walks | Terra Zoe

Temples, Walks, and Fish

Posted on September 13, 2014 by laylajohansen

We spent a leisurely morning at the beach, playing backgammon and cards inbetween going for a dip in the sea. Once we had decided it was time for a coffee and a change of scene, we ventured along the coast to Mavi Fener, a beautiful blue and white café.

This serves as a place where the ladies of the area can meet and enjoy a coffee and a chat, as well as yummy home-cooked food. It also sells an array of local crafts.

We headed back into Assos for the afternoon, this time to visit the old Greek temple, built in 530 BC. After walking along cobbled streets lined with stalls selling jewellery, amongst other things, we reached the temple at the top of the hill. There was hardly anybody else there, except for half a dozen turkeys milling around near the entrance gate, and it’s very relaxed so you can walk all over the ruin.

The view from the temple is breathtaking; it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

In the evening, we went on a beautiful walk from the hotel, taking the old, cobbled road up the hill, passing flocks of sheep and their shepherds.

The views over the sea are incredible.The old road leads up to the top of the hill, and joins up with the usual road which you take down the hill to get to Terra Zoe.

In total, the walk takes about an hour and a half, and we’d highly recommend it! For supper we went to Okan Motel, a popular family–run fish restaurant close to the hotel. We sat at the water’s edge marvelling at the reflection of the full moon over the sea, eating fresh calamari and local tuna. The staff were fantastic and the food was delicious, however, as it’s freshly caught, there is no guarantee of what will be available.

An Aborted Walk, the Beach, and More Fish

Posted on September 12, 2014 by laylajohansen

We woke up to some rather threatening clouds, but as we’re English, we decided to risk the impending rain and set out on a walk. The walk is along a river, which is found beside the road to Assos, so unlike the walk up the old cobbled road which we had done the day before, you really do need a car to get to it.

Soon after we started, the rain descended, and although we were wrapped up in blankets, we decided to retreat back to the comfort of Terra Zoe!

The rest of the walk looked beautiful though, so green and unspoilt.

We stayed in our room listening to the downpour and playing cards, venturing out for lunch once it had stopped. In the afternoon we decided to visit a different beach called Imbat Motel which was about a 15 minute drive away. We were told by the owners that it gets extremely busy during the summer months, but as we were visiting in September it was quiet. It was a beautiful setting with a panoramic view of Lesbos.

There’s a platform to swim off and a restaurant where we treated ourselves to an afternoon ice-cream.

The sun started to set and we began to get a bit chilly, but luckily there was a waiter at the platform serving tea – all very civilised! After our tea we headed back to the hotel and had a quick turnaround before heading to Muammer’s Place, the closest fish restaurant, in time for sunset.

The restaurant is very casual, serving the freshest, most delicious seafood. We had octopus, calamari, and a wonderful local fish. We’d highly recommend Muammer’s Place, everything is so simple and the view out over the bay is beautiful.