Day 49: Relaxing in Agia Anna / Plaka Beach

Monday 23rd August 2021

Delicious DIY Breakfast

Having bought breakfast supplies on my way back from dinner last night, I quite enjoyed preparing my own meal to start the day. Especially knowing that the yoghurt and orange juice were of good quality. I had also purchased a small box of chocolate-coated cereal flakes, so I began with those and some orange juice, then followed up with yoghurt and honey plus a coffee.

Although the bed didn’t look overly comfortable, I’d slept well and was excited for the day ahead. As with most of my island visits, I like to start slowly and so all I have planned for today is a walk down to the beach, starting at Agia Anna and heading south towards Plaka until I find a nice spot to sunbathe. Then I’ll find somewhere for lunch and either return to my sunbathing spot or, more likely, choose a different location for some variety.

Hot Walk to the Beach

As I’d expected, the walk from Hotel Birbas to Agia Anna beach is a bit of an effort in the sun. It takes about 15-minutes so not terribly far, but with little shade and on a busy road, it isn’t much fun. Once I reached the sea, though, I walked across the smaller of the two beaches at Agia Anna – the one south of the small port – and continued south around the headland and past the small church.

The first part of the beach here is ‘clothing optional’ (i.e. nudist) so beware if you venture past and aren’t aware of this! There is a wooden boardwalk that goes along the back of the beach, though, so you can easily rejoin the dirt road that continues parallel to the beach, or just keep walking on the sand. I carried on through Maragas, past the busier section of beach mostly covered with sunbeds operated by the various tavernas and bars behind, and ended up at a quieter spot near the 3 Brothers Hotel.

The walk took about 35 minutes in total from leaving the hotel. One thing I noticed was how much busier the area seemed to be compared with my previous visit back in 2018 – there are loads more sunbeds at the northern end of the beach and just more people in general, especially since Covid-19 is likely to have affected tourist numbers.

After a quick swim to cool off, I spent a few hours relaxing in the sun, reading my Kindle and listening to Spotify. As always, this is one of my favourite ways to spend time in Greece: just chilling out, enjoying the hot sun on my skin, the cool breeze and the sound and smells of the sea.

Lunch Time

By midday, I was getting pretty hungry so I packed up my things and began walking back north in search of a good spot for lunch. I ended up choosing a place called Souvlucky, next door to Yazoo Summer Bliss bar/restaurant, where I enjoyed a cold Amstel beer and a BBQ burger. The burger was really tasty, though the chips weren’t so great: they seemed like yesterday’s fries reheated, but since I’m not a massive fan of chips anyway, it didn’t bother me much.

Having walked a fair distance back towards Agia Anna, I didn’t return to my previous spot after lunch. Instead, I stopped at Peppermint just further north and used their beach sunbeds instead. The atmosphere was really good, though I slightly regretted it when I came to leave and discovered the sunbed+umbrella had cost me €12! Oh well, lesson learned.

At 4 pm, I decided it was enough sunbathing for today, so I packed up and made the journey back to the hotel, retracing my steps from this morning. The walk was even worse in the full afternoon sun, but I had a dip in the sea before I left and was mentally prepared so it wasn’t all that bad. As soon as I got back to the room, I stripped off and had a wonderfully cold shower!

Dinner

Once it had cooled down and the sun was beginning to set, I dressed for dinner and strolled back into Agia Anna. This time, I chose a taverna called Sto Kyma which is practically next door to where I ate last night. I quite fancied their spinach ravioli, so was somewhat disappointed to find out it was unavailable due to a shortage of spinach! Instead, I ordered four-cheese penne which was nice enough, but a touch bland, so I made up for it by ordering a chocolate brownie for dessert which was fabulous!!