Néa Klima (Elios), Skópelos (Mama Mia)

Pyxis
Karen & Richard
Sat 20 Aug 2011 22:58

Saturday 20th August – Néa Klima (Elios), Skópelos (Mama Mia)

39:08.300N 23:38.566E

 

With the strong meltemi continuing to block our way southwards, and with boats either side of us, we went to explore the island today.  As this is the island where the film version of Mama Mia was made, we went in search of the tiny church on the top of the hill that was used as the backdrop for the wedding scene at the end of the film.  The setting looks beautiful on the film and we had identified where it is.

 

We took the bus to Glossa and from there it was a winding taxi ride across to the top of the island to the church, Agia Ioannis to Kastri, as there were no buses going there.  As we looked for a taxi at Glossa, I spotted a Japanese family looking for a taxi a little uncertainly.  Suspecting they were on the same mission as us and feeling they looked a little lost, I went to ask if they were going to look for the Mama Mia church and they said that they were.  I scooped them up and suggested that we go together in the same taxi to keep the cost down – they were pleased.  I negotiated a taxi for us to take us there, wait for 20 minutes (which was actually enough time) whilst we went to the church, and then bring us back for a very reasonable price, so we were all very happy, so off the five of us went.

 

The view of the church from the road was pretty, with the winding steps up the hill.  We were up the steps in a fairly short time – it’s not as far as it looks.  The view from the top was great, but when we looked inside the church we realised that it was not used to film the wedding scene itself, there is simply not enough space for more than a handful of people.

 

Back at Glossa we went to a restaurant, with great views down to Loutraki, for a drink before catching the next bus to Skópelos town for a look around.  The bus went most of the way around the coast and so we had quite a tour of the island, seeing all the popular beaches as we went.  We liked Skópelos town with its narrow, paved roads, though on the windward side we could see that the sea was unsettled. 

 

We had lunch sitting on the beach before taking the bus back to Kastrani beach – this is where it is said the beach scenes for Mama Mia took place though to be honest we didn’t recognise any of it.  Kastrani beach itself was not our cup of tea – it was very busy, it had a lawned beach bar with very loud music, very touristy, sun-creamed bodies everywhere and huge motor boats out in the bay creating an unofficial large ship anchorage – we can see these from Pyxis and we were wondering why they were anchored there.

 

Having explored along the beach to the next bay and back, we caught the 6.30pm bus for the short trip back to Néa Klima.  When we arrived we were pleased to see that our neighbours were still there and that Pyxis and our anchor were still OK.  Our neighbour on our port side told us that he had had to go and reset his anchor as someone had pulled it up whilst we were away but that we had been fine.

 

This evening we ate on board and watched the DVD Mama Mia.  As a result the only thing we can confirm is that the tiny church is the backdrop in the final wedding scene, the beach is still a mystery.

 

Glossa

 

Skópelos

© Pyxis 2011