Lefkada, Greece - September 2024
For our 30th wedding anniversary Aaron and I joined Jeni’s Global Yoga Trips for an excursion to Lefkada, Greece. We began our trip by staying in the quaint town of Nydri which has 23,000 locals. The pedestrian friendly town is filled with flowery gardens that surround the residents homes.
We spent one night in Nidri after having a wonderful seafood dinner next to the Ionian Sea. The next day we were picked up in a van with 16 others and whisked off to the Mimosa Retreat Center. The sign that greets you is a true testimonial to the retreat center being “a truly unique and spectacular greek hideaway”. Mimosa perches on top of a hillside overlooking the town of Nidri and the Prince Islands of Sparti, Cheloni, Madouri, Skorpidi and Skorpios. The Mimosa retreat was the perfect place to relax in quiet nature surrounded by lush gardens, and a beautiful infinity pool. The center also has an outside yoga shala and several meditation shalas for relaxation and introspection. On the property was also a massage center nestled in the trees.
Jeni and Rocky, the owners of Jeni’s Global Yoga Trips kept us busy with exciting and exhilarting day excursions including sailing on the MS Christina which had a narrated tour of the history of Nidri and the islands surrounding us. The island Skorpios was formely owned by Aristotle Onassis who married Jackie Kennedy. A russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the 200 acre island for 153 million in 2013. As we motored by the island we were told that we wouldn’t be going close and that it was necessary to keep our distance. On Skorpios there are armed guards, a tower for them to “shoot” from and cameras mounted all over the place so we were all ok with the captains decision.
One of our day excursions was exploring the island in a Range Rover driven by Yannis, the most accomodating tour guide and driver that you will ever meet. The drive to our first stop at Porto Katsiki beach was an hour long open-air thrill. Porto Katsiki beach is on the west side of the island opposite the town of Nidri which is on the east side of the island. Yannis parked at the top of a cliff overlooking Porto Katsiki beach. The route to the beach was a long descent of steep stairs but what a reward at the finish line. When we came within ear shot of the beach, we heard the sounds of crashing waves in sync with a multitude of languages, none of them English. The beach is composed of small white rocks which from afar look like sand.
Inside the library at Mimosa Retreat Center we were pleased to find books on Lefkada to familiarize ourselves with the island and the locations Jeni and Rocky had planned for us to visit. I know…we have maps at our fingertips on multiple devices and AI to let us know every infinite detail, but who doesn’t like a map? We visited three beaches while on the island of Lefkada. Porto Katsiki mentioned earlier, Kathisma Beach and Monastery Beach. We were taken by Yannis to Monastery Beach. After a rocky crawl in the Range Rover we parked near Monastery Beach and Yannis set up a portable table with a tablecloth and chairs and all the accrutements to successfully serve a delicous meal. He rolled out a spread of authenic greek food all which came from friends or relatives farms and some homemade wine.
To locate where we are staying you can see Nidri on the east side of the island and using the key above can find it quickly. See! Maps are great!
You are probably wondering…what is the picture next to the map? An outdoor shower!!! If you have never had the pleasure of showering under the stars, I highly recommend it!
I can’t complete my travel blog on Greece without the mention of food. In our zen location at Mimosa the only time we were jumpy is when the chef hit the gong to summon us for meal time. I truely think he got his jollies off hitting it as hard as he could when the guests were standing nearby. He would always giggle when we jumped. Highly suspicious! The food was amazing, healthy and delicious at the same time.
We enjoyed most of our meals at the Mimosa Retreat Center sitting at the table taking in the view of the islands while we conversed with other retreaters. One night, Jeni and Rocky arranged a dinner an hours drive up into the hills to the Rachi Restaurant. The food was fantastic and the view was even better! We had a panoramic view of the sea. We were there for the sunset which was amazing. A unique experience of the restaurant is that there is a hang gliding business that is located adjacent to where you eat. The brave souls that jumped off the cliff (tandem with an instructor) were so close you could hear them breathing, or was it gasping? Our final day we went to Geni a town on the east side of the island out on a pennisula. We had this grand finale dinner with Jeni, Rocky, Kirsten and their co-host Clara, who has been on two of Jeni’s trips with us.
To the right is the fabulous group with whom we spent an amazing week. Both pictures are from Rachi Restaurant located in Exanthia, a traditional village on the mountainous, southewestern side of Lefkada.
