Holiday in Ikaria, Greece

IKaria is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It‘s calm and tranquil, situated close to Samos island and Fourni island, in between you could see Turkey in a clear day. It’s not very well known until the island has been filmed in the Netflix documentary “Blue zone”, the island is one of the 5 blue zones in the world for its wellbeing and longevity. It has not been traditionally a famous touristic island, unlike Santorini and Mykonos. I have decided to explore there, finding out the secrets of the longevity on the island.                

I took a flight from Hong Kong to Mykonos via Doha. Doha airport has been awarded NO.1 airport worldwide consecutively for two years. Its contemporary design, designer shops and excellent restaurant choices have really impressed me, and the most wow effect is the big jungle or the botanical garden right in the middle, among the boarding gates towards one side of the airport, creating a natural and green area for passengers to wait for their flights, some of the passengers could even lie in the wooden camps in the jungle.

I took the blue star ferry from Mykonos to Ikaria. 

Ikaria is a big island, compared with Mykonos, and the roads we drove are mostly narrow mountain roads. Driving through a few tavernas by the sea in Evdilos, the mountain roads began. The taxi driver called Anna was obviously very familiar with the roads in the dark. I opened the car window, the air was ever so fresh. It was very quiet in the night on the island, a few villages dotted on our way to the hotel, which was another half an hour drive from the port, along the coastline. Apart from that, it was entirely dark on the island. I looked up upon the sky, the stars were ever so bright and enormous, glitteringly scattered in the black sky , the universe. It was such a magnificent view, being lived in the city means I could hardly see any stars through the clouds. The sky was never so clear as the one in Ikaria. Staring at the sky made me feel it was my first time to be so close to the universe. It was a sacred and mysterious moment I could never forget in my life.

When we arrived at the Erofili hotel in Armenistis, I said thanks and goodbye to Anna. The girl at the reception was a local Greek girl. She has curly dark short hair and dark eyes, in her red floral midi dress. She greeted me kindly and checked me in. I went to my room finally, it was on the second floor, the room was traditionally ornamented with wooden furnitures. The room was illuminated with the bedside lamps that have soft light which gives it a cozy ambiance. What caught my eyes was the poem hanging on the white wall, from an author called Odysseas Elytis, who won Nobel Prize in Literature in 1979.

“ In the heaven I have spotted an island, same as you and one house at the sea. With a big bed and a small door, have threw in the bottomless an echo, to look at myself when I wake up, to watch you half passing through the water, and mourn you half inside the heaven.”

The poem was both in English and Greek, in handwriting script. I knew I was in heaven, good night Ikaria!

The area where I stayed in Ikaria is called Armenistis, a small sea-side fishing village in the northern part of Ikaria. It has only 70 permanent inhabitants. It’s a scenic village with the harbor and little sandy beach. The waterfront lined with the small souvenir shops, restaurants with mixture of traditional Ikarian cuisine, fish taverna and fusion twist, bars and coffee shops. I have strolled the little village and found a local shop that sells local production. The girl in the shop told me her family just live 3 villages before Armenistis. She is a very kind and cheerful girl. Her English is very fluent, she said she has learned Japanese for a few years. In 2018, she went to Japan to travel there for a month. “It was very exciting to experience the culture and talk to the local people there, my Japanese was only intermediary level back then, she said, if I travel there now, I could benefit even more.” I have bought herbs for tea and cooking, and local produced honey which are all mentioned as elements to contribute to longevity in the documentary. I noticed the mountain tea was served during breakfast in the hotel. They are loaded with antioxidants which can combat plenty of ailments, such as stomach aches, sore throats, sleep problems etc. The honey is nature’s antibiotics that has anti-inflammation purpose.

Ikaria is a magnificent island, blessed by verdant landscapes, turquoise waters and stunning sunsets that blend the sea and the sky into a beautiful mixture of colors and light. The way of how people live there is also very inspiring. I have attended a local festival called panigyri, a celebration of the end of all the summer festivals. All the people sat together under the olive trees and stars, near a local church. People drank wine, having Greek salad and cheese, roasted goat meat. There was a local Greek band which people played the traditional Greek music and sang. People started to dance in the middle, holding each other at the shoulder. What a night !