Six thousand islands, two hundred inhabited, and a marathon that started as a message.
The practical numbers, before the stories.
Worth knowing: The meltemi wind blows hard in July and August and cancels fast catamarans before it stops conventional ferries.
A day-by-day itinerary, and the guides that cover the decisions you make before you go.
Greece has around 6,000 islands and islets and only about 200 of them are lived on. Santorini's red, black and white beaches all come from a single enormous eruption around 1600 BC that blew the middle of the island into the sea.
The entries here include the Samaria Gorge running sixteen kilometres to the Libyan Sea and narrowing to four metres at the Iron Gates, the shepherd whose shortcut takes two hours and involves no path at all, the olive harvest that pays in oil, and the ferry deck at four in the morning when the engines change pitch and an island appears one white line at a time.
The gorge trail was closed and we sat at the gate feeling defeated. A shepherd walked past with eleven goats, looked at our boots, and gestured for us to follow. His shortcut took two hours and involved no path at all.
We slept on the deck under jackets because the cabins were sold out. At four in the morning the engines changed pitch and everyone woke to see an island appear out of the dark, one white line at a time.
Greece has around 6,000 islands and islets, but only about 200 of them are inhabited.
Santorini's red, black and white beaches come from a single enormous eruption around 1600 BC that blew the island's centre into the sea.
The marathon distance commemorates a messenger's run from the plain of Marathon to Athens, and the modern race was revived at the 1896 Olympics.
The Samaria Gorge runs sixteen kilometres to the Libyan Sea and narrows to just four metres at the famous Iron Gates.
The metro stopped and the museums shut. We walked eleven kilometres, ate three lunches and found a rooftop where the Acropolis appeared between two air conditioning units.
Nets under the trees, sticks in every hand, and a family arguing pleasantly about branch technique. We picked for three hours and were paid in oil, which was a good deal.
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Greece is one of 36 countries in the library. Read straight through a continent, or start from the map of everywhere we have written about.
