Skyros has been the subject of numerous features in the British and foreign press over the years. The very short extracts on this page represent only a tiny sample of the vast publicity given to an organisation which does not even have a PR department.
'To read Skyros press coverage is to choke on cliched words like 'life changing', 'transforming'. Yet at the end of two weeks, Skyros has been all of these.'
Kate Rew, The Observer
Red, August 2008
‘By 2004, I had been a TV producer for seven years, working on chat shows like Richard & Judy and Paul O’Grady. It was fun at first but, as I approached 30, I was gettting increasingly disillusioned. .. That summer I went on a Skyros holiday in Greece... At Skyros, there’s a you-can-do-anything atmosphere.. I sat looking at the sun, glinting off the sea, and it was the most beautiful place. I realised psychology was what I wanted to do... Within six months of the holiday, I’d quit my job and was starting clinical psychology trraining... I now realise that helping people is what I always wanted to do. I didn’t really know who I was until I went on that holiday. If I hadn’t gone I’d still be a TV producer’. Jennie Dempster.
The Daily Telegraph, 5 July 2008
Fantastic Breaks... Suzy Bennett takes her pick of the best: the Skyros holistic retreat, on the Greek island of the same name, runs courses in yoga, meditation, writing and life-coaching as well as more active pursuits such as sailing, belly dancing and trapeze.
The Irish Times, Saturday 7 June 2008
There’s a joke, as old as the hills, about two journalists who meet in a pub. One says: ‘I'm writing a novel.’ The other replies: ‘Neither am I.’ Recognising myself in this lame gag for more years than I care to remember, I booked a place on a writer's course on the small Greek island of Skyros. Reader, I had high hopes. These morphed into my wildest of dreams when I learned that our tutor was the Sri Lankan writer Romesh Gunesekera, author of several gorgeous novels, including the Booker-nominated Reef. I'm not saying I expected to come home with the makings of a top literary prize in my newly purchased stash of hardback notebooks. But I will confess to daydreaming, just a teeny bit, that the extra tuition under blue skies could elevate me to Enright-style acclaim.....
[Roisín went to Skyros and] by the end of the week I had loosened up in the workshop and even produced a couple of pieces I could be proud of. Not so proud that I would rehash them here, you understand, but quietly pleased. Under Gunesekera's supportive eye we invented words, practised writing dialogue and listened in wonder to the stories that unfolded. I learned that you get can get a lot written in five- or even two-minute bursts and that my daily protestation ‘I just don't have enough time to write’ might not be strictly true. So am I writing a novel? The answer is still no. But after a week on Skyros I may be inching ever closer to making a start.
The Guardian, Saturday 7 June 2008
The Guardian named Skyros as the No 1 of the World's Five Best Writing Holidays. Christopher Hope and Rachel Cusk among others, it said, will be providing 'inspiration for aspiring writers'.
The Financial Times 10/11 May 2008
I have now been in Skyros five times... Each visit is coloured by the memories of previous visits, so that my time on Skyros is a weave of past and present. Here is the pine-backed beach where Patricia and Pippa and Kate and I, after a hot, four-hour walk across the island, threw off our clothes and ran yelling into the water. Here is the bench where Ian and I sat at dawn and watched a fat orange sun hoist itself out of the ocean, a fishing boat motoring towards it as if dispatched by some primitive king to find out what it was made of. Here is the precipitous path that my up-for-anything 91-year-old student Hugh braved so that he too could swim off the nude beach... Skyros has taught me that travel is like love: as you get older, the appeal of newness wears thin. There is something richer, more layered, and ultimately more beautiful, about knowledge acquired over time. Susan Elderkin
Health & Fitness May 2008
Salsa classes by day, hot Havana clubs by night - all you need for an authentic Cuban holiday. The moment I hear about Skyros Cuba, a new holiday where you learn to salsa in Havana - I just have to go. After 10 fantastic days, we're all sad at the thought of going home. The only consolation is we're taking back wonderful memories and some great new salsa moves.
Spirit & Destiny April 2008
Unleash your sensual potential on a tantalizing new holiday on the Greek island of Skyros.
Guardian Online 20 March 2008
Best new age holiday: Skyros
The first and still the best. I haven't met anyone who's been there who didn't love it.
