We’re excited to announce the launch of our new Greek islands programmes, first of all in Santorini, Crete and Mykonos but adding more Greek gems later on, as well as a wider Mediterranean collection. Even though it’s a completely new destination for us, our Managing Director James Bell knows it very well, having spent many summers island-hopping around some of Greece’s most beloved islands. He takes us on a trip down memory lane to explain why Greece is the perfect fit for both us and you…
I was lucky enough to have a travel agent for a father and every summer in the 1970s we spent the long summer holidays exploring the Mediterranean islands of Greece. We island hopped a lot so my father could see as many hotels and properties as possible while we were away and I can still remember the long, baking hot days sitting on the teak benches of the inter-island ferries. I had one dreadful moment when I was nearly left behind, as I had wandered off to talk to a pelican in Mykonos!
Returning to these islands is very special and although times have changed, the islands remain unspoilt, beautiful and lush in the spring and early summer months, turning a beautiful red-brown as the sun bakes the ground. Elsewhere, whitewashed houses draped in bougainvillea reflect the sunlight and little tavernas jostle for position tight against the waterfront, their simple tables with white tablecloths and brightly painted chairs tempting you in for the simplest and most delicious of meals. I can still see us now, our faces pink from the sun, sea and salt, and my father, ouzo in hand, scribbling notes on napkins of what we had seen and where we were going next.
I hope you like our small but perfectly formed programme to Greece. I believe we have captured the island-hopping past with some beautiful boutique properties, all with a story to tell and some of them family owned and run, just like us. This is authentic Greece with a twist of luxury and I hope you love it as much as we do. Just don’t talk to any strange pelicans and watch out for the ouzo, otherwise you might be left behind! Having said that, I can’t think of a more wonderful place to be lost. Yamas!
