Discovering teenage magic with Skyros holistic holidays in Greece
Caroline Sylge and her family went on a holistic holiday at Atsitsa Bay on Skyros island. Here her teenage daughter Annoushka writes about finding new friends of all ages, a strong sense of community and the confidence to do improv
I went to Atsitsa Bay with my parents one July a month after I turned 13. We stayed in a simple room in the stone house. It was amazing to be right by the sea, and wake up to a lovely view of it. I didn’t see many insects in the room, which I was happy about, because I usually get so many bites.
“A lot of the time ages don’t really seem to matter, and you find yourself bonding with someone twice your age, or half your age. Maybe even three times your age!”
We had travelled overland by coach and ferry to get to the island from Athens, and when we arrived, the ‘work scholars’ - people who work here in return for food and accommodation - were singing a welcome song for us. They greeted us warmly and helped each person take their luggage up the little ramp and to their room. Everyone who had been there before exchanged hugs. It felt a little bit overwhelming, as we didn’t realise just how many people came back every year, but I think it’s sweet how some of them do that.
Skyros take children only during the school holidays, and on my two weeks there were about 10 of us, aged between seven and 16 years old, alongside about 60 adults. I would have liked more children to talk to and play with, but whoever you are, you are bound to make friends here. My mum and dad went in not knowing anybody but had many interesting conversations and came out with a few new contacts, and I made friends with two nice girls from Belgium a year younger than me. A lot of the time ages don’t really seem to matter, and you find yourself bonding with someone twice your age, or half your age. Maybe even three times your age!
Older children can join most of the courses on offer, and the course leaders for these were amazing. I took an Improvisation for Creativity course led by Liam Brennan, which was funny and helped me with my confidence, and An Art of Lino Cut course led by Jo Morley, which was fun, calming and satisfying to do.
The Improv course with Liam was held outdoors in the shady Pine Circle. In the first week, I took the course with my mum and dad alongside about 15 others, and in the second week, I did it with other new people while my parents did their own thing - my mum did morning journalling and afternoon lino cuts, and they both did a daily yoga course with a great teacher from Berlin called Michael Stewart.
Liam had lots of improvisation games and exercises to keep us busy during our daily two-hour sessions. My favourite game was Pan Left, where four of you stand in a square, the front two are given a setting and a genre by the rest of the group (such as ‘horror’; ‘a fish tank’ or ‘romance’; ‘a plane crash’) and then act out the scene. When Liam says ‘pan left’, each person moves one place and has a new partner to work with, with a new setting and a new genre. It was always very funny.
In between course sessions, it was lovely swimming in the clear bay and seeing the fish, and I liked how you could take paddle boards out for free whenever you wanted to. My friends and I paddle boarded across to another island or would just take the board out to jump and swim off it.
We also hung out with other children in the kids’ club, run by a kind lady called Emma, who had a lot of fun things for us to do, from painting and jewellery making in the Apricot Circle to playing cards and board games in the bar. There is very little mobile phone reception at Atsitsa Bay, and you can only get wifi in the bar area, so we weren’t on our phones or iPad much - something that our parents were very happy about!
There were evening activities most nights, and I loved working on projects for these with the other children. We organised a short play and a fashion show for a cabaret, and designed a whole haunted house in the music room for people to explore when the whole community had a ‘pea fair’. This was a fun event where the currency was chickpeas, and people had stalls offering different activities such as receiving compliments, seeing a magic show and having a crochet bracelet made especially for you in your favourite colours. On another evening we had an open mike, when my dad played his guitar and sang, and my mum read her poetry.
The food was great most of the time, especially on the days they had a “children’s table” with dishes that included things like tuna, tomato pasta, potatoes, meat balls and feta cheese, which worked nicely, and I also liked trying new foods. The tap water was drinkable but I bought filtered water from the bar and got free ice there too.
After the first week, most people went to white-washed Skyros town to go shopping for a day, and the twins and I ate out there together. On some evenings my parents and I played Uno and had pizza at Marianna’s, a friendly nearby cafe great for sunsets.
There was an amazing sense of a strong community throughout our whole stay, and our group of 70 was so big and varied that you could just slot in whenever you felt like it. On the very last night, we all danced together - my mum, dad, friends and everyone. Overall it was a magical experience and I would go again, especially if there were more children.