After breakfast we used the school buses to get to the northern tip of the island and the town of Skyros. The village is under heritage protection and it is really a beauty. Clean white buildings, narrow pathways, lots of small coffee shops and of course also some local handmade things for sale. It is so relaxing, you want to fall in love with the place and stay here. If you are able to walk all the way up you will also enter a nice small monastery together and have a spectacular view over the town and island.
Some of us also took the advantage to watch, from the top, the Eleonora's Falcon hunting for arriving passerine birds. This falcon is unique because it nests in colonies in sea cliffs. It also starts to breed late in summer, so that the young are in the nest when migratory birds en route to Africa arrive at the islands.
By lunch we were back "home," aboard the Caledonian Star. It is amazing how soon you start to feel at home on this ship. After lunch we all went to a nice beach for a swim or snorkeling. Here we also learned why the island has such sparse vegetation: goats! Goats are still, together with fire, a major hazard for trees around the Mediterranean Sea.
It was really hard to leave this fabulous beach but still it was time for "recap." Since we did not sail until late at night, some of us went out for a taste of local flavors and everyone was able to find a good restaurant for dinner with good tasty Greek food.
