Wait! Don’t start yet! Put some –appropriate- music on first!

This year’s holidays with my girlfriends at Koufonisia were set for late July. A reservation that was made long before the referendum, the capital controls and the gray cloud of uncertainty swelled over our heads on the usually blue Attic sky, ready to flood even Noah’s ark! The fatigue of the whole year was multiplied after clinging on it a pile of negative emotions that an escape by the sea, away from televisions, radios and internet was more than saving… a thought that echoed in our minds more like a cry of a feeling of self-preservation when we were ready to cancel the trip. Eventually, the ship did not sail without 5 girls, their colorful suitcases and the hope that God of zen will remember them in the middle of the Aegean! Like it happened. Almost a day under the influence of the anxiolytic magical aura of the island was enough to empty except for our suitcases any anxiety, fear and insecurity we had into these fabulous waters that made us forgot even our names! By the way, it was not for all the first contact with the island, one of them returned to the scene of the… crime after twenty years. Guess who!

My first time in Koufonisia (and the 3 subsequent in a row) the only thing that mattered for me was to be all day in the sea, make palaces in the sand and dive from the rocks. This insouciance that I endeavorto keep alive with all means offered me this island then and now, because Koufonisia for me is:

*This sense of real happiness when I stare at the big blue of the beach Pori or Italida and the rock formations with small or large caves that embrace the dreamy waters of Koufonisia, that makes me smile alone like a “new-born love bird!

*The white blue of the island, the colors of Greece in the quiet Koufonisia that make me summarily first cousin of Dalai Lama.

The Hotel Paradise Resort, a true heaven of positive energy, a vibrant passport for an idyllic stratosphere of loose “I don’t give a shit for reality”… Often prescribed and over lexotanil. It really WORKS.

*Breakfast at Kalamia for foodies like me! (Breaking news… Athenian ate without tomorrow, swam and reached the bottom). LITERALLY.

*This natural pool among formed by rocks. When God Poseidon is in the mood… and the Devil’s Eye (when he gets on nerves!)

* The walks on the small but miraculous island’s chora.

*The cooked food of the restaurant “Melissa”, the delicacies of the resto “Atairiastoi”  (Me and my palate matched just fine!), Fresh fish of Captain Michalis Kovaios and island songs with the voice of his wife, Georgoula, afternoon food at the taverna Foinikas while the sun sets and look like frames from a movie, the restaurant “Aneplora” #nomnom with delicacies that make you easily a regular customer of the restaurant, the amazing donnuts at “Kyma”and of course the Pirata Nero with delicious crepes and ice-cream for us that we have some infernal cravings late at night! The store also has the most beautiful bathroom of the island that #deco_lovers can find here (quite objectively speaking!)

Like bees we fell into the plates of “Melissa”

“Atairiastoi” means unmatched but we have no reason not to match with these delicacies

Finikas, the free spirit symbol of the island

The taverna “Aneplora” captured our big big heart (that has space for a lot of delicacies) 

At Pirata Nero we became Pirates of crepe

*Koufonisia for me is the relax in the unique island’s beach bar on the beach “Fanos” until nightfall. The rakadika (they serve raki, a traditional greek drink) in Koufochorio where the entire island becomes a company. The cocktails in the idyllic Sorokos on the beach, with lanterns and veletzes under the starlight sky! It’s the bar “Mylos”, with its dominating windmill with a view only in shades of blue. Is the bar “En Plo” with the authentic island décor. Rumors say that inside the Greek party has its best but I didn’t test it personally (These things are for your youth! :-p).

*But mostly the island of Koufonisia is the carefree sensation that offers you the place and its people. Rammike with his canoe and his captain the Minion, probably the most free spirit of the island and head of Greek Fan Club of Ramstein. Dimitris Mavros, the heart of Finikas, with his celebrations that have left history, where Greeks and tourists become one, carried away by the dance next to dishes that are being broken for pleasure and bonfires that light up the floor! It is the island songs from the voice of Georgoula. It’s that this island makes you want to stay there forever and make wristbands! So there is no wonder that we were drifted from this bulk that gave us some of the funniest memories of our lives, such as the return to our hotel on a rural trunk and the party for the birthday of Finika in a multicultural dance without end which might even unite countries that are in the middle of war!

À bientôt

All photos taken by me