Observer Online 9 March 2008
Skyros Holidays offers a life-coaching programme that can be tailored to specific needs, which can include improving personal relationships. Situated on the sleepy Greek island of Skyros, the holidays aim to provide a relaxing environment with good food, comfortable accommodation and gentle workshops, yoga classes and discussions to help each guest reach a better understanding of what motivates them and what they are striving for.
The Daily Mail 12 January 2008
Dancers with two left feet should head to the Havana Libre Hotel in Cuba... Come Dancing wannabes can practise their moves with their own local dance partner and soothe aching muscles with an early-morning yoga session. You'll have plenty of time to visit the beach and explore the old town. Dancing in the street is optional. Take home the ability to dance in public without embarrassment.
The Sunday Times 6 January 2008
I have had one life-changing holiday - on the Greek island of Skyros... I had just given up my job with Shell. I wasn't quite sure what to do with my life, so I enrolled on a creative-writing course and learnt how to do massage, in the hope that something would occur to me. People kept saying that I was really funny, and ought to be a comedian, so I thought I'd give it a go. Jimmy Carr
TimesOnline 30 December 2007
Always good to learn something on a holiday. Surfing, painting, tantric sex... Tantric sex? Yes, it's a thoroughly educational course on the Greek island of Skyros, where intimacy experts Martin and Hanna Jeffs will spend a solid fortnight in August leading workshops titled The Energy of Love.
The Independent 24 November 2007
There was a wide selection of courses to choose from... the [Dream Workshop] course was fascinating. David Robbins
TimesOnline 19 June 2007
The most talked about holistic holiday experience destination in Europe since it was founded in 1979, Skyros offers a multi-layered holiday experience which, at its most gentle, means relaxation, socialising and great food and, at its most profound, the confidence and insight to change your life.
The Birmingham Post 17 March 2007
I was stunned when I saw them. They (the Atsitsa group) looked transformed. A week earlier these had been pasty, stressed faces and bodies, yet they now looked rejuvenated. And it wasn’t just the tan. Of course, our Skyros Centre group was the same, but we hadn’t noticed it among ourselves. Clive Leighton
Jewish Chronicle 2 March 2007
Skyros is different because it is opening up participants to possibilities. What you take back from this island is more than you get from a typical holiday. Sharon Garfinkel
Daily Express 5 September 2006
After a week on the island of Skyros, I feel fitter, calmer and braver than I have for a long time. It felt as though we were close to nature and, as time went on, close to each other. Rachel Baird
Evening Standard April 2006
Ken Eyerman is a bit of a legend; he's been pummelling dancers into shape for 25 years. I came away knowing my body much better - and feeling I'd seen an expert.
Greece Magazine February 2006
Tonight there’s a full moon and we’re planning celebrations - a healing in the magic circle, a late night walk to the threshing field, a skinny-dipping party...I’ll join the chill out dancers on the bar terrace. Crysse Morrison
Wave Magazine November/December 2005
Stressed out by Christmas? Make tracks for the exclusive Skyros resort in Thailand. White beaches, world-renowned cuisine and life changing courses await...
Elle September 2005
Abandoning every last vestige of dignity, I find myself humming to this group of strangers. Later on, I look in the mirror and decide my eyes are beautiful. Something has definitely shifted in the way I see myself.
