In tune with the creative self — Skyros Centre

Networking is part of that holistic vision. We are all offering programmes and in some cases community experiences for people to try out new ways of living, working and relating. We do not feel any sense of competition amongst each other; rather we support each other by a free interchange of information and in some cases resources.

Each Centre has its own orientation and its own ambiance. Some programmes emphasize personal development, others creativity, healing or therapy, some are communities, some offer rest and retreat and others simply provide a relaxing get-away from the hustle and bustle of life in the cities with an opportunity to meet others who may share your holistic interests. We suggest that you check them all out, choose the one that suits your interests, inclinations and pocketbook in the moment. The old maxim: “She or he who knows England only knows not England” is true also of alternative holiday centres. By experiencing several you learn more about each one, about the concept in general and about yourself.

For celebration, renewal and expressing all that you may be — Cortijo Romero

The following links will take you to centres in the sun that we know a bit about, either from personal experience or hearsay. Please feel free to email us with any discoveries you make or any feedback you would like us to put on future editions of this links page.

A holiday in the sun practicing building a world where you can live your truth and make it count — Kalikalos Holidays

Greece

• Kalikalos Summer School   Located close to crystal clear Aegean beaches in mainland Greece on the edge of the Pilion forest, home of the legendary Centaurs, the Kalikalos offers a summer programme of holistic workshops, retreats, eco-tourism and alternative holidays along with a community-building experience patterned after the Findhorn community in northern Scotland.

  Deriving its inspiration from several international spiritual communities and mystery schools dedicated to personal and spiritual transformation, the workshop programme and the community life aim to provide practical experiences with new models of living, working and relating. Course offerings include Vipassaña meditation, Yoga, Mediation Skills, Painting weeks, Community Building, Language of the Soul, Aura Diagnosis, Compassionate Communication, Advaita Satsang, Creative Writing and Living-in-Community guest weeks. Contact: Johanna Aro-Louis, 19 Blarmore Road, Inverness, Scotland IV3 8QT. Telephone: 01463 231913

• The Limnisa Centre is located in the Eastern Peloponese at a secluded waterfront location just two hours by ferryboat from Piraes (Athens port). Courses take place on the roof terrace. From here you can see the Saronic Gulf spread out all around; with five Islands including Aegina and Angistri, and the mountains of the Eastern Peloponnese with Epidavros nestling in their foothills.

  The Limnisa Centre's main focus is on creative writing and art workshops. The creative writing tutor is the well-known novelist Philip Wooderson. Art tutor is freelance exhibiting artist/illustrator Felix Zakar. The maximum number of students is 10. The atmosphere at Limnisa is relaxed and based on the belief that calm and open space can help you in being creative.
  
  To book or for more details contact: Mariel Hacking, St. George, 18030 METHANA, Greece. Tel +44 1843 599849 or +30 22980 32386.

• Bio-Art organises a summer programme near ancient Olympia for artists, aspiring artists and all those wishing to reconnect with themselves and the natural world. Experienced art tutors and eco-agriculturalists guide participants in exploring and expressing their connectedness with the Earth.
  
  Bio-Art’s ten acres of woodland, olive groves and lush vegetation, the magnificent sanctuaries and temples in the area express the unique spirit and beauty of Olympia. There are archaeological sites to visit, mountains and rivers to explore, wetlands and caves, salt marshes with a variety of fauna and flora, sand dunes and long stretches of untouched sandy beaches, thermal springs and lakes.
  
  Bio-Art offer painting and drawing courses, T’ai chi and Chi-Kung sessions, shamanic work (at the nearby Irini Centre), seminars on various complementary healing arts and healing-sound workshops, as well as lectures on the simplicity and magic of bio-dynamic agriculture.
  
  To book or for more details contact: Eleni Sanikou at Bio Art Ltd, 166 Piccadilly, London W1J 9EF, Tel. 0798 403 1096.

• The Skyros Centre nestles at the edge of the village on the Aegean island of Skyros. The island is still less touristy than many Greek islands, probably because until fairly recently there was no commercial airport, and the island could only be reached by a combination of bus from Athens to Kimi and then ferry. The courtyard of the Centre, shaded by almond, fig and pomegranate trees, offers a panoramic view of the mountains and the sea. The courses, whether on novel writing, relationships or Greek cooking, focus on the development of the creative self.

