Exploring Greek Islands under the radar with Turkish Airlines
Now boarding: Greece
There’s no time like the present to slip out of well-worn travel grooves and into stirring new territory. Greek Islands, Start as you mean to go on with Greece, and swap the well-trodden trail for an offbeat odyssey of sorts with these lesser-known yet oh-so-beguiling islands…
Andros
A hazy window into yesteryear, Andros is a rarified relic without the museum ropes. For every arid, sun-scorched slope synonymous with the Cyclades, there’s a rolling pine-carpeted expanse cut through by surging streams and gin-clear cascades. Much of it remains untamed, and you’ll want a burly, beaten-up Jeep for navigating the meandering dirt tracks. Mèlisses, a low-key guest house, exemplifies the island’s remarkable, under-the-radar allure – it’s deliciously secluded, yet a few dizzying bends away, the maze-like town of Chora glistens. Here, terracotta-skinned locals trade tales over ice-cold espresso, washing lines billow with damp linens. And a hop, skip and a jump from the handsome Agia Varvara church, achingly cool boutique Waikiki stocks a line-up of hand-printed tablecloths, sculptural pendants and eminently spritzable scents from big hitters like Byredo. When the heat gets too much, follow the siren-call of the calm. It pellucid shallows lapping the rocks at the bottom of town, and drop into one of the caught-in-time bakeries en route for an armful of flaky tiropita to see you through the afternoon.
Ios
The lyrical loveliness of Ios is reviving. The epic poet Homer woke up to a ‘rosy-fingered dawn’. Well, Ios is said to be the island where the bard saw his last sunset. In the Pathos Bar beautiful people in minute swimwear serenade the setting sun here – not to Party Rock Anthem but with Nessun Dorma. Expect acoustic concerts, sculpture trails, a full-blooded celebration of the fruits of the Mediterranean. Epic enjoyment in both the ancient and modern sense.
Where to stay? Calilo.
A highly individual luxury resort hotel built of local stone in a rocky valley lapped by the Aegean Sea. Calilo sits alone on its own beach, backed by an expansive curving pool and high-ceilinged verandas. Custom-made to its owner’s designs, many of its suite-sized rooms have their own pool and ‘waterfall’. This sanctuary of a property is away from it all, surrounded by 1,000 acres of dramatic hillsides of yellow rock and low green vegetation, all under the same ownership. Ios had a reputation as a party island and Calilo changed that. This area is completely untouched, yet just a scenic 30-minute drive from the main village, Chora, and the port. Here ferries arrive from Athens, Mykonos and Santorini (less than an hour away). Calilo can also provide private boat or helicopter transfers.
Symi
A tangible take on a Grecian daydream, what this itsy-bitsy Dodecanese isle lacks in size. It more than balances with beauty. Soundtracked by the gentle putter-putter of wooden fishing boats, joy-sparking. Gialos harbour is pulled straight from a postcard – a painterly confection of cafés and Crayola-bright neoclassical houses fading into the pine-scented hills. Summer days are best spent pinballing between street and sand on the speedy little water taxis. It rivalled only by the wandering goats for their ubiquity. A shingle-covered slice out of the island’s easterly edge, Marathounda Bay couldn’t be better for swimming. And if you can peel yourself away from the shore, you’ll find a winsome lo-fi taverna dishing up feta-topped salads with carafes of frosty local white. Though there’s a smattering of well turned-out stays on Symi. The Old Markets takes the prize for its lofty, jewel-like spaces, layered with one-of-a-kind treasures.
Paros
Smack bang in the middle of the Cyclades, Paros was long seen as little more than a marble-rich waypoint en route to the archipelago’s heavy hitters. These days it’s a honeypot for in-the-know Athenians who’ve grown tired of Mykonos’s flashy social whirl. Rise early to meander the labyrinthine lanes of the sun-washed hilltop hamlets – Lefkes, with its riotous bougainvillea and splendid peaches-and-cream church, being one of the most alluring – before whiling away the hours on Kolymbithres’s golden, boulder-strung shores.
As dusk falls, much of the island’s buzz echoes out from twinkly Naoussa. Beside the gently bobbing boats, Mario turns out grilled octopi worth crossing oceans for, Sommaripa Consolato is a must for an aperitivo or two, and then for late-night hijinks, satisfyingly sceney Agosta knows what’s what. When it’s time to turn in, Parīlio – a cubist gem on the northeast coast with swaying bamboo borders and walls hung with custom LRNCE tapestries – is everything you could wish for in a softly-tuned Cycladic escape.
Milos
Though it’s increasingly a favorite among Insta-gluttons, Milos still glides gently under the radar when it comes to by-the-book island-hopping jaunts. A place of cliffs and higgledy-piggledy boathouses, there’s an otherworldly allure at play here. And Skinopi Lodge, with its glass-sided villas segueing into the fragrant scrub, is a glorious jumping off point for all manner of salty-skinned exploits. If stark cyan shallows top out your to-do list. The tiny cove of Tsigrado – reached by shimmying down a rickety ladder – is worth writing home about. Meanwhile, there’s every chance you’ll have peaceful Triades all to yourself.
And surreal, wind-whipped Sarakiniko is quite frankly outrageous in its immaculate imitation of a lunar landscape. For a superlative view of the coastline, commandeer a pint-sized powerboat to whoosh between hidden coves and towering sea stacks. Back on dry land, there’s a sprawling star map of domed churches, catacombs and plucked-from-fiction fishing villages to take in. Follow the long, lethargic lanes up to impossibly pretty Plaka and watch the sun melt into the Aegean from the castle’s rocky ramparts. Then settle in at Verina for lime-muddled margaritas beneath the glinting fairy lights.
If this doesn’t make you want to book a flight and pack your bags, I don’t know what will. Turkish Airlines fly to Athens, daily! Your gateway to the Greek Islands.
The best or nothing,
Lucas Raven
