Aegialis - the Big Blue Adventure

8 minutes ago

3 min read

So, this year, I finally got around to arranging my first yoga holidays. Our first one was a long weekend in San Pedro in Spain, which was a really lovely, laid back holiday with yoga on the beach, massages with Fredee at our apartment and a small group staying together in one place.

Then a group of 16 of us went to Amorgos, one of the Greek Cyclades Islands surrounded by the Aegean Sea - known as the big blue. It certainly lives up to its name - the colour of the sea was the most luscious blue, the waters very clear and the beaches sandy white.

Some of you have asked to see some photos from the trip, and we certainly have many!

I arrived a week early and managed to do a few walks and hikes, including the walk from the lovely little village of Lagada to Stavros Chapel and Mount Krikelos, Trail 5 or the Pan Route on Amorgos. It was quite a hike but worth it for the views. On the way up, I met several goats, the one in the picture I thought was particularly beautiful and it got pretty close to me. I found out that goats can climb trees - several of them were in trees eating the leaves - and that the sound of their bells was one of the most soothing sounds ever! Yes, I have been using it on Instagram stories. I did 28,000 steps that day, and climbed 193 floors of

stairs. The walk ends up at the highest point of Amorgos (821 m). It was quite daunting being so on the edge of a mountain, I do get a bit of vertigo, but the views of the big blue Aegean Sea were absolutely stunning. There was one little goat sitting on top of Stavros Chapel but other than that, no one else around at the top. I finished with a lovely homemade lemonade and pasta at Mouschoudaki in Lagada.

I spent my first few days in a lovely little cellar apartment at Theorion that was the perfect height for handstands with hand to feet support and had a new recent guest that helped me eat my breakfast and begged to be let in at night. The hosts were exceptional and definitely proved that the Greeks are still worthy of Zeus in terms of hospitality.

Then our lovely yoga holiday people arrived and I moved into the Aegialis 5 Star Hotel. It was right next door and although quite different to my cute little cellar, again the hospitality was truly five star and the hotel was stunning. Then there were the yoga shalas and the icing on the cake, the rooftop. I truly felt like I had landed in a dream when we practiced on the rooftop at sunset. The whole place was particularly dreamy, and as one person suggested in the feedback, they might need to consider an aftercare package for how to return to normal life after the experience.

Sonja started most mornings with a sunrise meditation at the little beach down from the hotel (which incidentally was a nudist beach and which some of us used to tick off a bucket list item...). We then spent the days exploring villages, snorkelling, canoeing, lying at the pool, and visiting monasteries. Then sunset yoga practices - sometimes on the roof - and a lovely buffet dinner in the evening. The hotel had live music on and the owner, pictured below, could be persuaded to play a tune for a birthday girl or organise plate smashing for lively Canadians. There was a spa, hot tubs and resident kitties that we liked to feed. We truly had a wonderful time. Nothing can ever be perfect though and the area is prone to experience high winds from to time that mean the boats don't sail and a few of our crew got stranded for a couple of extra days at a five star hotel on an idyllic Greek Island, so once they had their plan for how to get home, the resigned themselves to their fate and developed relationships and newfound behaviours - such as.......... hugging!