  Skyros operates a companion centre on the other side of the island at Atsitsa. The location is secluded and guests live simply in a natural environment. Courses range from wind surfing, sailing, and abseiling to dance, yoga, theatre, painting and music. Contact: Skyros Holistic Holidays Ltd, 92 Prince of Wales Road, London NW5 3NE , Tel: +44 (0) 20 7284 3065

• Iliohoos offer seminars and workshops in T’ai Chi, Qi Qong, and Hatha-yoga (Iyengar or Kripalu style), the yoga for balancing the polarities of our being. The workshops are designed to foster balance, harmony, self-healing and inner transformation. The venu is a small (10 bedroom) modern hotel a few meters from this gorgeous beach in SE Pelion.

  Dr. Jorgos Pappas and Lina Pappas offer relaxing and creative vacations through healing body, breathing and attention exercises. These are complemented by dance and walks to areas filled with energy, visits to local celebrations and the opportunity to experience indigenous Greek culture. Contact: Lina Kasviki-Pappas, GR-37006, Argalasti Pelion Greece. Tel. & Fax: 0871 218 0304, or +30 24230 55698, e-mail: info@iliohoos.gr
  

• West Crete Holidays offer a range of special interest and activity holidays for health and personal development. They offer a choice of therapies for restoring balance and physical, mental and spiritual harmony. It's also possible to just come and book accomodation at West Crete as a base for your own holiday.

  Recent offerings included Alexander Technique, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Yoga, Crystal Healing, Reiki, Dance/Movement, Shiatsu and Tai Chi. Contact: (Crete) Tel: 0030 28220 31726, (UK Mobile) Tel: 07866 731 461

• Axladitsa–Avatakia   is a place of learning where a local and trans-local circle of guardians are investing and engaging in a real-time inquiry of how to live in wholeness and be in right relationship with oneself, each other and the earth. The Centre is a practice ground for pioneering and cultivating new practices and patterns of natural human leadership, organising, and economic patterns, through listening to and tending land, conscious organic hosting, farming, renewable resources and ecological practices - in service of our whole world.
  
  Axladitsa invite you to come and explore with us how tending Earth and Self simultaneously connects us more deeply to who we are, the rhythms of earth and to that which we wish to nurture now and in the future. There are also related workshops throughout the summer. Contact: Axladitsa-Avatakia, Promyri-Volou, 37006, Greece, Tel: (Mobiles) +30 6979112427

• MetaCom is situated in the quiet setting of Anidri, a small village on the southwest coast of Crete in the midst of traditionally cultivated landscape, 1km from the sea and 3.5 km from the town of Paleohora with its sandy beach and tourist facilities. MetaCom offers a space, for personal retreats, seminars and conferences, and is involved in organic farming and working toward preserving the diversity of the biosphere. The Centre intends to offer topics in creative fields such as music, crafts, dance, video and film.

  MetaCom aims at being a platform for the exchange of ideas, especially in the realms of ecology, ecological building, alternative energy sources and life cycles; health, nutrition and preventive medicine; the creative arts.

  Contact: Mario Sommer, Anidri, 73001 Paleochora, Crete, Greece. Tel. 0030 28230 42188 or mobile 0030 697 4705426.

• Galini Holidays  Zara and Robin offer a variety of healing workshops, yoga, dance, walking weeks and tranquil holidays at their family home near Koroni, Peloponneses, Greece. The groups are small, 3 to 10 participants, and guests stay in yurts set amongst the olive trees on the land. The unspoilt sandy beach is a 15 minute walk down through the olive groves.

  Galini uses the sun and wind to generate electricty, they organically grow their own vegetables and tend over 40 olive trees. Their workshop programme runs from March through October and includes art, meditation, yoga, walking and cycling weeks. It's possible here also to learn wood turning from a local Greek woodturner. Further details from: Galini Holidays, Box 6054, KORONI, Messinias 24004, GREECE. Tel. +30 6948 352 594 or +44 (0)776 595 4779

• An "ecostation" in process of becoming, the Iris Holistic Centre is a big beautiful room with wooden floor right on the beach of Aegiali on the Greek island of Amorgos. Here come those who share their knowledge, teaching from their experience of personal growth, alternative therapies, meditation, yoga, art and ecology.

