It’s a warm evening and you linger over the reflection of the moon on the distant sea as you listen to the gentle sound of the waves. You’re sipping a glass of wine and nibbling on a basket of fresh pitta bread, ready to enjoy a feast after a hard day exploring the island of Crete. [...]
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Nikos is a short, softly spoken pensioner, still sprightly and gregarious after all these years. ‘This,’ he says unlocking a door, ‘is where Bruce wrote that last book of his’. I walk into a large room with a kitchenette , a double bed, a writing table and a balcony overlooking the Messenian Gulf with [...]
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I have been in Cyprus for the last three days. There is nothing like finding out for yourself as to exactly what is going on and how the current economic situation will affect our clients. The economic bombshell that hit the island 10 days ago was completely unexpected and has shaken the population. However, the [...]
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While tourism is crucial to the economic survival of many Greek islands, there is an inevitable price to pay for having millions of sun-seeking foreigners flying in and out of the country every summer. Tourism brings its own environmental costs but too often it appears that local authorities disregard the long-term concerns in a chase [...]
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I always enjoy the anticipation of the first-day’s stroll through a town I’ve just arrived at; that checking of camera batteries, the sorting out of maps and bookmarking of the guidebook. There are some places however, that enhance the experience. Nafplio is one. I’ve often wondered what makes one city eminently walkable. Is it the [...]
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This pie is popular all over Greece, appearing in many guises from elegant triangles to huge spirals. They’re ideal for al fresco dining, and are just as good cold as picnic food or part of a meze. The best spanakopitas are freshly made in the Greek bakeries or ‘Fournos’ – and provide the perfect snack [...]
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In 2013 Greek Easter falls on the 5th of May, a full five weeks after the holiday is marked in western Europe. For many people in Greece Easter is considered a more important event than Christmas and for anyone considering a trip to Greece during this period the preparations, ceremonies and celebrations that take place [...]
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Greece is for summer holidays, right? Yep, I, too, live in the cold, wet and cloudy British climes, and I know what guaranteed sunshine means. Yet the country’s varied landscape can offer much more than that. Have you considered where to go during those short February or November school breaks? Yes, there are some parts [...]
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They say that Mani is another world and the Maniots a race apart: curt, hardy, traditional, fiercely independent. Mani is Greece’s Montana. Survivalists would love it. This is my first time down the Mani peninsula which, as the locals relish pointing out to me, is the long, middle ‘finger’ of the Peloponnese, which Maniots like [...]
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A Spartan Experience It’s probably best not to describe a holiday experience as Spartan – images of sorry-looking hotel rooms with bare walls and a solitary bed might spring to mind. Yet the origins of the word ‘Spartan’ reveal a very different picture and an ancient world that can still be uncovered on a [...]
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