Plaka, Trypiti & the west

Plaka sits on a ridge above the bay, and the climb to the castle chapel at the top is the walk everybody does for sunset — the whole horseshoe of the harbour opens up below you. The village itself is a knot of lanes with the archaeological museum, a church with a famous view terrace, and a scatter of good small restaurants; Trypiti and the Triovasalos villages run into it along the ridge.

Below, on the shore, are the two things people come for. The Roman theatre looks straight out to sea, and a few minutes away a marked spot is where a farmer turned up the Aphrodite now in the Louvre. Further down, Klima is a row of syrmata — boathouses cut into the rock with brightly painted doors, built to winch fishing boats inside for winter.

The far west of the island has no road at all. Kleftiko, the white sea-stacks and swim-through arches at the south-western tip, and the caves around Sykia are reachable only by boat, and only when the wind allows — build a spare day into the plan. There are almost no hotels on this side; most people sleep at Adamas or Pollonia and drive over.