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GREECE: THE BEST OF GREECE
By Clicking in the links below you will
find what Frommer's consider to be the best of
the best.
The Best Scenic Villages & Towns
of Greece
Monemvassia & Nafplion (Peloponnese): Everyone says it, and for once,
everyone is right: Nafplion is the loveliest town in the Peloponnese, and
Monemvassia is the region's most spectacular village. Thanks to the speedy
hydrofoils (Flying Dolphins), you visit both spots and decide for yourself which
has the best cafes, castles, and sunsets.
Chania (Crete): Radiating from its handsome harbor and
back dropped by the
White Mountains, Chania has managed to hold on to much of its Venetian-Renaissance and later Turkish heritage. This allows you to wander the old town's
narrow lanes, filled with a heady mix of colorful local culture, yet still enjoy its
charming hotels, excellent restaurants, interesting shops, and swinging nightspots.
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Chora (Folegandros, Cyclades): In this town huddled at the edge of a cliff, one
square spills into the next, its green and blue paving slates outlined in brilliant
white. On a steep hill overlooking the town is the looming form of
Panagia, the
church that holds an icon of the Virgin which is paraded through the streets of
Chora with great ceremony and revelry each Easter Sunday. Mercifully free of
vehicular traffic, Chora is one of the most beautiful and least spoiled villages in the Cyclades.
Ylalos (Simi, Dodecanese): The entirety of Yialos, the main port of the tiny,
rugged island of Simi, has been declared a protected architectural treasure, and
for good reason. This pristine port with its extraodinary array of neoclassical
mansions is a large part of why Simi is known as "the jewel of the Dodecanese."
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Skopelos Town (Skopelos, Sporades): The amazingly well preserved Skopelos, a
traditional whitewashed island port town, is adorned everywhere with pots of
flowering plants. It has a rather sophisticated local life, several excellent
restaurants, some good hotels, and plenty of interesting shopping.
Metsovo (Western Greece): Steep slopes, ever-green conifers, stone houses with
slate and slanted roofs, stolid villagers in traditional clothing speaking a Latin-
based language—if this is Thursday you must be in Switzerland. But no, it's
Metsovo, in Epirus. Occasionally jammed with excursionists, this mountain
town still comes through as an authentic locale, refreshing in the summer and
invigorating in the winter ski season.
Corfu Town (Corfu, Ionian Islands): With its Esplanade framed by a 19th-
century palace and the arcaded Listen, its old town a Venice-like warren of
structures practically untouched for several centuries, its massive Venetian
fortresses, and all this enclosing a lively population and constant visitors, here is
urban Greece at its finest.
Pirgoi & Mesta (Chios, Northeastern Aegean): These two small towns, in the
pastoral southern hills of Chios, are marvelous creations of the medieval imagination. Connected by their physical proximity and a shared history, each is quirkily
unique and a delight to explore. In Pirgoi, every available surface is covered with
elaborate geometric black-and-white decorations known as Ksisti, a technique
that reaches extraordinary levels of virtuosity in the town square. Mesta has preserved its medieval urban fabric, and conceals two fine churches within its maze
of narrow streets.
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