Volume I

Greece

The islands first, then the mainland, with the houses I know by name.

Written up

Four stays, with the five notes on each.

Peloponnese, Greece

Dexamenes Seaside Hotel

A 1920s wine factory on the Ionian coast, its concrete tanks turned into rooms and almost nothing tidied away. I have been three times, always in the last weeks of the season.

Thessaloniki, Greece

A 1926 waterfront building on Leoforos Nikis, reopened in 2022 around the restaurant that used to be the centre of the city's social life. The initials are the restaurant's. I have been twice, once for a night in April and once for Christmas.

Livadia, Antiparos, Greece

The Rooster

Sixteen stone cottages up a valley above Livadia Bay, reached by a dirt road with one sign on it. The only house on this site I have been back to four summers.

Vouliagmeni, Athens Riviera, Greece

Four Seasons Astir Palace

A pine peninsula half an hour from the Acropolis, where the city stops and the sea begins.

Outside the groups

Houses here that belong to no chain.

They are a mix. A hotel run by the family that owns it, a villa, a house of a few rooms on an island, and here and there a larger place that sits outside the programmes anyway. No group stands behind any of them, and several appear on no booking portal at all. I have stayed in all of them, several over a number of years. Tell me what the trip has to do and I will say which one fits, and where there is nothing to book online I write to the owner myself.

A white courtyard of built-in seating and low stools, open to the sea — Antiparos, Greece

A white terrace with a parasol and an outdoor kitchen, the garden and the sea beyond — Naxos, Greece

A sitting room opening through a glass door to a balcony and the sea — Syros, Greece

A sunbed standing in a private pool under a timber pergola — Mykonos, Greece

An infinity pool against the sea, with mountains behind it — Crete, Greece

A concrete path running between high white walls towards a timber door, with cacti, a fig tree and a long narrow water channel beside it under a deep blue sky — Antiparos, Greece

A bed against gold leaf wallpaper, ceramic discs hung on the wall beside it — Syros, Greece

A lounge walled and ceilinged in cane, lit at dusk — Antiparos, Greece

A row of striped beach cabins standing on grass — Athens, Greece

A white courtyard under a canvas awning, with a pale blue louvred door and bougainvillea in the foreground — Naxos, Greece

A white village at dusk above a terrace with a long plunge pool — Santorini, Greece

A bed with white linen and a timber headboard under a large print of arcs and circles, with a reading lamp on each side and a round mirror by the desk — Patras, Greece

A stone opening framing a bay and the low houses above it — Antiparos, Greece

A gauze curtain drawn back at the edge of a terrace with a chair and a low table, looking over a pool and across a bay to a crescent of beach under a green headland — Epirus, Greece

Two bamboo loungers on a terrace, the town climbing the hill across the water — Syros, Greece

Daybeds and a low table on a terrace above a bay with boats at anchor — Antiparos, Greece

A long outdoor lounge under a cane ceiling, opening to the sea — Naxos, Greece

Two tall cane cocoon daybeds with cushions standing under palms and an old spreading tree, with a timber table and chairs beside them — Crete, Greece

Ochre steps climbing a white wall against a deep blue sky — Koufonissi, Greece

A narrow pool under a woven canopy, with loungers along the wall — Antiparos, Greece

A beach club lounge with a long banquette, a turquoise floor cushion and two round black tables on a dark timber deck, open through white louvres to a turquoise sea and a red headland, a frieze of small words running along the wall — Athens Riviera, Greece

A terrace above the water with a daybed, a woven pouf and a cactus in the corner — Syros, Greece

A curved white wall along a stone path, two palms against the last light — Antiparos, Greece

A white house under deep timber pergolas, junipers in front of it — Naxos, Greece

A bed under dark beams, reached by three wide stone steps — Mykonos, Greece

A salon in pale green with arched windows, velvet chairs and palms — Syros, Greece

A white pool and terrace seen from under the dark canopy of a tree, with ribbed white stools along the edge and the hills behind — Crete, Greece

A pergola of white battens over a plunge pool, herringbone paving below — Antiparos, Greece

Breakfast on a round table above the caldera — Santorini, Greece

A corridor on a black and white diamond floor, photographs down one wall — Patras, Greece

A long table under a bamboo pergola against a dry stone wall — Antiparos, Greece

A terrace under a cane roof with wicker chairs, looking out to the water — Naxos, Greece

An espresso martini and a glass of water on a glass table on a roof terrace — Syros, Greece

A long pool beside a house of dry stone, a white parasol at the far end — Antiparos, Greece

Breakfast laid on a table above the bay — Crete, Greece

An unmade bed against an olive green wall with two small busts on a shelf — Syros, Greece

The names stay off this page. They come with the inspection, or by email. More of them here.

On foot

The ground, where I stood on it.

Suede driving shoes on a marble chequerboard with brass rails

Four Seasons Astir PalaceAthens, Greece

Black leather sandals on pale stone with a fallen bougainvillea flower

The RoosterAntiparos, Greece

Ask about Greece

Tell me the month and who is travelling.

I come back with one or two properties, the room I would take in each, and the notes that stay off the site. In English, Italian or Spanish.

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Register once through Classic Travel, and where the house sits inside one of the programmes the hotel's own rate comes with breakfast, a credit, and an upgrade when one is free.

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