Discover Agios Efstratios

06/10/2021
To Ai Stratis with Let’s Ferry! Date to history!
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It’s the island where you will experience something unique.
It's the island that has a way of luring you into its rhythm. Slow-moving and relaxing with nothing that can upset your vacations. Calm prevails everywhere.
In Agios Efstratios is where you book an appointment with history. In its literal form, since it was a place of exile, it has so many stories to tell. In Ai Stratis you feel that time has stopped! With the fast ferry, the distance is nothing. It is less than four hours if you depart from Kavala. It is worth dedicating at least three to four days to Agios Efstratios, so you can get into the island rhythm.
If you stay longer you will for sure, become friends with visitors and locals. For accommodation the choices are not that many, but you will find them decent and at very low prices. Another reason to choose the island for your next vacation. If you are a fan of mountain biking and mountain running, you are on the right island. You will make wonderful routes along with memories. Without cars and without anything bothering you. Wonderful images will accompany you!

Hills and beaches in Agios Efstratios island
Hills and beaches in Agios Efstratios island


Text/photos by Leftheris Plakidas

At Ai Stratis you find out its size when you arrive. You see hills, beaches, rocks, some incredible chapels hanging like grapes. There are no roads for a conventional car.
But it is the joy of walking and running through the island. There is no taxi or bus and there is no boat to go around the island.
Many times during the day, Mount Athos opposite of Agios Efstratios is the certainty of eternity. A rock is standing in the water and you wonder what angle has set it up there to be like a backdrop for ideal photos at sunset.

The sunset in Agios Efstratios island
The sunset in Agios Efstratios island


The day passes easily when you relax on the beach and constantly dive into the sea. In a few hours everyone has learned about you and if you are there without a company, don't worry as you can you easily get. Good food, lots of kids 'and teens' voices give you a happy soundtrack and a sense of familiarity with everything and everyone. Few houses, few shops, few options. Life as you have not imagined it. No one complains. Most have come as an option. They know what they will encounter. Some are looking for it. In both taverns you will find plenty of good fish. There are some fishermen you see who bring fish. In the shops they know how to bake them and cook them well and the enjoyment is multiplied when accompanied by wine from Limnos. There is no more. We said the options are limited.

Small tavern in Agios Efstratios
Small tavern in Agios Efstratios


The sights are easily accessible!
The Museum of Democracy said it, created and operated under the Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, (everyone points out) it is excellent! With Konstantina solving all the questions that may arise. In a place tormented anyway by earthquakes and poverty, the displaced, exiled, came and left their mark. Maybe that's why there is all this energy. Some dilapidated buildings are reminiscent of the old settlement and only three or four have survived! You will be glad to see them. The architectural approach of the regime of colonels (1967-1974) and the constructions after the earthquake remove all picturesqueness and aesthetics.
But we told in Ai Stratis you will be suspicious. You do not expect more than it has to offer you. Great lesson of life!
The stairs of Agios Minas and the view it offers you is a nice symbolism here as well. It is worth walking.

A beautiful beach in Agios Efstratios island
A beautiful beach in Agios Efstratios island


For those who are fans of mountain biking, this is their opportunity. It has no cars and every route ends at incredible beaches. Running and walking in Ai Stratis, are both interesting. But it's hard to get into all this after the second day. Agios Efstratios and his relaxed rhythm suck you.
The Mayor for a second term, is a woman who gives the island her own aura. It is difficult to manage small Municipalities, it is complicated to try to find money and ways to do projects and overcome obstacles. Imagine being in Ai Stratis, which is in the middle of the Aegean and the distance from Athens is greater than everywhere.

The town hall of Agios Efstratios
The town hall of Agios Efstratios


If you are traveling for an excursion to Limnos with Aeolis then you have really got into a time machine. What an amazing experience!
It is difficult to find now such ships, in Greece. It goes slower than sailing. It has the aesthetics of the 80's everywhere. It is so enjoyable to travel slowly and live in the rhythms of another era. You understand that you are going somewhere where time takes value when you let it flow without organizing it. In summer the island has people and visitors.
By connecting to Kavala by ferry which, for some wonderful reason, takes 3.30 hours to Agios Efstratios. With Aeolis from Limnos makes 2.30 but is the joy of travel.
Stay on deck, see the sea, the horizon and wonder why our whole life is not like that.
Ai Stratis is the epitome of Relaxed Travel and Slow rhythms of life.
Every day works twice for anyone who stays in the mood to enter the life of Agios Efstratios.
Besides, we said no one has been deceived. Everyone knows where they have come to.

*It was first published on a8inea.com.