When the gods are angry with a man, they give him what he asks for… ~ Greek Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling south from Mykonos to Santorini– by ferry. We woke early to planes flying overhead. Aegean Hotel Mykonos, our accommodation on the island, was only four kilometres from the airport, and I was surprised I hadn’t noticed any planes since we’d arrived. A quick glance at the harbour in front of our hotel confirmed that it was currently free of cruise ships (hooray), but I could see three gigantic white liners steaming in from the western horizon. They would soon anchor directly in front of us, and the constant announcements over their public address systems would begin. Then, the inevitable and unescapable horror would commence. Endless battalions of cruise ship tourists would land ... read more

A thousand people cannot undress a naked person… ~ Greek Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling east to Mykonos– by ferry! It was still dark when we woke on our final morning in Syros. We headed down to a tiny bakery store on one side of the bustling roundabout outside Hotel Archontissa and picked up some bougatsa (custard phyllo pie) and tiropitas (feta pies), which we enjoyed with a cup of tea on the small balcony of our third-floor room – which overlooked the roundabout below. We loved our time on Syros. For a start, our hotel was in a very local part of town (about 700 metres from the island’s main ferry quay), which allowed us to witness the everyday life of Syriots. We loved the remote hills; the parched earth; the friendly locals; ... read more

A kiss must last long to be enjoyed… ~ Greek Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling southeast from Athens to Syros– by ferry. There are ‘early’ starts, and there are ‘very early’ starts. This was one of the latter. When we woke at 4am, it was way too early for breakfast, so we picked up a pre-prepared breakfast box from the friendly Hotel Attalos staff and made our way to the underground metro (a short walk from the hotel). We boarded a train, found a place to stand, dropped our packs at our feet and headed to Piraeus – the main port of Athens. It wasn’t long before we were storing our packs in the cavernous bowel of an enormous ferry and finding a spot upstairs to settle for the four-hour trip to Syros. We ... read more

A truth spoken before its time is dangerous… ~ Greek Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling southeast from Kalambaka to Delphi. We woke early and headed down to Hotel Alexiou’s stark dining area, where I enjoyed a fairly basic breakfast of yoghurt and muesli, bread and jam, and tea and juice. We checked out around 9am and settled into a very comfy and roomy minibus for the four-hour southward journey to Delphi. In less than a minute we’d left the small township of Kalambaka behind, and we were driving through its outlying rural landscape that featured cotton, tobacco and corn fields. As we travelled further south, hay bales lay neatly in fields, man-made dams glistened in the sun and distant hazy mountain ranges shimmered on the horizon. At times we drove parallel to a railway ... read more

Constant dripping will wear away a stone… ~ Greek Proverb HE SAID... Today we were travelling southwest from Thessaloniki to Kalambaka– by train. We woke early and organised our packs, then headed down to the welcoming and well organised breakfast room at Le Palace Hotel, where I enjoyed yoghurt and muesli, fresh bread and jam, and a few cups of tea and juice. Our time in Thessaloniki was transitory. We arrived late on a Sunday night, wandered its gritty hilly streets all day Monday, then left early on Tuesday morning. I would love to have spent a few more days here, getting under the skin of this austere yet beautiful city. As I said in our Hydra blog: ‘Time will always be the enemy of travel.’ We checked out of Le Palace Hotel and caught a ... read more