“The real star of the film of course was Cephalonia itself,” said Susie Pugh Tasios, the producer of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin which I watched again last night. Susie died last year of cancer, and is dreadfully missed by her friends and family. I remember the gusto with which she spilled the beans about the crises … Read More
Five Star Greece was proud to join the sponsors who brought Martha Graham to Ithaca, as part of the Return to Ithaca open air festival. After a party the night before hosted at the grandest villa in Ithaca, the great day dawned wild and stormy. By nine o’clock in the evening, massive thunderhead clouds were … Read More
” The mainland of Greece has been overrun by barbarian tribes; the Ionian Islands have been thoroughly Italianised; Greeks in Asia Minor and the islands adjacent to the coast have been swamped by Islamism; yet the Cyclades have remained ore or less as they were, thanks to their insignificance.” Thus J. Theodore Bent, Philhellene and … Read More
I am in Athens at the moment, great, good-humoured uproar as Central Athens was closed off and cleared, Beijing style, for Angela Merkels’s visit – funny news coverage too – flag-waving lefty ranting hysterically “Suppose I say today I feel like a nice walk through Plaka with my friends to see the Acropolis, which is … Read More
Dante, in his “Inferno”, wrote that there is no greater pain than remembering times of joy in times of sorrow – the opposite is also true, there is no greater joy than thinking of Northern Europe’s autumn gales and dead leaves while strolling through the leafy streets of Kolonaki in Athens, in a balmy 30 … Read More
I am glad I studied Philosophy – it has so many practical applications. For example, I am frequently asked by clients who have booked a villa what the address of their villa is, as they do not believe/like/trust our rather boring villa names – “Spetses1E” for example. “But what is the villa really called” they … Read More
I was asked today by the highly intellectual and charming Serge Dive who runs the Pure Life Travel fair what tour or package or part of our activity was the one that offered our clients the purest essence of Greece. I thought for a minute and then said “We don’t offer any at all. Greece can’t … Read More
I asked our sweet, clever and beautiful owner of fabulous Villa Santorini 1V for a list of her personal favorite things to do that she could suggest to guests staying at her house, and this is what she sent: Dear Ileana, there are so many things to do on Santorini and some of them (our … Read More
You may know the ancient logic puzzle – A Cretan said “All Cretans are liars”, so as a Cretan he was lying, so all Cretans AREN’T liars, so then he was telling the truth, so all Cretans ARE liars, so therefore he was lying, so all Cretans AREN’T liars and so on till you get tired of … Read More
Kudos to Hollywood’s best travel insider, Gordon MacGeachy for getting an excellent article about us for his website Global Black Book, out of a bollocking I gave him for illicit use of photographs! Masterclass in honest journalism, which is what one would expect from a class act like Gordon. “Think you know Greece…? No you … Read More
Expensive real estate. Jet-set summer playground. Yes, Spetses is all that. But if that is all you see, you are missing the whole point of this rather special island. Spetses was home to a breed of enterprising and successful merchant captains in the 18th century, whose fortunes went into building graceful waterfront mansions and more ships. … Read More
Ithaca – Odysseus’ palace and Psycho-archaeology
Red Bull leaping on Santorini
Athens to Ithaca
Spetses – Cool pool on Hot island
Where to go in Greece in 2017
New additions to the Villa collection
Charter a boat and get a nice villa to go with it…