The beautiful Greek Island most international tourists miss

At 8am from the deck of Seabourn Encore, Poros is an enticing sight. A place I’ve never heard of, revealing itself in a titillation of bulging blue church domes and whitewashed houses, wobbling yachts and crumpled hills. The water is kingfisher blue, the morning light golden.

Poros is technically two islands of disproportionate size, joined by a short bridge.Credit: Adobe Stock

Poros is quiet but for the clink of our breakfast cutlery on the deck of Colonnade restaurant, and the clang of a bell. No traffic, no tour coaches, no budget airlines coming into land. This isn’t an island for big cruise ships either: even from our modest ship, we have to tender ashore. Nobody harasses us on the waterfront. If you want donkey rides, booze buses or glamorous beach clubs then you’re in the wrong place.

Poros is one of the most conveniently located of all Greek islands, yet is bypassed by the mass and international markets. A few sun-crisped Scandinavians flop on tethered yachts, but Greeks slump at cafe tables on the waterfront, drinking thick coffees and swirling their worry beads.

Pretty Poros … one of the island’s narrow streets.

I’ve arrived overnight at the start of a cruise through Greece and Turkey. From Athens, Poros is 58 kilometres by ship or ferry across the Saronic Gulf, or 180 kilometres if you drive around it. That makes it a favourite among weekending Athenians, but easy access isn’t the only attraction.

Because it hangs only 200 metres off the Peloponnese, the main town and its unsightly services are relegated to the mainland. This is a pretty green island, rugged and crumpled, whispering with pine forest and scalloped at its edges with beaches.

Sunset from the deck of The Colonnade on board Seabourn Encore.

You could say this is the perfect place for a cruise ship visit because you’ll see everything in a day, such as the ruins of a Temple of Poseidon, a trim monastery, and some appealing chapels draped in icons of sad-eyed saints. Equally, you could stay an indolent week and be happy.

Poros is technically two islands of disproportionate size, joined by a short bridge. Athenians come to bike and walk, sail and wallow in shallow sapphire waters. I’m sticking to small island Sphaeria, where Poros town is located.

The town has graceful neoclassical architecture and frescoed churches that dissolve further up the hill into a labyrinth of cottages fronted by tiny gardens. Poking up above it all is a clock tower that flirts with the scenery and provides good orientation.

I follow whitewashed laneways festooned with bougainvillea and flapping laundry until I’m above the town’s rooftops and arrive at Saint Athanassios Holy Chapel, with its quintessential blue-and-white Aegean views, which must rival heaven’s.

A track from here meanders along the ridgeline above town, past the ruins of a fort and windmill, and through sweet-scented scrub to tiny Agios Anargiri Church, smelling of old candle wax, and silent under pine trees.

It’s one of the most scenic hikes I’ve done straight off a cruise ship. I’ve only passed three people, and none of them Instagrammers – they’re all off duelling for elbow room elsewhere.

Boats line the island marina.Credit: iStock

This is the peculiar thing about tourism, even in supposedly tourist-swamped Europe. Take a step sideways and you’ll still find tranquil joy. That’s what this Aegean cruise does – it avoids the obvious, and doesn’t visit tourist-jostled Santorini, Mykonos or Rhodes at all.

We sail away at 4.30pm to the sounds of the Encore Duo, as oysters and cocktails are served on deck. The whitewashed blocks of Poros town recede as the blueness of the bay expands. This has been one of the best days I’ve ever spent in the Greek islands, and all the more agreeable for its unexpectedness. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you, and keeping Poros a secret.

THE DETAILS

Seabourn operates more than 130 Mediterranean cruises between March and November. Some take in ports across the whole Mediterranean, others focus on particular destinations such as the Greek islands, Adriatic coast, or French and Italian Rivieras. As an example, a 14-day Aegean Gems & Turquoise Coast cruise departing September 22, 2024, on Seabourn Encore sails round-trip from Piraeus (Athens) and visits highly scenic islands such as Milos, Naxos and Kos, as well as ports in Turkey. From $8159 a person. See seabourn.com

The writer was a guest of Seabourn.