Greek

BEFORE I headed to the Greek island of Alonissos, a waiter in neighbouring Skiathos told me: “It’s too quiet there, I prefer to party here.” 

Now I was looking forward to the trip even more. 

While most tourists tend to land at Skiathos airport and stick to that lively destination, many are making the short ferry ride to Alonissos or Skopelos, where scenes for 2008 film Mamma Mia! were shot. 

These two beautiful islands rising out of the Aegean sea offer alternatives to bars and restaurants blasting out music from competing sound systems. 

My first stop was the relatively untouched Alonissos. 

With just 5,000 beds for tourists and 3,000 locals living on this slender, 12-mile-long island, I was immediately struck by how quiet and unhurried everything is. 

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Even though there is only one main snaking road, I hardly encountered another car.

And at the first beach I tried, Agios Dimitrios, to the north of the island, the chatter on the sun loungers was soft, no phones rang and no music disturbed the peace at the closest taverna. 

The tourists had sensibly decided that the pristine turquoise waters, facing another island so that you might think you are in a lake, were captivating enough.

Other beaches to lay your towel on include the crescent of pebbly sand at Kokkinokastro, backed by towering red cliffs, and Chrisi Milia, with its shallow water.

Further down the coast, the tiny port of Kalamakia is well known for its fresh fish restaurants.  

One such restaurant is Corali, overlooking the tranquil bay and run by two sisters. They served us the delicious local specialty — a cheese pie, which is fried rather than baked.  

Up above the main port of Patitiri, its old town, thoughtfully rebuilt following a 1965 earthquake, is pedestrianised and you won’t be harassed by scooters while attempting to navigate the steep stone steps. 

Rarely have I relaxed into holiday mode so quickly on a break. 

If you want maximum splendid isolation, join Albedo Travel’s day trip to meet the sole monk living at a 17th century clifftop monastery on the otherwise uninhabited Kyra Panagia island. 

With 90 per cent of the guests at the Atrium hotel where I stayed hailing from Britain, it is clear that I was not alone in wishing to escape the crowds

The excursion, which takes in three breathtaking swimming stops, is led by the white-bearded maritime entertainer Captain Pakis, who has honed his patter such as “GMT time is Greek Maybe Time” to perfection. 

If you are more adventurous, Alonissos has become a popular scuba-diving spot due to the presence of a 5th century BC shipwreck 66ft underwater.

The island is also home to Europe’s first national marine park, established in 1992 to protect the endangered population of Mediterranean monk seals. 

With 90 per cent of the guests at the Atrium hotel where I stayed hailing from Britain, it is clear that I was not alone in wishing to escape the crowds. 

This lovely little hotel’s hillside location means there are stunning sea views from all of the rooms.  

Travellers seeking a middle ground between party Skiathos and quiet Alonissos can opt for Skopelos, which sits between them. 

Chic pool area 

With 30,000 tourist beds and 4,500 locals, it is far more developed, with busy bars, coffee shops and restaurants vying for your custom at the harbour to the main port, Skopelos town.  

One of the big attractions is its connection to hit musical Mamma Mia!, starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried. 

As I sat on a small coach waiting for my four-hour Mamma Mia! tour of the island to begin, I started to get nervous because the music sounded like someone had asked ChatGPT to play Abba in a Greek style.

Every detail of the boutique hotel and spa has been immaculately planned, from the modern take on colonial styling to the best breakfast buffet I’ve experienced

But Dolphin Of Skopelos’ trip proved to be enormous fun, taking in Saint John’s Chapel’s 199 steep steps, which Donna (Streep) climbed for the wedding of Sophie (Seyfried), and Kastani beach, which was the backdrop to the Does Your Mother Know sequence. 

The tiny Saint John’s church has incredible views that shouldn’t be missed. 

The party vibe is more obvious here, with a DJ on the decks at the bar behind Kastani.

But when I drove to Panormos beach on another day, the atmosphere was relaxed as a waitress brought drinks to the free sun beds in front of the serene bay. 

And at the new 5-star Minno hotel in Skopelos town, the chic pool area makes you feel you’re winding down with the jet set. 

Every detail of the boutique hotel and spa has been immaculately planned, from the modern take on colonial styling to the best breakfast buffet I’ve experienced. 

The restaurant offers fine dining for a price comparable to burger and chips in a London pub. 

If you are looking for amazing food, quiet, clean beaches and welcoming locals you should be saying I Do, I Do, I Do to both islands. 

NEW YORK — An embarrassed CBS fired a contrite Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder Saturday after the sports commentator said in a much-criticized television interview that blacks were “bred” to be better athletes than whites.

Snyder, who outraged civil rights leaders with this and other remarks about blacks in sports, reiterated a “heart-felt apology” he made after the interview was televised Friday, but raised the possibility he may sue CBS for dropping him.

He said that CBS executives wanted him to resign, but he refused and was fired by Neal Pilson, president of CBS Sports, who called Snyder from Hawaii.

Snyder said in a statement read by a CBS spokesman that he has “referred this matter” to his lawyer, former Republican Sen. Paul Laxalt of Nevada, “who is looking into it. Accordingly, I will have no further comment at this time.”

