Chris and Ali’s is a lovely traditional house in the heart of historic Skopelos Town. It has three floors providing two double bedrooms both with en-suite facilities and a generous open-plan living room with a fully-equipped kitchen. Unusually in Skopelos Town, there is the luxury of a garden.
A local architect working with excellent local craftsmen has restored the house using traditional techniques and materials. It has all creature comforts while retaining nearly all its original features.
The top room, in Skopelos style, covers the whole upper floor of the house with windows on three sides. The balcony offers a glorious view across the harbour to the hills beyond. The exposed chestnut beams of the roof help keep the room cool in Summer. Double doors lead to a loo and shower room with its own beautiful view over the bay.
The middle floor has a comfortable living area with a large sofa, easily converted to a double bed if required. There is plenty of space for indoor eating and plenty of chairs and a folding dining table are provided. A working open fireplace, one of the original features, has been kept. At the other end of the room is the hand-made fitted kitchen.
The downstairs double bedroom is cool in summer and cosy in winter. It has twin beds that fit together as a double if required, a generous shower room and toilet, ample storage space and a wood-burning stove. This room has its own separate side entrance giving complete privacy.
The garden, paved with Pelion flagstones, has a traditional barbecue fireplace built into the outside wall of the house. It is ideal for cooking. There is also a useful outbuilding accommodating the washing machine and the outdoor furniture. A large lemon tree provides shade as well as a year-round supply of delicious fruit. In the summer the garden is like an extra room and after dinner the glowing embers of the fire keep you warm long after the sun has gone down.
The house is located in the oldest and quietest part of town next to the tiny church of Aghia Kiriaki. There is no traffic and yet it is only 50 meters or so from the busy waterfront with its shops, banks, tavernas and cafes.
Skopelos Town rises steeply from the harbour like an amphitheatre. It still retains the street plan which would have been familiar to its Byzantine, and later Venetian rulers. Many of the old churches from those periods survive. Skopelos has no fewer than 365 of them, some grand and some very small. The town is a wonderful place to wander through its maze of winding alleyways hung with bougainvillea, jasmine and hibiscus.
The harbour, lined with the mulberry trees that provide shade for the tavernas and cafes, is the central focus of the town. You will see the ferries come and go alongside tiny fishing caiques, day-trip boats and visiting yachts. You can buy fresh fish direct from the fishermen or from the fishmonger in town.
Everyone who has stayed in the house has loved it. It has everything you could need from a Greek town house.