New Statesman 22 August 2005
Vasso made wonderful traditional stews: peas and carrots; butter beans; potato, tomato and onion; spinach with chickpeas. The spinach, called horta, was stronger-tasting than ours. We ate it cold, hot, layered inside pastries, in omelettes. Vasso made excellent taramasalta and hummus. Her robust salads mixed tomatoes with cubed feta and cucumber chunks. Asked to provide green salad, she brought in wild rocket. For breakfast she gave us porridge, muesli, yoghurt, fruit salad and custard-filled pastries. The spiritual athletes wolfed the lot. Michèle Roberts
Greece Magazine July/August 2005
A landscape of stunning blue skies and seas, with whitewashed chapels and gnarled olive trees, can't fail to inspire the most jaded mind. Crysse Morrison
Sunday Tribune 10 July 2005
The courses are only one part of the many elements that make up the Skyros experience - for an experience is definitely what it is... Returning home after a week on Skyros was like waking up from a dream: when friends asked how it was, it was hard to think of anything more specific to say than an expansive 'Wonderful'... I would have been brokenhearted to leave had I not known that I had made good friends that I would keep in touch with. Roberta Gray
The Observer 19 June 2005
To read Skyros press coverage is to choke on cliche: words like 'life changing', 'transforming'. Yet at the end of two weeks, Skyros has been all these things. Kate Rew
TLS June 2005
Welcome to the world of honouring, empowerment, openness, issues, respect and concern. Hugo Williams
Insight March 2005
Skyros Holidays offers the definitive holistic holiday experience... You'll go home with new skills, new experiences and renewed enthusiasm. Naomi Zwei
E.S. Magazine 18 march 2005
You can take a writing course, something much more wild and wacky which will change your life, or just relax. Andrew Davies
Big Issue February 2005
When you're chained to your desk on a Monday, today's stressed rat racer knows there is more to time off than than a re-creation of life in London. Bel Jacobs
Health and Fitness September 2004
Atsitsa is probably the perfect holiday. It's hard to think how two weeks could be better spent... It's hard to put into words such a profoundly intense holiday. The joy of getting to know people whose ages and backgrounds were totally irrelevant, combined with the excitement of achieving goals and breaking old perceptions, made the experience all the more special... Everyone brings back their personal memories of Atsitsa. I'd never laughed so much or enjoyed such a range of emotions - all in the space of a fortnight. With such a great bunch of caring, supportive people. I returned rejuvenated, healthy, and more positive and with three new close friends. Tracey Jennings
Yoga Magazine July 2004
One of the key attractions is the sheer scale and variety of what is on offer. There is an embarrassment of riches on the timetable and a wealth of talent among both teaching and permanent staff. .. Most people don't know why they have come to the Aleppo pines of Greece to start or further their journey. But where could be better than a land rich in story and history, gods and goddesses, a land that understands life in a way now lost to most of us. Simon Heathcote
Here's Health Magazine 2004
Skyros Holistic Holidays voted as Highly Commended by Here's Health Best Holistic Break in the Natural Health Awards 2004
Time Out 5 May 2004
Despite initial reservations, I found myself relaxing into the warmth and camaraderie of the group. I talked for England, laughed, danced Zorba-like on the terrace as the sun set, reflected on life and the universe, boogied the night away in the local Music Bar and drank too much retsina. I didn't touch a newspaper or look at a TV, and London felt a million miles away. By the end of a fortnight, I came back inspired to find local singing classes and with a resolution to stick with my creative writing. Not exactly a dramatic transformation, but a great way to recharge. I even got a tan. Rebecca Taylor
Australian Sunday Telegraph March 2004
The games people play on the Greek island of Skyros have nothing to do with fitness, stamina or winning medals. Instead they're all about conquering your fears, freeing your spirit and having the sort of fun you probably haven't since you were a small kid. Paul Mansfield
Travel Insights 2003
Skyros is an alternative holiday center. At its core is the ideal of expanding our horizons as well as our minds, and liberating our creative, childlike spirits. a Skyros experience has more lasting power than your average vacation. It can change people in ways that last well beyond the tan. And, as long as Skyros holidays exist, none of us need ever again feel terror at the prospect of a solo vacation. Debbra Mikaelsen
Woman and Home September 2003
We got on the ferry as total strangers and came off it after two hours as firm friends... What could be more rewarding than spending your holiday in a beautiful place and returning with a new skill?... It was a magical fortnight. I felt absolutely liberated. Diana Jones
Top Sante June 2003
I felt inspired and optimistic about the future and what I could make of it. I'd relaxed, had fun and learnt new skills. Best of all was the simple realisation that I had it in me to feel good about myself. Leah Hellen
InStyle January 2003
I felt relaxed immediately, walking on to the balcony of the centre, lit by candles, nestled in the hill-top village of Skyros, I did think 'this is heaven'. Gaynor Faye
Woman Autumn 2002
The most wonderful legacy is the memory of having laughed more in two weeks that I can remember since childhood. Tracey Pocock
The Weekend Australian 28 September 2002
An environment that is supportive, social and, most important, a bloody good laugh. Jane Cornwell
The Daily Express 27 June 2002
On this idyllic island my life changed for ever. Gaby Ochsenbein
Here's Health March 2002
You make friends for life. John Hargreaves.
