Ask EU: Greek islands

[BrritSki]

Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.

We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).

Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.

Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...

TIA

[Penny]

On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 15:04:57 +0100, BrritSki <***@gmail.com>
scrawled in the dust...

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...

I think you'd need a time machine for any places I can recall which might
provide what you are after - but the restaurants weren't available then...

[krw]

Post by Penny
scrawled in the dust...

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...

I think you'd need a time machine for any places I can recall which might
provide what you are after - but the restaurants weren't available then...

We stayed near Elounda on Crete. Spinalonga is a short journey and I
seem to remember a beach and a trip up into the hills. More culture
requires a journey. You would need to check as this was well before I
retired which means it must be more than 5 years ago.

Famous as the setting for the Lotus Eater and Wanda Ventham. I believe
she is related to someone even more famous.

[Penny]

On Fri, 15 Mar 2019 16:06:12 +0000, krw <***@whitnet.uk> scrawled in the
dust...

Post by krw

Post by Penny
scrawled in the dust...

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...

I think you'd need a time machine for any places I can recall which might
provide what you are after - but the restaurants weren't available then...

We stayed near Elounda on Crete. Spinalonga is a short journey and I
seem to remember a beach and a trip up into the hills. More culture
requires a journey. You would need to check as this was well before I
retired which means it must be more than 5 years ago.

I wondered about that area but don't recall a beach, just salt pans - we
didn't spend long there though, we did do a boat trip to the leper colony.
If you've read* Victoria Hislop's 'The Island', this is where it is set.

*If you haven't, I think you might enjoy it. I must seek out more of her
work, 'The Thread' was set in Thessalonika (or Salonika, as my Grandpa
called it).

[Kate B]

Post by Penny
I wondered about that area but don't recall a beach, just salt pans - we
didn't spend long there though, we did do a boat trip to the leper colony.
If you've read* Victoria Hislop's 'The Island', this is where it is set.
*If you haven't, I think you might enjoy it. I must seek out more of her
work, 'The Thread' was set in Thessalonika (or Salonika, as my Grandpa
called it).

It's a wonderful, haunting story, The Thread. I can't bear her style,
but the story stays. Thessaloniki is a strange and wonderful place (not
for a beachy sort of holiday, though). My husband's elder daughter has
settled there and we go quite often.

[Dumrat]

Post by Penny
scrawled in the dust...

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...

I think you'd need a time machine for any places I can recall which might
provide what you are after - but the restaurants weren't available then...

I'm afraid Penny's right. You could try Syros, which I think has extremely basic
accommodation and restaurants but nice beaches, I believe - I haven't been there as it is
deemed too steep for me to attempt, but daughter and her friends love going there, staying
with family friends. Nothing particularly cultural, though (probably a nice old church or
two). Most beach places in Greece have long been "developed" now, though. We went to Naxos
and found some of what you would like there, but that was 20 years ago. Corfu and Crete
are also over-developed; I'd have said Zakynthos, but the last time we went there, about
15 years ago, it had been spoilt. Maybe Kefalonia (of Captain Corelli's Mandolin fame) is
still unspoilt, I don't know. Oh, Samos, whence you can see Turkey, is rather nice, though
I'm not sure about the beaches. But a lot of the popular Greek islands, which were once
visited by back-packers looking for simplicity, nice peaceful beaches and village rooms,
have become victims of their own popularity, I think, and are not that pleasant to visit
in high summer.
Mykonos is still my favourite Greek island, but I would only go there out of season and
I'm not sure how many village rooms would be available, as "hotel resorts" seem to have
been built all over the island. We have friends who own a tiny "studio" in the heart of
Mykonos Town itself but I'm not sure if they rent it out, and anyway Mykonos is the still
the summer playground of any remaining wealthy Greeks, so is the most expensive Greek
island, to the best of my knowledge.
That's just off the top of my head. You might want to look up Anafi and see if that
interests you. Too far away from the mainland to have made it as a tourist destination, I
think!

[Chris McMillan]

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...
TIA

Al, late of his parish would have bern yer woman .......

Can’t remember which islands she did her tour guiding on now.

Sincerely Chris

[Dumrat]

Post by Chris McMillan

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...
TIA

Al, late of his parish would have bern yer woman .......
Can’t remember which islands she did her tour guiding on now.

I think she was on mainland Greece, in the Peloponnese, Chris. BIMBAM.

(The Peloponnese, starting at Patras, which is a lovely city with some nice beaches on the
coast nearby, probably has everything you would want, (including ski-ing in the winter!)
Brritski, but is not an island!)

[Chris McMillan]

Post by Dumrat

Post by Chris McMillan

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...
TIA

Al, late of his parish would have bern yer woman .......
Can’t remember which islands she did her tour guiding on now.

I think she was on mainland Greece, in the Peloponnese, Chris. BIMBAM.

I just remember she did Greek stuff. I no nuffin’. We’ve been to Henley
today: was one of Al’s haunts.

Post by Dumrat
(The Peloponnese, starting at Patras, which is a lovely city with some nice beaches on the
coast nearby, probably has everything you would want, (including ski-ing in the winter!)
Brritski, but is not an island!)