  From mid April to the end of September, Iris offers courses in Tai Chi, Qi Qong, insight meditation, Voice, Dance therapy, and Bikram Yoga. Contact: Vassilis Savvas, Iris Holistic Centre, Aegiali, 84008, Amorgos, Greece. Tel: 0030 2850-73545.
  
  

• From mid April to mid October Yoga Plus at Ag. Pavlos on the beautiful unspoilt coast of southern Crete offer Astanga Vinyasa Yoga courses supplemented with Tai Chi, Massage, Shiatsu and other mind-body related practices. Astanga Vinyasa Yoga is designed to bring a balanced development of physical strength and inner wisdom. As there is no striving to achieve, the body unfolds in its own time through focus on breath and energy while incorporating a softness and flow which give this yoga a dancelike quality.

  Accomodation for the two-week courses is in ensuite terrace or balcony rooms. Great emphasis is placed on the quality of the diet, and the varied vegetarian meals draw on vegan, macrobiotic and traditional Mediterranean dietary principles. Contact: Yoga Plus, Yoga Plus, 32 Seaford Close, Luton LU2 8JX.

• Gaia Visions is a beautiful stone house built in traditional style located on Zakynthos island, Greece. It sits in a quiet location amid olive groves in a small enclave of stone houses with a sea view. The house has a peaceful energy and has been used as a healing centre since it was built.

  Holidays here are designed to de-stress and rejuvenate, to relax with massage, yoga and meditation. Individually tailored classes (maximum 12 participants) teach new skills to take home and maintain inner peace and calm. The food is vegetarian, based on simple Greek cuisine, organic and local as much as possible. Vegans and special diets are welcome. Locally, many things of interest: caves, monasteries, rural villages and stunning scenery.

  To book or for more details contact: Frances Engelhardt, 36 Woodstock Avenue, Sutton, Surrey SM3 9EF, Tel. 0208 401 8319 or 0030 69797 41391.

• Mani Spirit of Life Centre lies just above the sea in the Peloponeses mountains where the ancient Greeks worshipped Asclepius who healed with a combination of diet, meditations, body therapies, and dreams allowing the deeper self or soul to be the instrument of healing.

  The Spirit of Life is a holistic lifestyle programme, born out of the desire to help people live a more fulfilling life. Looking at mind, body and spirit connections, as well as the emotions. the Centre draws its inspiration from both ancient wisdom and modern therapeutic and scientific research. Courses run year round and include Dream Healing Pilgrimage: A Journey of Self Discovery, Usui Reiki, Pilates, Yoga, Meditation, Food as Medicine, Walking holidays, Zen of Beach Art, and other holistic offerings. Contact: Spirit of Life, Stoke Lane, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol,BS9 3SN Tel +44 (0) 870 242 70 69 or in Greece: +30 27210 78240.

• Located on ten acres of olive groves the Zarka Centre lies in a quiet valley set amongst the rolling and sometimes dramatic landscape of the southern region of the Greek island of Evia. The facilities consist of a restored traditional stone house and a large circular meeting hall with adjacent swimming pool. Guests are accomodated either at the Centre or in rooms in the nearby village of Zarka.

  This gentle rural setting is the venue for a wide range of activities which focus on the themes of health and creativity. Workshops include medicinal plants of Greece, creative writing, painting and drawing, dream work, holistic massage and Shiatsu.
  Contact: Zarka Centre, Zarakes, 34017 Krieza, Evia, Greece. Tel.: +30 22230 53991, Mob.: +30 6946827391

Click for more Mediterranean Centres

Do visit the Travel Center Forum as well as the directories and WebRings listed below where people with interests in alternative holistic holidays can meet, share experiences, find travel companions, ask about conditions at various centres and swap information.

Although the Villa Horizonte Centre is now closed, its web site remains a tresure trove of information about alternative Greece.

	Vegetarian Vacations— Directory of tour operators offering vegetarian or vegan food.	Vacations that can change your life by Ellen Lederman