Five Star Greece makes it home to Ithaca after many adventures with lotus eaters, sirens, dragons and Cyclops. Sitting on the small dock at home in Villa Skinos, feet dangling in the water, a plate of sea urchins and a glass of ouzo shared with Captain Tasso and Artemis, and a huge shooting star like … Read more
Patrick Leigh Fermor died on June 10th – author of three of my favorite books – A Time of Gifts, describing his journey on foot as a young man from London to Istanbul, though the book stops at the Hungarian border – Roumeli; an exploration through travels in Northern Greece of the sense of Greekness … Read more
May 30th
Much as I hate turning down helicopter rides, I was a day too late to get a lift to Sifnos with the owner, and ended up on the Aghios Georgios which takes 5 hours from Piraeus, but is delightful – go “Distinguished Class” and you get a private deck with deckchairs and a white piano in the saloon. Scenic stops at Kithnos and Serifos, with sunset arrival at Sifnos. All for 35 euros and just as nice as a helicopter.
Kithnos
Serifos
Sifnos harbour
May 30th
If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn that two grouse strolled along my terrace this morning and had a drink from the pool. Still unseasonably cold, but I saw a couple of houses that we are going to take on – one in Lia, a lovely little gem tucked away above a secret beach with a private swimming platform, real infinity pool, and lush foliage and flowers twining all over the place.
May 28th
Morning visit to a wonderfully professionally run house, great staff, dedicated concierge, terrific cook, 6 bedrooms, and lovely views.
Lunch at O’Bata – excellent octopus braised in wine – with a local partner, during which we chatted about which owners were stealing clients, which owners were undercutting the agents, which agents were undercutting each other, which agents were stealing owners, which agents were stealing agents and which clients were stealing the towels. To say nothing of which cleaning ladies were stealing whose clients from which houses to give to which owners, and which agents were stealing whose cleaning ladies to give to which owners, and which owners where double crossing which agents and whose agents were double crossing which owners……..I had to take two aspirin by the end, and still haven’t quite understood what is going on….
May 27th Mykonos
Breakfast at La Luna on Lia beach, forgot my wallet but the chill factor there is such that the manager just said to me “We are all human darling, pay me when you can”.
Chilled La Luna manager
A cheerful day rattling around a still rainy Mykonos with Roi, our Mykonos colleague. She is thin, drives like a demon, complains bitterly when the temperature dips below 20 degrees as it has today, and was wearing après ski gear and huge furry boots.
May 25th –
A quiet ride on the small, empty, relaxed island hopper to Amorgos, an island very close to my heart for its wild, broad shouldered, mountainous beauty, hair-raisingly lovely cliff-girt coast, the amazing Hozoviotissa monastery pasted like a white swallows nest into a cleft in the crags, with foaming peacock-coloured sea below, its open-hearted and clear-eyed islanders, sincere cooking, and cherished traditions. A quality island.
Aigialis port
Aigialis, where the ferry docked, is a lovely port with its amphitheatre of white houses and bougainvillea spilling out of every crack. Hanging lanterns cast a warm glow in the dusk, the little restaurants in the narrow lanes are filled with chic French and Italians, while sinewy pensioners with walking poles wolf down huge quantities of good food, comparing adventures with the yachties who have made it this far.
May 25th
After Amorgos, Mykonos is a real culture shock. I am staying on the Belvedere where the service is fantastic and very good-looking, but I do wonder how people put up with being so squashed and on top of each other with no privacy at all. It does make me realise how much nicer it is to stay in a villa of your own, and not pay 8 euros for a mini-pack of Pringles.. I mentioned to the manager when he asked how everything was, that I thought a shower cap and hair conditioner should be added to the little toiletries in the bathroom. “Shower caps are available on special request” he said rather sniffily I thought. Right, I am so going to get into the shower, realise there is no cap, get out of the shower, go to the telephone, ask house-keeping to send me plastic shower cap and stand there dripping waiting for it to arrive… Honestly, men……
May 24th
I love crossing over to Koufonisia from Naxos. Forget the hydrofoil and the Superfast – call Captain Costas Prassinos to sail over from Koufonisia to pick you up in his Kaiki. Koufonisiotes were famous for having being brave and insouciant pirates (until probably not that long ago…) and Costas has the hawk nose, bright eyes and clear, open face of all the islanders. There is even folk song written about his mastery of the sea in times of high wind. Erect and handsome (and an incorrigible flirt) even at 70, he is the St Peter who gives you your entree to Koufonisia. Very unlike St Peter, his progeny seem to run the island, so don’t fall out with him.
The kind of macho seaman we like
Five Star Greece still on the road – May 24th
We just made our ferry to Naxos – we left the bashed-up car at the Paros car rental with an airy “Magna Travel will pick up the bill” (This is why we love Nasos and Co.) and boarded the “Aeolos Kenteris,” named after the Greek Olympic athlete who lost his medal after being caught using steroids. That’s how fast the boat is.
A South African couple were too late getting off the boat in Paros and found themselves willy- nilly on their way to Naxos. They were clearly going to lose the screaming match they started with the crew, so we stepped in, soothed hurt Greek feelings and comforted the South Africans, and arranged for them to be met on Naxos by someone with tickets for the next boat back to Paros. All in a day’s service.