Five Star Greece

Five Star Greece on Spetses We have just had a cancellation for August for one of our favorite houses on Spetses –  the Queen of the Saronic Gulf,  where the real insiders head for.  Lazy, laid-back, elegant easy.    Trying out baby steps in my newly acquired social media skills, I have done a tweet and a … Read More

March 25th  National Holiday. On March 25, 1821,  Bishop Germanos of Patras raised the Greek flag at the Monastery of Agia Lavra in Peloponnese, and the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire was officially born. The battle cry “Freedom or Death” was taken up by thousands, and war was waged for 9 years … Read More

  Five Star Greece is back in the office (with a cold..) Sifnos is an island for the cognoscenti – a Cycladic beauty with 200 kilometres of heavenly footpaths, mostly ending at the white-washed gate of a small, blue-domed church with a name like “Virgin of the Flowing Water”, and commanding an extraordinary view over … Read More

  Five Star Greece on the road. I never made it to Patmos in the end – gale force 9 winds brought all ferries to a halt. Patmos as you know is where St John wrote the Book of the Apocalypse, and I am betting that it was on just such a wet and windy … Read More

Five Star Greece  on the road I finally made the ferry to Ithaca – how one’s spirits lift on a boat trip – the white spray flies up from the bows, foam spreading like cream across the waves. The weather is an almost balmy 18 degrees, and all the annoyances of travel disappear, such as … Read More

Five Star Greece – February 18th I am stuck in Athens waiting for the wind to drop enough for the harbour master to allow the ferry that I need to catch to leave for Kephalonia. This is your gain as having nothing positive to say at the moment, other than Athens is on sale so … Read More

Five Star Greece “Kyrie Eleison, Kyrie Eleison” – that ancient Greek prayer is ringing out above an 18th century marble pool where 60,000 white robed Ethiopians have gathered, glimmering like ghosts in the cold pre-dawn, to celebrate the Epiphany in the old citadel of Gondar. I have been researching Greek influence in the Horn of … Read More

Five Star Greece Yesssss! Our photographer just sent in the photos she took from the new house on Naxos – and she managed to get there on a sunny day as well even though it was December. It looks stunning and Evi & I can’t wait to go and visit it in the spring. Naxos is … Read More

My father, Panos Gratsos,  was a respected bibliophile whose collection of antiquarian books on Greece, the Ottoman Empire and the Ionian was sold at Sotheby’s in 1991 with much fanfare, and the books from which were snapped up by other collectors. As children we found his passion for each new book, and excitement when he … Read More

 Five Star Greece I am not sure that I can make this relevant to Greek villa rentals, but it is all pretty quiet there for now – It is raining, and Ireland and  North Korea are rather selfishly hogging the limelight. So, a London blog – The Victoria and Albert museum is hosting a strange … Read More