ANOTHER GREEK ADVENTURE!

HELLO!!!! I'm super sorry for the lack of blogging activity of late, I am still without a laptop (can't afford a new one just yet!) and life has been very busy and exciting!

Today I wanted to share my second holiday of the year, my first holiday was to Santorini which I blogged about and this time I went back to Greece to another island called Skiathos. This is where the film Mamma Mia was filmed so it's another very pretty island bit quite different to Santorini it's far more green and hasn't got the black volcanic sand that Santorini has.


I never intended on going to Greece once this year let alone twice but I loved my first adventure and Greek cuisine is fast becoming my favorite type of food! Everything is so fresh and tasty and after hearing Greeks tend to have the best skin due to eating so much olive oil, I definitely tried to eating as much as it as possible whilst I was there!

I stayed in Skiathos town itself which is definitely where I would suggest to stay if you ever go. It's right in the middle of everything with bars and restaurants all within walking distance. There are so many bars and restaurants you are completely spoilt for choice! Skiathos town is a harbor town and you can sit having cocktails looking out at the sea on boats on the harbor, it is such a beautiful setting. Beaches are further round the coast and easy to get too. The town is made up of little cobbled streets, very traditional and friendly I completely loved it.

                                    

Skiathos town by night

Cocktails come with snacks!

Serenaded by the locals

Night time in Skiathos. Maxi dress from Dorothy Perkins

Cocktails on a private beach!

 I stayed at La Piscine Art Hotel which was a gorgeous hotel! The staff are wonderful and really look after their guests and it's very clean and well looked after. I'd definitely stay here again. It's adult only and doesn't have any hotel entertainment or evening shows which is perfect as I can't stand that type of thing! It was just a short ten minute walk into the main hub of the island so that was a great bonus too! The pool area was beautiful, especially at night. The hotel has a restaurant called The Crazy Cow so even if you don't stay at the hotel you can go to eat poolside. There are so many amazing restaurants in the town that we didn't get chance to eat here but it always looked yummy and the lunches we had were fab- stuffed peppers and cheese pie are my highly recommended meals if you ever go to this island! OMG!! Soooo good!

One of the day trips I did whilst there was something I really wanted to share with you as they rely on tourists help and people promoting them.
I went to the Skiathos Dog Shelter which was created back on the 90's by a Scottish lady who fell in love with the island and moved there. She loved the island but it had a massive problem with stray dogs roaming the streets and she felt it ruined the beauty of the island so she decided to build a shelter for the stray dogs, to look after them, feed them and vaccinate them and to then re-home them. The shelter is up high on a hill and isn't easily accessed by foot. The reason being that locals did not want to live next door to barking dogs so it's accessed either by coach trip or your own transport. One story our guide told us about was that many years ago there were terrible fires on the island and it started to spread up the hillside towards the shelter. The owner, Helen, began to panic at what to do with the dogs and she had no other options than the tough decision to open all the kennels and gates and let the dogs run out and hope that they would run away from the flames heading their way. I adore dogs and I can't imagine how difficult that must have been for her as she clearly loves dogs to have set up the shelter to begin with. Fortunately the fires we're extinguished and didn't reach as far as the shelter and over the next few days Helen saw that the dogs started to return to the shelter. Amazingly she set 150 dogs free and 152 returned! They obviously went to pick up two of their pals! How incredible is that? Today the shelter is ran by English couples and they do such a good job. Many of the dogs are re-homed to the UK and they really rely on donations and trips such as mine as some of the trip fee goes to the shelter to help them with running costs and feeding the dogs. Dogs tend to end up there by people dropping off dogs with them for many reasons and you see no stray dogs whatsoever on the island so they are clearly doing a brilliant job.

Cutest puppies! I so wanted one!

The organised trip I went on goes to the shelter every Sunday morning and our guide had said that the dogs even recognise the sound of the coach pulling up and they get very excited as they know it means it walkies time! Sure enough, once I got off the coach the dogs were jumping around in their kennels all excited! There were about 30 people on the trip and in our couples we were all allocated with a dog and we got to take them for a walk! It was such a unique type of trip to do! I really want a dog at home but with living in a flat I just can't have one so I jump at chances to spend time with dogs! I had a dog called Sparkles to walk and she was so adorable and really well behaved. The shelter relies on people visiting and walking the dogs to help them become more familiar with humans and meeting people and she really was so well behaved. It was quite funny as our guide had said the dog's had become very savvy and have worked out that if they stop walking and lay on the floor then people with give them a treat. Then they walk a few more steps and once again lay down and wait to be fed! There were a few dogs displaying this behaviour but fortunately Sparkles was perfectly behaved!

Once we'd all walked the dogs we headed back to the shelter so the dogs could drink some water and chill on the shade. When we got back to the kennels it was then that I noticed they had some gorgeous puppies which I couldn't resist having a cuddle with! I was very tempted to smuggle them home! They were so cute!

I feel like this was one of the best things I've done on a holiday. It helped the shelter with some more money and by walking the dogs we helped both the people that work there and the dogs have a great time too! I would 100% recommend visiting the Skiathos Dog Shelter if you ever go the the island and they are also on Facebook too so check them out.

In between pool day bathing and exploring the island I also hired a scooter (as a passenger) and went with my partner for an exploration day around the island. This was something I'd been a tad apprehensive about but it was so amazing. It's a small island so we easily went all over, stopping off at the beach and having a swim in the sea before drying off and jumping back on the scooter and heading to our next pit stop. The views were amazing too, I think to see the island at it's best this is definitely the best way to go about it.

I know what your thinking.. that helmet looks so cool! Pah!

I absolutely loved Skiathos. I think it's a beautiful island with very friendly people, gorgeous weather and fantastic food and the dog shelter and scooter day out we're things I'd never done before but completely loved doing! I had no idea it was going to become such a special place for me but whilst there, when overlooking the sea one evening at our favourite taverna, my partner proposed and made me the happiest girl ever! It really is a place I will always treasure.

Where have you been this year? Have you been to Skiathos? I'm not ready for Summer holidays to be over yet!

It's good to be back on the blog and to share such exciting news with you. I'm considering blogging about wedding planning- would you be interested in my tales of spreadsheets, dress shopping and flower arrangements!!?? I'm soooo excited for it all!!

 Until next time, Steph xx