Drinking and eating in Poros

There are some lovely bars and tavernas in Poros, and we had some good meals, as well as extensive views of the sea and the boats while doing so. It was great.

We stopped here for a drink on our first day. I had fresh melon juice which was absolutely delicious.

We sat outside in the blessed shade, with views of the sea

but the inside was nice too.

On our last day we checked out of our hotel at 11:00 and walked around town for a bit. But it was too hot for too much walking, so we sat here and had a cooling soft drink while waiting for the time for our ferry to depart.

Our view was the sea and this square where the cafe is situated.

Last time we were in Poros (10 years ago) we had breakfast in this place in the square. So we did the same on our first day, as we really liked sitting here. It was the worst breakfast I have ever had.

Such a shame as we loved sitting here

So, the next day we went next door, Serenita, 

where the breakfast was delicious: green tea and Greek yogurt with fresh fruit, homemade granola and Greek honey for me.  So, this is what we did for the rest of our stay.

Same square, same view, so we were pleased.

Serenita is a restaurant and we did want to come and eat here one evening, but did not manage it.

For lunch we went to the taverna by the beach. We did this twice.

The food was good, and it was very quiet. But, we do go swimming early and go for lunch early. I am sure that by 3:00 it would have been much busier. 

I like what they've done with driftwood.

We also had lunch at Geia Mas. It's right by where the ferries come in and it's always packed. For some unfathomable reason I did not take any photographs, which is a shame, because I liked the place and the food was excellent. They do the best fava with caramelised onions, as well as lots of other delicious dishes. We had lunch there twice.

Back to this square for our pre-dinner drinks, but this time we would sit by the sea, at one of the tables at the front in this picture

close to the boats that are moored here

watching people as they were working on the boats, or just relaxing.

A lot of people would walk by so it was great for people watching.

The people who had hired this boat are very anti-social, they discarded the two mattresses and pillow, right on the narrow walkway - just rubbish thrown out in the middle of a very neat and tidy quay

and as they came back from town, they would leave their shoes by the boat. Everyone else left their shoes on the boat, so as not inconvenience passers by, but these people were so selfish and anti-social. It really made me very angry.

This little boy was fishing for hours. At one point he caught a fish. His father, who was sitting behind us, immediately got up, took the fish off the hook and threw it in the water. The boy was so upset but made an effort to hide his tears. I thought what the father did was cruel. He might have been right about throwing the fish back in the water, but he should have explained all of this to the boy before they came out. Throwing the fish in the water like that was very cruel and unnecessary.

And then the sun would set and slowly, it would start getting darker, and the waiters in Serenita next door would set the tables

and more people would start arriving

And it would be time for us to get up, go for a walk and then choose a taverna for our evening meal.

Apagio was by far the best place. The food is traditional Greek but with a nouvelle cuisine twist.

I had beetroot with skordalia (garlic dip) and pear puree

and a savoury cheesecake made with a base of local rusk bread, the cream of a variety of Greek cheeses and tomato jam on top.  Both were delicious.

It was packed. My sister was in Poros a month before us and they went to Apagio as well, as it was recommended by a friend of hers who lives there most of the year.

Taverna Platanos was indifferent in every sense of the word

but busy.

We went to Oasis one evening. It's a huge place, and it's always heaving. We wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

And yeah, it's a good place. Good food, efficient service.

We also went to Nautis, the Sailor, for old times' sake, as we used to go there a lot during our last visit to the island. Again, good food, good service.

They did this thing, where every half hour, the music would get really loud, playing rebetika, and three members of staff would do a traditional dance for 10 minutes.

On our last evening we managed to get to the ice-cream place that always had queues outside before it closed at 11:00. And, yes, the ice-cream is delicious and I understand why people queue for it.

We sat on a bench, looked at the boats and the Peloponnese across the water, and ate our ice cream.

Swimming in Poros

We took the local bus, seen here at night, to get to Kanali beach. The bus is free and runs from the morning  (with a break during siesta hours) until after midnight.

It runs every 20 minutes and is used extensively by the locals.

A five minute walk would take us to the narrow strait that divides the two islands, Sphairia and Kalaureaia that make up the island of Poros. The locals call it the Canal. On the left of the end of the canal in this photograph is Kanali beach. 

Poros beaches are not spectacularly good as in some other islands, but we did have some nice swims here. Not really sandy, just pebbles and we would have found it very difficult without our swimming shoes which we use when we go to beaches like these.

Nice views from our loungers.

In the afternoons it would get a bit rough and that was fun

A good-sized bay but not too big

It's an organised beach, so that one can get adequate shade, and the prices were not too steep as in some other islands.

The taverna on the beach is good - nice views of the sea, and fairly good food.

One thing I liked about it is that it never got too busy so that we were able to get an umbrella in the first row - I like having uninterrupted views of the sea

It's a family beach - lots of kids having fun with their canoes








I like swimming fairly long distances, so, endless expanses of water get a bit boring.  So, I like swimming around rocks and caves, or, in our own beach getting to the net and back, which gives me a purpose. But, the best are rocks and caves, and this is why I loved swimming in Therma in Ikaria and Sarakiniko in Milos . 

What I did in Kanali was I swam up to the rocks in the picture, explored all around the rocks, went inside the shallow caves - it was such fun. Exploring, no one else around, just wonderful.

I also saw something I have not seen before. Hanging from a rock was what looked like the root of a tree. But, I am not sure, it's just I don't know what else it could have been. It is very long.  It looked like the lower part of a white giant: the hips were embedded in the rock at the top of the cliff and the two long white legs were reaching to the bottom rocks, like roots or feet.  One of them looked like it had a bent knee. I find it difficult to explain, it was such an odd thing that I had never seen before. 

On two occasions, we went to the taverna that's on the beach for lunch after our swim.

The place I really wanted to go and swim, which I had been looking forward to, and which had been my favourite place during our last trip, was this bay, the Russian bay.

It was spectacular due to the backdrop ruin of a 19th century Russian naval base. 

When Greece was occupied by the Ottoman Empire, Russia secured free shipping for its navy and this bay was one of their bases. When Russian activity declined so did the base and the abandoned buildings were left to decay.



So we went again, on our second full day. but did not stay.

They have replaced the umbrellas and the beds, and unfortunately with the new ones you hardly get any shade. The umbrellas aren't that good, but it's the beds that are the problem. They are so heavy that it's hard to move them - on the other beaches, we constantly move the beds following where the shade goes as the sun moves.  We do not like sitting in the sun and it's not good for you, so we had no choice but to call another taxi (there is no other way of getting there unless one has a car) and went to Kanali again.

It's a lovely bay, and I remember loving swimming there, but we cannot sit on a beach without shade. On the way to Kanali, we looked at the other beaches on the way, but they were all very busy, so we decided to stick to Kanali for the rest of our stay.