After our last very successful and enjoyable tour to Greece and the Greek islands, this time we will be focusing on the islands of Mykonos, Santorini and, a new destination for us, the magical island of Crete. For client images from our last tour to Greece click here.

We will meet on the first afternoon at our hotel in the ancient and fascinating city of Athens, the birthplace of democracy, where we will spend two nights, staying just a short stroll from the old district called the Plaka. We will spend our first evening dining in the Plaka, absorbing the sights and sounds and of Athens’ oldest and most picturesque neighbourhood.

Next day we will explore Anafiotika, the labyrinth of white-washed lanes meandering below the Acropolis. Then we will move on to the Plaka, with its warren of 19thC neo-classical houses mixed in with earlier Byzantine churches; numerous shops, small leafy squares and excavated archeological sites and Monastiraki; overflowing with market stalls, street vendors selling fresh produce, flea markets, and many restaurants. On our final night in Athens we will photograph the Acropolis at sunset and dine with a wonderful view of the floodlit Parthenon.

The majority of our tour will be spent photographing three very different and legendary Greek islands - Mykonos, Santorini and Crete. There is a romance associated with the Greek Islands. Omnipresent in the dreams of many travellers from less favoured climes are the clear sapphire-blue waters, the stark white-washed buildings, the sunshine fading magically into evening balm, the olive groves, the honey-coloured stones of temples, the harbours filled with fishing boats, the vibrant quayside tavernas and bars. These islands were the habitats of the mythical gods and heroes of the ancient world and today provide hideaways from the pressures of mainland living and places for the pursuit of pleasure. There is a richness beyond compare in their history, scenery and their villages and towns.

The Cyclades group of islands, which we will be visiting first, represent most people's quintessential idea of what a Greek Island should look like. We will fly early from Athens to Mykonos, where we will spend two nights. Although its whole existence is geared to tourism, Mykonos is the definitive Greek island. It is unquestionably beautiful and a photographer's delight. Its functional vernacular architecture expresses the very essence of Greekness and its immaculately whitewashed cuboid houses, embellished with characteristic shutters, echo the colours of the national flag - blue and white.

Brilliant bougainvillea vines cling to narrow white alleyways and staircases and red geraniums tumble from painted olive oil cans. Inside the town the labyrinth of streets conceals hundreds of little churches, shrines and chapels, while the familiar imagery of "Little Venice", the spectacular captains’ houses battered by the sea, is on the outer reaches. The famous thatched windmills stand on a slight rise, overlooking the town. The town has a sophisticated air, with its cafes, bars and tavernas interspersed with designer jewellery shops and art galleries, but still early each morning fishermen in blue caps sell their catch in the harbour.

Next we will visit Santorini, arriving by sea so we can appreciate the full drama of the massive caldera rimmed with clusters of tiny white villages. Santorini is surely one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world. The scenery is pure drama. It's the Greek island of picture postcards, with brilliant white sugar-cube villages, shimmering blue-domed churches and towering rust and black striated cliffs that plummet abruptly into the Aegean. The cliffs for which the island is famous were formed about 1500BC, when the then much bigger island literally blew its top in what was probably the world's greatest volcanic explosion. The entire centre of the island collapsed and sank into the sea, many believe taking with it the "lost continent" of Atlantis. All this seismic activity left behind a massive submerged crater or caldera and a chain of five islands with the dramatic cliff faces you see today.

We will spend three nights in Santorini, staying in accommodation overlooking the caldera. We will photograph the villages along the caldera rim and play with the light that is so typically Greek. Those of us who have photographed in Italy and France will notice the difference between the painterly soft and diaphanous hues and tones we find there and the purity of light here, which contrasts the pristine white villages with the intense blue sea. This is the light of sculptors, not of painters and there is no better place to put it to good effect than in the Cyclades and particularly Santorini, with its church domes, distinctive curved architecture, graphic lines of stairways, boldly painted window frames and blocks of coloured doorways.

Following Santorini we will leave the Cyclades and travel by boat to Crete, the most southern island of Greece, where we will stay three nights. It is by far the largest Greek island and is characterized by soaring mountains, spectacular gorges, beautiful beaches and a proudly independent, feisty and hospitable people. We will have time to visit only a small portion of this superb island, and have chosen Chania, (sometimes spelt Hania) the former capital, to be our base. Both visually attractive and historically fascinating, it is arguably Crete’s most alluring town and has the most picturesque harbor in all of Greece.

We will stay in the extremely photogenic old town, where a labyrinth of alleyways lined by Venetian and Turkish buildings wind their way down to the harbor. Standing side by side with Minoan remains are16th century ramparts, bastions, domes and archways. We also will be visiting Rethymno, another of the island’s architectural gems, where the Venetian and Turkish influences can be seen in the old Fortrezza and Loggia competing with mosques and minarets for attention.

Away from the coast the interior is replete with treasures. We will visit traditional unspoilt villages that have a unique faded charm all of their own, and photograph the dramatic scenery that is Western Crete. In spring and early summer the Cretan landscape is at its most abundant, as the profusion of wildflowers growing on the hillsides and valleys burst into glorious colour. We may encounter black-clad ladies gathering herbs and leaves in their aprons, for their time-honoured “horta”salad, or proud shepherds wearing the traditional dress of black headscarf, baggy pants and long black boots.

After our final afternoon in Crete we will fly to Athens and stay overnight at the Athens airport Sofitel hotel, ready for flights home the following day.

to see some of Di's images of Athens and the Greek Islands click here.

to see client's galleries from our last tour to Greece click here.

to request a brochure or for more information click here  

to sign up for this tour click here