Greek Islands

Just back Monday from the Greek Islands and I have to say it was fantastic. Contrary to the media spin we had no trouble at all either due to strikes or feeling at all threatened. I couldn't recommend it enough as a destination.

I was previously in Santorini 8 years ago before the Olympics and I'm almost certain it was Ios I went to on this occasion also. Just had a very relaxing time in Santorini and did alot of sleeping, reading, eating, drinking and back to eating. We stayed in the Volcano View and it had a great view of the island and it was very enjoyable just watching the sunsets and having a beer watching the sun go down. It got cold enough when the Sun went down and had to put on a hoodie and light pants but wasn't that cold that you'd have to take off the sandals. booking.com was also excellent for doing any bookings. The one activity we did here was walk to Oia from Fira which is about 15 km and it takes about two and a half hours. Hard walk but well worth it for the views. Santorini is beautiful but it gets overloaded with the cruise ships and maybe I'm getting old but a good few of the pubs have what I could only call jungle music. All the same great spot to see but if not too expensive Oia would be worth staying in.

After 3 days in Santorini we headed for the island of Folegandros which we spent a night here in Vrahos Boutique hotel which is 400m from the port which was very nice and staff were very friendly. The town of Hora was lovely with little winding streets and it was quiet enough also. Hora seems to mean town in Greek as every island has one.

Our final island to visit was Naxos which was the best of the whole lot. Fine lively town with lots of restaurants and plenty of culture. The main sites we saw were Temple of Apollo right by the port, Dionysus Sanctuary in Iria (3 km away, we got here by bicycle) and also Demeter's sanctuary which you can get to by local bus. Hotel we stayed in, Saint Vlassis was amazing and guy running it couldn't do enough for you. It's 10 minutes walk from town and 5 from the beach. On our last day we cycled to Plaka beach which was amazing. We almost had the beach to ourselves.

We arrived back in Piraeus port at night and it's not half as threatening as it looks. The Triton Hotel here is basic but it's very near the port and we stopped here on the way out and the way back and found it good.

In Athens we had no problems and just did a quick trip to Acropolis and saw the changing of the guards on Syntagma square which is done on the hour.

I couldn't recommend Greece enough to anyone who is dubious.

Photos are here