Our family’s stay at Villa Askedra in Galatas this summer was delightful, extraordinary and memorable. The grace and beauty of the villa and hillside estate sort of collectively took our breath away with it’s handsome high-ceilinged rooms and lovely views from every window, and also because of the extraordinary sense of place that the villa possesses. It’s the very kind of place we’ve always hoped to find, an historic villa in a beautiful location on a rise of land overlooking the water within walking distance of a smallish but lively coastal town and within striking distance of day trips to outstanding historical sites and natural areas and, finally, conducive to bicycling to explore the area and local sites.
Members of the family who owns Villa Askedra were very kind and extremely helpful with recommendations and arrangements and a pleasure to deal with.
Our first morning, my husband, a botanist, and our 20 something son happily explored most of the hillside estate while I collected armfuls of lemons that lay on the ground under the heavily laden lemon trees just downslope from the kitchen door. We made a huge batch of the best ever lemonade and had lemons aplenty to take with us for the remainder of our journey.
We loved walking the path and the road along the water into town. Galatas is a small lively town with good restaurants and shops and friendly and helpful shopkeepers. We were in Galatas during the World Cup in June and enjoyed dinners in the open air restaurants on the waterfront and the comraderie of locals and visitors in watching the games. We thought the Souvlaki, Tzatziki and Greek salads were especially delicious at “O Vlakhos”, a family taverna where Eleni and her husband Thanassi cook and serve traditional and inspired meals and offer quite good local greek wine. Another of my favorites, is the Vessalas Bakery (next to the church) where Menelaos and his wife, Litsa, make and sell fresh baked goods and make rice pudding the old way, with goat’s milk, which is incredibly tasty.
The beaches on Poros are not to be missed and there is a very reasonable and friendly bike rental shop tucked away off the waterfront road on Poros where you can rent bikes for a day or for the duration of your stay.
Don’t miss hiking to Devil’s Bridge, 20 minutes north of Galatas. The hike is less than an hour into a beautiful gorge with waterfalls and swimming holes.
We recommend V. Askedra highly to anyone wanting to "experience" Greece.
