolithic times, when settlers from Crete allegedly arrived in the 16th century BC, kindly bringing wine.
The Romans came in 190 BC, and since then, visitors have included pirates from Turkey, exiles from Venice and, more recently, film crews – the movie Mamma Mia! starring Meryl Streep was filmed in Skiathos and Skopelos in 2007. You can see why they all came: the islands are stunning.
I decide to tread in Meryl’s footsteps and head for Skiathos’ Princess Resort, where she stayed during filming.
The Princess is perfect for families, with a creche for children aged six months to four-years-old, and a Kids’ Club for four to 12-year-olds. The resort is enclosed with its own private beach and is close to Skiathos town, where you can try the cafés at the harbour and see the church, both made famous in Mamma Mia!
There are activities for adults too, like swimming, diving, riding, dancing, cookery, yoga, Pilates and painting on the beach. Its 131
rooms, including 32 suites, are spacious and comfortable, with fridges, flatscreen TVs and Wi-Fi. The family rooms on the ground floor have pools for private dips.
For supper, you can eat in the oceanside restaurant, but we opt for the gazebos on the beach, where we dip our toes in the sea, then sit down at a candle-lit table laden with fresh giant prawns, salads and more local rose.
But don’t just stop at Skiathos; the other islands are all different in character and well worth seeing.
We hop on a £10 ferry – you can book in advance or at the harbour – which stops at different islands on the way, including Skopelos, where the hillside harbour is dotted with whitewashed houses and terracotta roofs. Ninety minutes after leaving Skiathos, we are docking in Alonnisos, a hilly island in the middle of a marine park. It measures just three miles by 12 and boasts pine tree-lined cliffs, coves and beaches.
We’re staying at the Marpunta Resort, part of the Santikos Collection, where the 104 rooms are actually little individual whitewashed houses set in the hillside to resemble a traditional Greek village.
My first visit is to the pool, where the morning aqua Zumba class looks a little too active for me. Opting for the beach, I am soon tempted into the water. A hotel minibus runs into Skiathos old town. Here, narrow lanes of houses painted purple and pink lead to a hilltop bar, where we sip Greek beer and drink in the views of the island and the Aegean.
The food at both the Princess in Skiathos and Marpunta in Alonnisos is fabulous. Menus are made up of fresh local ingredients prepared by respected chefs and their teams.
Our supper starts with a crisp green salad with olive oil and feta