Skopelos - how can I resist you?

HOW CAN I RESIST: A Greek island in the northern Sporades group, Skopelos was the principal location for the filming of Mamma Mia!

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Some fret that the hype over Mamma Mia! will spoil the island of Skopelos. Paul Kalina says there's no need to worry.

Skopelos is receiving the kind of publicity money can't buy. A Greek island in the northern Sporades group, it is the principal location for Mamma Mia!, the film version of the Abba-inspired musical, starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard.

On the postcard-perfect waterfront of Skopelos Town, a cafe named in honour of the film has just opened. Its owner, a Greek-South African who has moved his family back to the island, is less worried about the onslaught of tourists predicted by Streep than with the apparent indifference of the locals to seize the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented by the film. Other than the Mamma Mia cafe and a couple of posters around the waterfront, there is no promotional campaign.

Unlike Greece's better-known islands, Skopelos has no airport, five-star resorts or Mykonos-style party scene. Its authenticity is what attracted the film's producers, who spent a month filming there as well as on neighbouring Skiathos.

"It's a sentimental island," says one of the cafe's frappe drinkers. "It's everything one imagines a Greek island to be." When he goes to Skiathos, he comes away feeling it's the "real world". He's an Englishman who has been coming here with his wife for 15 years.

Unlike many Greek islands, Skopelos is green rather than arid. It has agriculture - olive oil and world-famous white plums; its wine industry was wiped out by phylloxera in the 1940s - and enjoyed centuries of wealth from shipbuilding, trade and a merchant navy. There's also a thriving craft and artisan scene, which includes pottery, jewellery and a model shipbuilder who receives worldwide commissions.

The island's permanent population is estimated to be 5000. The summer tourist trade is mainly Greek, with a sprinkling of Britons and Scandinavians.

Skopelos Town is a textbook island setting, with its half-moon harbour, taverna-lined waterfront, labyrinthine streets, Byzantine churches and geranium-filled balconies.

In the heat of the day, it radiates the irresistible and seductive glow of the Aegean. At night, it's filled with holidaymakers and locals eating at the restaurants, families parading on the paralia and the occasional pony plying the tourist trade. There are no cars in the lower old town and the narrow streets even manage to keep the kamikaze scooter drivers in check.

The folklore museum in Skopelos is well worth a visit. It has a small but rich collection of costumes and furnishings and there are photos of the waterfront from the 1920s. What's remarkable is how little it has changed.

There are no addresses or street signs here, but it's impossible to get lost. The biggest mistake one can make is to walk the same street twice. Wander off any of the main thoroughfares and you're likely to stumble upon Byzantine churches, some tucked away in unlikely gaps between homes. (It's estimated there are 150 churches in the town, though most presumably are private chapels built by the town's well-to-do.)

The whitewashed church of Panagitsa You Pirgou rests on the hill at one end of the harbour, just beneath the remains of a 12th-century castle. The low wall on the church's terrace is the place to watch the sun setting over the town.

On the steep hills around the town is a handful of old monasteries that are open to the public. Entering Evagelismo Monastery, one of only two nuns still living here offers visitors a piece of loukoum (known elsewhere in the Mediterranean as Turkish delight). Built in 1712, the church is filled with beautiful icons and religious art.

However, most travellers come to the island for the beaches and unexpected scenery. Most of the island is covered in dense pine forests, interrupted here and there by ancient olive groves and terraced orchards.

The sought-after beaches are on the island's western side, protected from the wind and with the best sunsets. Stafilos and the tiny Agnondas are a 10-minute bus ride from the ferry terminal in town but further on, at and beyond Panormos, lie some of the best beaches, including Kastani, used for several scenes in Mamma Mia!

Further along, the road skirts inland through thick forests to the island's second-largest town, Glossa, whose charm is somewhat more elusive than that of Skopelos Town. The road abruptly ends at the port of Loutraki, a sleepy village on the main ferry route where a handful of tavernas serve up honest fare at lunchtime at laughably modest prices.

But if there's one single landmark that Mamma Mia! will put on the map, it's the breathtaking monastery Agios Ioannis. Perched on top of a craggy promontory that looks like it's about to topple into the sea, this tiny, whitewashed church is the setting of the film's finale.

Flick through the visitors' book inside the church and you'll find the signatures of several of the film's actors, including Streep and Brosnan.

In the film, Streep's character sprints to the top of the monastery in full flight. It's pure movie make-believe: the climb up the almost vertical staircase is arduous, particularly in the heat of a summer afternoon, but worth every drop of sweat. A dip in the azure seas at one of the two tiny beaches that surround the monastery is suitable recompense for the climb.

As a holiday destination, Skopelos has a laid-back attitude. Unlike the film, it doesn't feel like it's preparing for a Big Final Act. Its charm is unpolished, unrehearsed. Hopefully, not even an all-singing, all-dancing Hollywood musical can alter that.

Mamma Mia! is in cinemas now.

FAST FACTS

Getting there

There will be at least one stop en route to Athens. Singapore Airlines flies with a change of aircraft in Singapore for $1670. The cheapest fare ($1300) is with Air France, flying Qantas to Hong Kong or Singapore and then Air France via Paris. (Fares are low-season return from Melbourne and Sydney, not including tax.)
There is no direct ferry between Athens and Skopelos.
There are hydrofoil services between Skopelos and Skiathos and the mainland cities of Volos and Agios Konstantinos. Take a bus - about 5 1/2 hours, EUR61 (NZ$128) - from Athens to Agios Konstantinos, then a hydrofoil to Skopelos. Or fly from Athens to Skiathos, then catch a hydrofoil to Skopelos

- © Fairfax NZ News