Traveling to the Greek isle of Skyros is not as simple as going from A to B. Your long-haul flight is typically followed by a three-hour drive to the island of Evia, before a two-and-a-half-hour ferry ride takes you over the crystalline Aegean Sea. Locals (and the expats who descend on the area every summer) get to shortcut the ordeal, of course; designer Gabriela Hearst could make the journey by boat from nearby Milos, where she has a summer home, should she want to visit Macrene Alexiades, MD, the cosmetic dermatologist and laser surgeon with Greek parentage and three Harvard degrees. “Being there is like stepping back in time,” says Alexiades, who has just completed construction on a split-level Skyrian retreat that includes a private treatment room overlooking the beach of Kalamitsa.