Sacred Space Journal Spring 2002
A beautiful opportunity to rethink your life, discover your own truth and determine what really matters to you. Jane Salvage
The Independent
Let your hair down, take risks, expand horizons, go on a Skyros holistic holiday. Mariella Frostrup
The Guardian 20 October 2001
Atsitsa’s greatest achievement lies in its ability to create a climate that makes possible a meeting of minds in which the barriers of age and gender dissolve and people experience that rarest of treats - simply being valued for who they are. Moyra Bremner
The Irish Times 22 July 2000
Half an hour later, my budding authors were in business, perspiring but eager. They had written pages. It was all fresh and good and entertaining. Clare Boylan
House & Garden July 2000
We were led through a forest of lush tropical plants to the air-conditioned wooden bungalows that would be home for the next two weeks... I danced and hugged and sobbed and laughed like a schoolgirl. By the end of the week, I was hooked.Vanessa Nicolson
Marie Claire November 1999
In the evenings, we got together in the bar to discuss our personal triumphs and insights with a renewed enthusiasm for life. Kerry Clark
Sunday Express 25 April 1999
A relaxed and genuine atmosphere of mutual encouragement, laughter and learning which provides a haven for creativity and self-awareness. Jane Warren
Dateline Magazine April 1999
I rediscovered the fun-loving, caring and most of all uncynical side of myself. Natascha Mirosch
Time Out 31 March 1999
I had anticipated that a new-age fog of earnest escapism might cloud the air. My scepticism was evaporated. They've got the balance right. A healthy realism prevails. Sarah Kent
Sunday Independent 10 Jan 1999
Quite honestly, the best holiday of my life...I feel I made bonds that will last a lifetime because the friendships were based on getting to know the real me and vice versa. Anne Roper
Red January 1999
Moonlight swims and impromptu discos. Melissa de Villiers
Evening Standard 23 October 1998
A sense of community, a chance to try new activities... a freedom from the tyranny of the business meeting, the mobile phone and the business plan. Lesley Garner
The Guardian 26 September 1998
I immediately fell in love with the place as everybody does... I kept thinking, 'I am an actor in A Midsummer Night's Dream; this is Arcadia, I want to live like this for ever'. Sue Townsend
Cosmopolitan August 1998
'I want to marry you', he said. I think I screamed. My heart felt so huge I thought it might burst. We had a service on the (Atsitsa) beach and another when we returned to Britain, and we now have two children'. Noelle Adcock-McElya
The Financial Times 9 May 1998
Some magic at work inspires people. Angela Wigglesworth
The Daily Mail 9 May 1998
We swam and sunbathed... with dolphins leaping and diving off the bow. At the end of two weeks our group was as close as many friends become in a lifetime. Paul Mansfield
Health & Fitness April 1998
The blossoming creativity is truly awe-inspiring. But it's only during the holiday climax, the famous Atsitsa cabaret, that we realise just how far we've come. Mary Comber
Oldie November 1997
And so we went round, eating the baklava, drinking the wine and deciding life wasn't so bad after all when you were a writer on a Greek island. Nell Dunn
Sainsbury's Magazine April 1997
'I thought it would be full of hippy New Agers', he says, 'which isn't me at all'. A fortnight later, however, he was a changed man. 'It's simply a magical place', he explains.
