Finally, over a hundred years since Schliemann, convinced he had found the location of Odysseus and Penelope’s home, first excavated the site of Aetos on Ithaca, a team of architects from the University of Yannina have uncovered a three storey Mycenean building that corresponds to Homer’s famous description. Odysseus clearly valued panoramic views – either for strategic or … Read More
July 24th 2010 Those who don’t know any better think that this means donning sunglasses and a Liz Hurley bikini and carving a bit of space out for yourself on a Riviera beach in August, while wrinkled brown bodies step over you and kick up sand in your face and into your warm and fly- … Read More
July 17th A shipowner friend arrived on his yacht yesterday – his newest toy, which is a Viking 45; small, smart, fast and sporty. Since the sea has been like a dusty mirror stretching all the way to Italy, we set off for the beautiful beach of Afales with its towering white cliffs and tiny round … Read More
July 4th Fittingly for July 4th, we have here at Villa Skinos, a house full of American guests – a press officer from the State department, a CBS producer and two actors from California, so at every meal time, before we sit down, someone says “Off the record…” followed by something outrageous. We are desperately … Read More
June 29th The Five Star Greece office has moved for 3 weeks to Ithaca with me – at this time of year everything is easier from Greece, as our role becomes more pastoral than commercial, looking after clients rather than taking new bookings. Well, that is the excuse.
June 22 No, this is not a catalogue of last-minute offers on Five Star Greece villas, although of course there are plenty to be had even on our top VIP luxury Greek villas with pools. (Yes, I admit, I have had my first SEO lesson..sorry about that…) We are far too elegant to trumpet that sort of … Read More
June 20th Medusa’s Island When people ask me for my favourite island, one of the answers I often give is Serifos. The Gorgon’s island; the island of Andromeda and Medusa, of Perseus and Hermes. Apart from its right to have “here be dragons” written on its map, it is the sort of island that a … Read More
June 18th I had dinner yesterday with the President of the Greek Chamber of Shipping (oh, all right then, my cousin…), and we both agreed that the failure of our Hellenic lawmakers to make reasonable laws that normal people would be more or less happy to comply with , as happens in normal countries, was … Read More
June 17th Floods in Provence, unseasonable chill in Spain, but Greece is having a heatwave that leaves people gasping and flapping like fish in a net. The only place to be is by the sea now. As soon as Evi in the Five Star Greece Athens office can detach herself from her air conditioner, she will … Read More
June 11th I finally managed to view the villa where a group of Russian clients, (not ours) were staying; they very kindly let me have a quick scoot around. I brought out my best schoolgirl Russian and told them that dark night lay over the hills of Georgia, that the River Aragva was foaming far … Read More
10th June Five Star Greece villa tour – Corfu continued My villa tour continued, with an animal theme; Villa SK, just above a secluded cove up the coast from Avlaki, has an elderly bull-mastiff called Abi, She is doted on by Anna, the laughing girl who looks after the house, and is taken for a … Read More
