Even by the tried and trusted standards of the Greek islands, Skiáthos has a special charm.
Even as rain drenched Irish scramble for late holiday getaways, it is the cheapest and best option you can get, seven nights for €39 departing on 31 August, to give an example.
It is traversed by one road, allowing the 10km of Greek island paradise to unravel slowly before your eyes along the way.
To one side of that road is the sea, the rocky shorelines and white sandy beaches that fans of the Mediterranean understand.
To the other is a secret, a high mountain with a sandy rack through it and no clue as to what lies beyond. This is the path to the trails of Skiáthos, best done by foot or on horseback.
It is not difficult to imagine what life was like before the airport was built and the planeloads of white skinned Irish started to arrive. In the forest paths the lizards and frogs scatter out of your way as if nothing has happened here since Plato's time.
A small bird that has fallen from its nest chirrups for help. Even the villages and tavernas have an atmosphere that could have come from the writings of Skiáthos' most famous son.
At the turn of the 20th century, Greece's most famous short story writer, Aléxandros Papadiamándis, brought fame to his native island with his stories of idealised rural life imbued with a profound sense of Christian tradition and a compassion for country folk.
His novel I fónissa (1903; The Murderess) is a fine study in psychological abnormality, the English translation is hard to find but worth the hunt. It certainly adds to the poolside atmosphere to have it.
In Skiáthos town, the Papadiamándis Museum commemorates his life with a small collection of artifacts and his deathbed.
Wherever evil finds you, my brothers, wherever your mind becomes dim, city Papadiamantis, another writer Odysseus Elytis declared.
Five resorts stretch out along the snaking road, Skiáthos town where the market stalls and tavernas are found, Megal Ammos the town beach where the Scandinavians cluster, Kolios a small resort with a couple of tavernas set back in to the valley, Aghia Paraskevi which spreads from main road back in to the valley, Troulos where the road forks, one taking you to Kounistra monastery and the other on to the last resort.
Koukounaries is a collection of poolside bars, restaurants and tavernas, a delicious lake and pine wood sitting below high sandy hills.
It is where we hung our suntan lotion, the best place in all of the islands to stay if silence and a long walk are your goals, its beach reputed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and when you tire of that, there is little banana, Aghia Eleni, Paradise beach.
The island is beloved of parents of young teenagers. The nightclubs are safer and less frenetic than other island resorts.
Skiáthos had a few years as a drunken refuge for English holiday makers. Now it is the Scandinavians, Italians and from this summer, the Irish who have come, along with those English who prefer a quiet getaway mythology to Mythos.
Cypriots too come here on holidays; they find it quiet and intimate compared with their own island.
Yu can sense the hibernification process has begun, a sign outside Taverna Stamelos offers 'good crack'.
This being Greece, there are Monasteries to see and a heroic tale of resistance to the Ottomans to hear. They don't come much more heroic than at the Evangelistra Monastery. It is surprisingly new by the deliciously ancient standards of this country, the 'monastery of the virgin of the annunciation'. It was founded in 1797 in a barely accessible part of the island and instantly became a place of refuge for the armatoloi, the warrior bands in the war of independence against the Turks.
Exactly two hundred years ago, in 1807 the oath off freedom was given here by Greece's version of Robert Emmett, Nikotsara.
It was here that the familiar Greek flag was raised for the first time. The guide on your day (or, more spectacularly twilight) tour will tell you how the flag was conceived, not leaving much to the imagination.
The alternating blue (five) and white (four) stripes symbolise the nine syllables in the phrase 'freedom or death' in Greek, and the white cross to celebrate orthodox Christianity. Freedom was a long time coming, but the flag made it on to the masts of modern Europe. The monastery is also home to the silver gospel of 1539, about which apply to the few remaining monks.
There is also the Church of Treis Ieraches (three Bishops) in which the shrine to miraculous icon of the Panayia Eionistria or Kounistra is displayed. The story of its discovery in a forest by a monk who had been following a white light is straight from JK Rowling.
Light is the word. It changes suddenly and abruptly in the early morning as the sunshine switches back on. The island shines, like a jewel, in the blue blue sea.
Getting There
www.xl.com has superb low-cost and high value holidays in Skiathos, flights depart and return on Fridays until the first week in October.
Things to do:
* The ferry and hydrofoil links Skiáthos to AgiosKonstantinos on the mainland
* Taste of Skiáthos: Church of Agios Taxarchis, a walk through the vineyards and gardens to the Evangelistra Monastery, themonastery of the virgin of the annunciation founded in 1797 €35.
* Ancient Athens Olympic stadiums Palaka area Syntagma square and of course the Acropolis €99
* Spirit of Skiáthos Agios Haralambos €32.90
* Cruise the coastline of Skiáthos and islands of Llaria, Kastro, and Tsougria €21
* Sunset cruise across to Pelion €45
* Meteora day trip: the rocks in the sky (the namewas derived from a Greek contraction meaning 'suspended in the air' Themonoliths and monasteries, Thessaly Plain, Kalambaka, Triala and Larissa €99
* Island hopping to Skopelos and Alonissos €33
