Why Folegrandos in Greece is the right birdwatching break

It turns on the market are nonetheless some near-secret Cycladic isles. From Santorini, solitude-seekers go away the crowds behind on a ferry sure for a little-known various: Folegandros, the place there’s no such factor as an airport or cruise ship terminal. This is an island of rocks and arduous locations, the place locals nonetheless are inclined to their donkeys, grasses whisper within the salty breeze and disused farm terraces cascade gently in direction of the Aegean.

There’s not a lot on the island — and that’s its allure. Highlights are low-key: sharing lemony calamari with the sparrows at Agali Beach’s clifftop taverna and exploring the previous city of Chora, the place locals meet round wood tables and avenue cats play amid the bougainvillea.

At nightfall, there’s one factor to do: navigate the hairpin bends as much as Panagia church, whose lofty perch affords the most effective view of the island within the day’s dying gentle. Falcons wheel overhead, the sound of the lapping ocean washes up from far under and the world appears to carry its breath because it takes within the sun-washed present.

The expertise

Just one foremost street carves a path throughout Folegandros — and a comparatively new department of it, to the island’s south west, results in Gundari. Little greater than a rudimentary monitor, the route bumps throughout the rocky terrain till the clifftop resort emerges, mirage-like, on the horizon, backed by a sweep of blue sea. It’s constructed from the island’s rust-hued stone, enhanced by woven willow canopies and olive timber.

Gundari sits in 80 acres of a fowl preservation zone, and the resort has partnered with Greek nature conservation marketing consultant Dr Tasos Dimalexis to assist shield the native Eleonora’s falcon — a slender peregrine doppelganger that may be discovered right here between March and October. Some two thirds of the world’s inhabitants of Eleonora’s falcons, which is believed to at present stand at round 20,000, breed in and across the Greek islands.

On a ship journey alongside Dr Dimalexis, one of many fowl’s foremost researchers, company can circle Folegandros and its surrounding isles seeking falcons, studying about their behaviour whereas conserving an eye fixed out for Bonelli’s eagles, too. Guests may also assist researchers with fowl’s-nest monitoring through stay digicam feeds, take part in volunteer surveillance expeditions south east to the Christiana Islands or embark on guided hikes.

The keep

Getting to Gundari is a part of the journey, however when you arrive at this boutique resort, life is easy. Late-risers breakfast on Greek yoghurt with nuts and honey; pool-damp ft pad throughout heat honeyed stone; and all sound narrows to simply lapping water, bleating goats and the whispers of a ebook’s pages being turned by the breeze. Eleonora’s falcons and Bonelli’s eagles wheel within the sky, looping across the craggy cliff head that looms massive within the views of the 27 suites and villas. Each one is south-facing to shelter towards the northern Meltemi winds in summer season, with sun-heated infinity swimming pools that spill over the cliff edge into the unbroken Aegean. And the rooms are suitably rustic — furnished in wooden, rattan and a pure palette of earthy browns. Some characteristic open-air showers, too.

Days listed here are finest spent lazily, whiling away the hours earlier than lunch beside the clifftop lap pool and swim-up bar. At Orizon, a up to date Greek menu awaits, crafted by Lefteris Lazarou, who opened Greece’s first Michelin-starred restaurant. What’s out there adjustments with the seasons, and components are sourced from throughout the island, in addition to from the resort’s personal backyard. Seafood options closely, with the likes of cuttlefish risotto with squid ink, and orzo with shrimps, Lemnos candy wine and chilli. After lunch, it’s again to the pool — or to the subterranean spa for a therapy utilizing Folegandros’s native herbs.