The Age, Sydney, 30 December 1996
What did I gain from Skyros? A better understanding of myself and a sense of being fully alive. Add to that new friendships, laughter and excellent food and drink. My tan was just a bonus. Paul Mansfield
Sunday Telegraph 18 February 1996
'Skyros isn't unreal' was his conclusion. 'In fact, it's a hell of a lot more real than most people are used to'. Paul Mansfield
The Guardian 20 January 1996
'I'd like to appreciate everyone who supported me last night after my second bottle of retsina.' As the laughter dies down, I realise we're here to enjoy ourselves. David Newnham
The Observer 5 November 1995
Even Hugo Williams, the licensed sceptic of Skyros, says: 'The whole thing is a lesson in uncynicism'. Janet Watts
Daily Mirror 23 July 1994
The island is virtually untouched by tourism. Alison Field
Here's Health May 1994
Atsitsa is a magical, healing place that brings out the best in people... Atsitsa attracts some of the world's best teachers. Janet Barcroft
The Times 16 April 1994
As evening fell, we reached the bay of Atsitsa, where the sun shed an iridescent pink sheen over Homer's wine-dark sea, creating one of those moments so stunningly beautiful that you cannot bear for it to end... Intellectual rigour, spiritual encounters and good old-fashioned rioting in the evening. Angela Neustatter
TLS 29 October 1993
Holidays you can take home with you. Hugo Williams
ITV: First Tuesday 7 September 1993
It's almost like living your life in a fortnight.
BBC2: Travel Show 5 August 1993
Skyros relaxes your whole mind, body and spirit. It is the perfect place for a proper holiday. Matthew Collins
The Independent 10 July 1993
The barriers were down, the daily massages and hugs were de rigeur. At last we were a little community. Naturally not many wanted to go home. Rose Rouse
Green Magazine February 1993
Atsitsa makes you feel more aware of yourself, the elements, and above all, other people. Alistair Townley
The Sunday Telegraph 2 January 1993
People go to Club Med to forget themselves. At Atsitsa they hope to find themselves, or at least some interesting, new and undiscovered bit. Lesley Garner
The Vegetarian September 1992
Whatever you come expecting to find, you're sure to go home a different person. The change may be subtle, but it's there. Tina Courtney
BBC Radio Four: Breakway 21 September 1991
It's lovely to see people just stretching a little bit beyond what they thought they could do, watching them pop open like flowers.
Evening Standard 4 June 1990
Participants opened up and there was a feeling of hilarity and physical well-being: a friendly, supportive and optimistic atmosphere among the guests, many from stressful jobs. Caroline Phillips
Elle October 1989
Atsitsa, one of the world's best health spas and resorts... Magically successful thanks to its unique alchemy of people, settings and ideals. Elissa Van Poznak
The Observer 23 July 1989
An unspoken philosophy prevails at Atsitsa that anyone can do anything, and that age is irrelevant. Barbara Gunnell
The Times Educational Supplement 22 January 1988
I would say that never have I come back from holiday feeling so refreshed and invigorated.'Civilisation' will never look quite the same. Anne-Marie Conway
Athens News Agency 10 November 1987
It's alternative living - i.e. living differently from the stress-filled life that most people experience every day. It's living based on human values.
Time Out 20 August 1986
Comments from participants run into superlatives - ‘liberation, rejuvenation, bliss in massive doses’ - but for many it is the sense of trying and achieving something you’ve never done before that tops the cake... The memory of that fortnight sends ripples through our notions of 'real'life. Hetty Einzig
The Irish Times 2 August 1986
Everybody who comes back from a holiday there recommends others to go. Maeve Binchy
Vogue May 1985
I felt alive and inspired, did some acting for the first time in many years, tried out a little gentle psychotherapy and learned to windsurf. I ate well, got fitter...went brown, slept deeply, laughed more than I had in ages and felt great. Deborah Hutton
The Guardian 20 March 1985
For me, there was not just the delight of the island but the chance to learn from the mirror others offered me and to try out bits of myself I'd forgotten were there. Ann Shearer
Harpers & Queen June 1984
The quality of the teaching staff is very high and the aims of the centre are not only valuable, but also very much part of the ancient Greek idea of wholeness on which holistic health is based. Leslie Kenton
The Irish Times 11 June 1982
The people were greatly reassuring, the atmosphere enormously supportive, and the actual holiday aspect of it was immensely rewarding. I have to say that there is no other way to describe it than to admit that it changed my life. Fergus Lalor
Time Out
Time Out summed up the whole Atsitsa experience as "the sheer, crazy, overwhelming joy of letting go and feeling alive"
The New York Times
Once a year, the shade of Dionysus rises like a breath of ancient madness over the milk - white homes and rugged hills of this stone-crusted Aegean Isle.
Great Escapes
I felt inspired and optimistic... I'd relaxed, had fun and learnt new skills. |
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