Kefalonia rings a bell: that might have been LFF n TNMF.

Sincerely Chris

[Nick Odell]

Post by Dumrat
Kefalonia

I thought that was a fermented food from Waitrose?

Nick

[Mike]

Post by Nick Odell

Post by Dumrat
Kefalonia

I thought that was a fermented food from Waitrose?
Nick

Bit greecey for my liking.

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

[]
[]

Post by Dumrat

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...

[]

Post by Dumrat
(The Peloponnese, starting at Patras, which is a lovely city with some nice beaches on the
coast nearby, probably has everything you would want, (including ski-ing in the winter!)
Brritski, but is not an island!)

[]
Yes, reading what you want, and what others have said about how Greek
islands have been "developed", I do wonder if you need it to be (a) an
island or (b) Greek. You want quiet, beach, simple accommodation, and
ideally a bit of history or _quiet_ culture. And mention of snorkelling
suggests you want it warm. I wondered if there might be somewhere in
Italy (including Sicily), Croatia, Albania?, Turkey?, or Greek mainland
that would suit. (Question marks as I'm not sure of political stability.
Does Serbia have a coast?)

[Serena Blanchflower]

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
Does Serbia have a coast?

No, it's landlocked.

[Penny]

On Sat, 16 Mar 2019 00:41:02 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
[]
[]

Post by Dumrat

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...

[]

Post by Dumrat
(The Peloponnese, starting at Patras, which is a lovely city with
some nice beaches on the
coast nearby, probably has everything you would want, (including ski-ing in the winter!)
Brritski, but is not an island!)

[]
Yes, reading what you want, and what others have said about how Greek
islands have been "developed", I do wonder if you need it to be (a) an
island or (b) Greek. You want quiet, beach, simple accommodation, and
ideally a bit of history or _quiet_ culture. And mention of snorkelling
suggests you want it warm. I wondered if there might be somewhere in
Italy (including Sicily), Croatia, Albania?, Turkey?, or Greek mainland
that would suit. (Question marks as I'm not sure of political stability.
Does Serbia have a coast?)

And I'm wondering if it needs to be in the 'summer'. As Anne says,
off-season enhances many of the more developed areas - not only fewer other
holiday-makers but the locals tend to be friendlier before the main season
starts (this also applies to Cornwall and the Isle of Wight).

Malta and Gozo have few sandy beaches but several with large flat rocks
and lovely clear waters for snorkeling or scuba (I'm not a fan of sandy
beaches). The historical stuff is fascinating if, like me, you are amazed
by the building capabilities of stone-age man - even if you're not, the
cultural history of the place is so varied. And then there's the fireworks
- each village makes them for their local saints day and the feast of St
Peter and St Paul (29 June) sees them all over the island - we viewed from
the high point of Mdina.

Good food could be found, though as a group of unaccompanied females we
didn't get the best service (a problem we had elsewhere in the Med too).

This was over 20 years ago and we noticed changes since our previous visit,
mostly in the number of cars since the removal of high import duties.

[Chris McMillan]

Post by J. P. Gilliver (John)
[]
[]

Post by Dumrat

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...

[]

Post by Dumrat
(The Peloponnese, starting at Patras, which is a lovely city with
some nice beaches on the
coast nearby, probably has everything you would want, (including
ski-ing in the winter!)
Brritski, but is not an island!)

[]
Yes, reading what you want, and what others have said about how Greek
islands have been "developed", I do wonder if you need it to be (a) an
island or (b) Greek. You want quiet, beach, simple accommodation, and
ideally a bit of history or _quiet_ culture. And mention of snorkelling
suggests you want it warm. I wondered if there might be somewhere in
Italy (including Sicily), Croatia, Albania?, Turkey?, or Greek mainland
that would suit. (Question marks as I'm not sure of political stability.
Does Serbia have a coast?)

Albania’s unspoilt but don’t necessarily trust what you’re told still:
hotels not built sort of thing. Friend of my married an Albanian so it was
decided to hold the wedding there as getting passports is very strictly
controlled. The parents (who are my school friends) discovered the hard way
about non-state of hotel and amenities: five years this summer that would
be .....

Sincerely Chris

[John Ashby]

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...
TIA

We've have quiet holidays (i.e. little or no night life) in Mljet and
Sirpan, just off Dubrovnik. There's a small chapel on an island in the
middle of Mljet national park which hosts a music festival, and there's
probably more culture around if you're more mobile than we chose to be.

john

[BrritSki]

Post by BrritSki
Any suggestions welcome please for Greek Islands to visit this summer.
We're looking primarily for a beach holiday, very quiet, primarily a
nice sandy beach (ideally with some rocky headlands for snorkelling and
some natural shade).
Simple village rooms preferable rather than a fancy hotel and we're
quite happy to provide our own meals, at least for breakfast and eat out
at other times, so a choice of a few restaurants would be good.
Not interested in any night life, but of there are some cultural things
like galleries, museums or ruins to visit to make a change from the
beach, that would be nice...
TIA

Thanks for all the suggestions in this thread. We are now looking at
Croatian places mentioned as well as Hvar - anyone been there ?

Not going in highsummer/schoolhols = early June is best bet...