Going Greek (Sept'12)

I’m going to be sticking my neck out here and blaspheming. I hated Mykonos and Santorini. The fridge magnet and souvenir shops on the former and the much-hyped sunset on the latter. It seemed as though most European holiday makers were there. As were many Indian tourists (those who were not in Switzerland, that is). Far too many tourists for my liking.

Me, I preferred Ios, Naxos, and Syros. These were smaller islands with far fewer tourists and a much slower pace of life. On Syros, we were treated to an impromptu bouzouki performance on the side of the street after dinner (not by someone wanting to make money off the tourists but someone who just enjoyed playing it). On Ios, a pleasant evening on a pirate boat that doubled up as a bar and where I heard Dire Straits’ ‘Six Blade Knife’ for the first time and fell in love with it.

These are the sort of memories that remain (and not the sunset on Santorini !).