Koronissia – beautiful spot on a small island

We moved to another kiting spot on Koronissia island. It became our favorite place immediately after we saw it last year and this summer proves that we were right. 

We left Bouka (be sure to read our previous blog post describing Bouka) on Monday and the next destination was the magical island of Koronissia. As usual in Greece, it was a public holiday, so all the supermarkets were closed and buying supplies was quite a problem. They have no shop on the island and the closest is about 20 minutes by car. In the end we bought supplies in a small shop in Arta.

The path to the spot leads through a narrow road, where you can see protected lagoons with herons and flamingos on the left, on the right is Gulf of Amvrakikos and on its other side you can see the city of Preveza and Vonitza.

As soon as we arrived at the spot, we felt at home. The whole parking lot was for us, so we parked at the showers next to the shelter. Last year, we ended our three-month trip to the Balkan spots here. We left at the end of September and even now, in June, there was no one here. 

Koronissia

It is a small town, with a few streets and a church of the Nativity of the Theotokos on a small hill. The town extends almost all over the island. There are three taverns and a small square at the port.

At the spot at the end of the parking lot there is a bar called Kyma Café, where you can buy cheap frappé (2 euros) or small beer (3 euros) and about 200 meters away is another restaurant where you can enjoy fish.

When you go through the town, you will see dozens of apartments and empty houses. According to information from the bartender the beach and the island was formerly a  full of tourists. But they started to go to other destinations and Koronissia remains mostly abandoned.

On the beach itself, you can see that no one takes care of the parasols and does not care if you can lie down in the shade and everything is ready for the season. On the other hand, showers work, drinking water is available and the excavator also equal and dredged the beach and tried to bury the shells into the ground. So the local government works and tries to fix what can be fixed.

In any case, Koronissia is a beautiful corner of nature. You can also set off on the other side of the island, where there is another bathing beach with a modified entrance to the water for wheelchairs.

From this beach you can continue through the trail around the second church until you arrive at the third really abandoned beach. It was previously possible to arrive from kite beach, along wetlands and through cliffs, but we do not know whether the road is still usable.

According to the season, you can see hundreds of flamingos on the lagoon around the island. The sea turtles are no exception that you can see during a walk or during your kiting sessions.

We made also a short walk and visited Koulia castle which is a small, well-preserved fortress on the island of Koronissia, in the southern part of the settlement. The Turkish word “kulla” (Persian: “qulla”), from which the name “koulia” was derived, signifies the summit or tower. These projects are a part of a military network situated at strategic locations from which they kept watch over the surroundings.

The castle is spherical, and two tall towers link to its edge in opposing directions. It has an elevated entrance that is reachable by a ramp. Today, it periodically serves as a lending library and holds other cultural events.

Spot

There is a large parking lot right next to the spot. It is possible to park right next to the beach with direct access to the water. You can easily inflate your kite right on the beach, which is half grassy.

At umbrella level, the coarse sand mixed with thousands of small shells starts. We mostly used the area next to the umbrellas to launch. Occasionally we launched kites between the umbrellas because there was more grass and fewer pesky twigs getting tangled in the lines. Especially my Soul’s lines.

At the beginning of the beach just behind the marina there is a shelter and former facilities built by the kiters. Unfortunately, it is also abandoned. The shelter has a visible wind gauge, floodlights and electricity connection (no idea if it worked). Next to the shelter are a second working shower, a small changing cubicle and a water hose.

When it got windy, a single “local older kiter” would come to the beach. He always arrived on his bicycle, carrying his gear, including a foil, behind the bike in a baby carrier. He launched and landed his kite each day himself, as it was possible to safely attach a second leash to the pole.

The wind was not favoring us again, there were still thunderstorms in the area and the termics did not work. But when we were riding, it was blowing around 7-8 m/s. The wind is coming side on-shore, so optimal. The only problem this year were the sea urchins. Veronica got up to three. Fortunately, the urchins were only in clumps of grass and algae. We found an optimal path between the kelp just on the sand and walked into the water that way.

The thermals normally blow here, starting around 3pm, so it makes for a great swim in the morning when it tends to be completely windless, the water is calm and clear, the entry is very gradual and incredibly warm near the shore.

We spent a total of 6 nights on Koronissia. We had big plans for what we were going to do on the island besides kiting. Unfortunately, we had much worse things happen to us than no wind. Max brought the smallpox that he caught at kindergarten the week before we left. Which meant he wasn’t allowed around people, especially kids, and he couldn’t swim or be in the sun. For this reason, even though there was no good forecast for wind, we stayed the whole week. After all, having great facilities, a shower, drinking water and virtually no other people around outweighed the option of moving to another spot.

According to the forecast, we chose Tsimari as our next destination. Amazing wild place with no electricity and no drinking water. We left Korronissia on the evening of Sunday 26th June. We needed to replenish our supplies for about five days. The goal was clear, drive in the evening, as close to the supermarket as possible, shop on Monday morning and arrive at Tsimari after 2pm for the start of the winds. In the maps we happened to find a place to stay for the night near a monastery with an amazing rock chapel.

Monastery of Panagia Eleousa – Klissoura Canyon

The rock-hewn monastery of Agia Eleousa can be found close to Agrinio at the southern end of the Klisoura valley. This is where Yiannis Gounaris resided in solitude after saving Mesolongi from the Ottomans during their initial siege. The figure of the virgin and a lamb has been sculpted by water above the monastery. 

We arrived at the church after dark, but the parking lot was large and no one was parked there. Still, we preferred to park closer to the road, because we could hear the roaring of falling stones and we would not like to catch a blow to the roof of the car :-). The valley was beautiful at night, with the bleating of goats and the tinkling of bells around their necks. Because of its location, it made a nice cool day by morning and the sun didn’t shine on our car at all. The only problem was the quite heavy and audible traffic.

Follow us

If you want updates on where we are and where we’re kiting, follow us on Instagram or Facebook.

Author: Karel

I simply love kitesurfing :-).