However, speaking from his Washington hotel in a brief phone interview, Snyder, for 12 years a commentator on the “NFL Today” pregame show, seemed willing to answer questions. But he was prevented from doing so by CBS spokesman Doug Richardson.

Asked if he may sue CBS, Snyder, 70, vaguely replied, “We just want to be protected. We shouldn’t say anything . . . .” He was interrupted by Richardson, who had read Snyder’s statement to a reporter.

Asked why he made his controversial remarks Friday, Snyder again tried to respond, only to be interrupted again by Richardson, who was sharing the same phone. “He’s a good guy–he wants to talk and he shouldn’t,” Richardson said.

“I’ll talk to you later, OK?” Snyder told the reporter. CBS, in a separate statement Saturday, said CBS Sports had “ended its relationship” with Snyder following his remarks. It said the remarks in no way “reflect the views of CBS Sports.”

Snyder, known for his predictions, was in Washington with “NFL Today” colleagues Brent Musburger and Irv Cross for today’s National Football Conference championship game between the Washington Redskins and the Minnesota Vikings.

He has been dropped from today’s telecast.

Snyder’s one-year contract, reportedly worth about $750,000, was due to expire soon.

Snyder made his comments in a lunchtime interview Friday at Duke Zeibert’s, a Washington restaurant.

His interviewer was Ed Hotaling, a black producer-reporter for NBC-owned WRC-TV. Hotaling said Saturday he had just come from covering a memorial to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., where a tape of King’s famous “I have a dream” speech was played.

Hotaling said he’d been doing interviews with various people in the restaurant, asking what they thought the next step in civil rights progress for blacks should be. He put the question to Snyder.

“It was all on the occasion of Martin Luther King’s birthday,” Hotaling said. “So I thought it was an appropriate, forward-looking question, and got a backward-looking answer.”

In the interview, Snyder, whose remarks were termed “reprehensible” by CBS, said that the only sports realm in which whites now dominate is coaching, and if blacks “take coaching, as I think everyone wants them to, there is not going to be anything left for the white people.”

Snyder, who during his remarks emphasized he was not meaning to be “derogatory,” said the only thing now that “whites control are the coaching jobs–the black talent is beautiful, it’s great, it’s out there. The only thing left for the whites is a couple of coaching jobs.”

He also said that black athletes perform better than white athletes for reasons that went back to slave times.

“The slave owner would breed his big black (man) to his big woman so that he could have a big black kid . . . . That’s where it all started,” he said.

While Hotaling said he was “stunned” and appalled by Snyder’s remarks, he thought it “outrageous they (CBS) fired him.” He said there should be far more reporting on civil rights in sports, and with Snyder participating in the coverage.

“I think it (the interview) was about the best possible Martin Luther King Day story you could have because it brings everything out in the open,” Hotaling said in a phone interview from Washington.

“And I think maybe one of the few people who might have agreed with me that Jimmy the Greek should not be fired would have been Martin Luther King.

“I think you have to think a little more broadly than firing a sports commentator for expressing stupid comments about civil rights. You should start covering the story and let him learn something.”

One way, he suggested, would be to put Snyder on today’s “NFL Today” broadcast and discuss his remarks, and civil rights, with black and white athletes.

“His views would be expressed a little more adequately, I think,” Hotaling said. “He wouldn’t come out to be such a bad guy. They’d have the thing resolved in a positive way instead of a negative way.”

Snyder was quoted by the Washington Post as saying: “I told (Pilson) I wanted to face everyone (on today’s program). He told me, ‘I can’t let you do that.’ ”

Hotaling was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: “I saw no liquor or wine on his table. He did not seem drunk or even tipsy to me. He was articulate in what he was saying. His point of view was made very articulately.”

Hotaling said that at one point in the interview, Snyder “turned to me and said, ‘I don’t want this on.’

“The reason we kept rolling was because he kept right on talking about the same issue. He is a professional sports commentator and he kept on talking even though he knew the lights were on. I think he knew he was on.”

Snyder, who was born Emetrios Snyodinos in Steubenville, Ohio, also made news in 1980, but on a lesser scale, when he and Musburger got into a brief fist fight at a midtown New York bar after the two argued over the amount of air time that Snyder was getting.

Musburger said Saturday he “was stunned” by Snyder’s remarks.

“I don’t know what he was thinking about,” Musburger said.

At Des Moines, Iowa, Democratic presidential hopeful Jesse Jackson, appearing at a conference marking Martin Luther King Day, said that Snyder’s “obviously regrettable and racially offensive” comments were less important than the lack of black managers and coaches in professional and college sports.

The Los Angeles branch of the NAACP sent a telegram to Pilson commending CBS for firing Snyder. Raymond Johnson, president of the L.A. group, said at a press conference Saturday: “The NAACP is outraged at the racist and insensitive remarks made by Jimmy Snyder.”

Jim (Mudcat) Grant, a former major league pitcher who is an NAACP chairperson, said: “Even though (Snyder’s) comments may seem comical to some, the seriousness of it all is that Americans must work harder to open the closed doors and provide equal opportunities for minorities of color.”

Harry Edwards, head of major league baseball’s minority hiring program, expressed outrage.

“Some of his explanations as to why blacks have emerged to a point of near dominance in sports make it clear the man is abysmally ignorant,” he said.