Palaió Tríkeri

The serene, wonderfully car-free islet of Palaió Tríkeri (or Paleó Tríkeri) is the only inhabited island in the Pagasetic Gulf, west of the beautiful Pelion peninsula (it’s not really one of the ‘official Sporades’ but it’s closer to them than anywhere else). There are usually a handful of yachts basking in the port; otherwise get there by sea taxi from Alogóporos, on the toe of the Pelion.

It has 80 permanent residents (in summer), eight quiet, undeveloped sandy and pebbly beaches you can walk to (among the nicest are Áfetka, Ag Sofía and Prásini Ámmos) two fish tavernas by the port, citrus groves and 75,000 olive trees.

In the centre of the island, a 15-minute walk from the port village of Ag Ioánnis, you will come across the main (and only sight), the Moní Panagía Evangelístria, founded in 1837 after the discovery of a miraculous icon in the roots of an olive tree. It once sheltered 100 nuns, and has pretty pebble mosaics and cloister.

A tragic history