With strong winds still forecast for Sunday and Monday, we decided to take a ferry over to the smaller but busier island of Skiathos. We had booked the ferry for 1115 and had assumed it would be on time or late. Imagine our surprise when it came in early! We legged it round to the other side of the harbour in record time. It left 5 mins early. Not what you’d expect in Greece!

We had a lovely day in Skiathos, celebrating our wedding anniversary, exploring the back streets as well as the Bourtzi peninsular. It used to be a fort there that guarded the entrance to Skiathos Town but now it’s an oasis away from the hubbub of a very commercialised tourist town. On it was a small but lovely maritime museum and a fab outdoor cafe with lovely views.

After an early lunch, we wandered the streets with Liz getting her fill of retail therapy.

We walked over to Siferi Beach to have beers and cocktails at Cafe Del Mar before heading back to Bourtzi for an early supper. We shared a plate of fresh, seared tuna with Mediterranean vegetables. Perfectly cooked. On the way back, we walked through Skiathos cemetery which was stunningly maintained with flowers on every grave. We caught the last ferry back to Loutraki where we then had a few beers with our neighbours, Sara and Brian. They are all year round liveaboards who were also storm bound in Loutraki.

We had hoped to leave Loutraki on Monday but it was blowing 25 knots in the harbour so we decided to stay another day, do more chores (like replace the shower pump in the forward heads) and chill.

Loutraki means small baths so we wandered round to the find the remains of the Roman baths that were signposted out of the village. We were somewhat underwhelmed and didn’t even bother to take a photo! After sundowners with Sara and Brian at a small bar by the harbour, it was off to bed as we would be making our way north to more of the Sporades islands in the morning.