There's much more to Greece than islands

Athens, a big ugly city, has obligatory ancient sights (the hilltop temple of the Acropolis, and the ruined forum of the Agora); an extremely touristy old quarter (the Plaka); and fine museums — the best in the country. Its four million people sprawl where no tourist ventures, including new immigrant zones with poor yet thriving communities. The joy of Greece is outside of Athens. See it and scram.

Delphi is a touristy little mountain resort with a breathtaking, mountainous setting. It's a long way to drive (three hours from Athens) for some ancient ruins. But learning about the oracle (whom the ancients consulted for advice) and being there in the empty cool of the early evening, you know why, in ancient times, this was considered the center of the world.

2007 Greece Travel Tips: Internet Cafes

The internet is an integral part of ones life. Using the internet at ones hotel can cost about 8 euros (over $10) an hour. Two economic internet cafes are inSpot in Chios City, Chios and Cinema Bowling Billiards in Tripolis, Greece. Inspot at Leforos Aigeou 86 overlooking Chios City harbor is a youth oriented place. The managers are helpful. Teenagers play at the latest video games for hours. One hour of internet service is two

Hydra, Greece: Magical island a world away from Athens

The Greek island of Hydra (two hours south of Athens by hydrofoil) has one town, no real roads, no cars, not even any bikes. Zippy taxi boats whisk you from the brisk little port to isolated beaches and tavernas. Sure-footed beasts of burden climb stepped lanes -- laden with everything from sandbags and bathtubs to bottled water. Behind each mule-train toils a human pooper-scooper. I imagine picking up after your beast is required.

Beauty saturates tiny Greek islands

Welcome to the gorgeous Greek islands of Paxos and Antipaxos, spectacular rocky islands in the sparkling blue Ionian Sea.

Lying 10km south of Corfu and 12km west of the Greek mainland, the islands have captivating scenery ranging from centuries-old terraced olive groves on gently rolling hills to sheer plunging cliffs and intriguing caves and rock formations on the west coast.

The islands cater mainly for independent discerning travellers so thankfully, there are no large hotels or resorts, only small privately operated pensions and villas.

Cyprus travel abroad up by 21.1% in August

The rise in the number of Cyprus residents travelling abroad reached its second highest rate in August, recording an increase of 21.1%. On the basis of the results of the Passengers’ Survey, 156,194 residents of Cyprus returned from a trip abroad in August 2007 compared with 128,989 in the corresponding month of last year. Trips to Greece rose by 13.3%, from 60,693 in August 2006 to 68,778 in August 2007.

Santorini: Breathtaking displays of nature

After some hesitation, we decided we would try to make a day’s excursion to Santorini from Crete rather than spend a night. There was too much see in Crete during the short stay of a week, and a night at Santorini would have reduced our stint. Of course, not stopping for the night meant missing the fabled sunset on the caldera, but we decided to sacrifice this for the sake of more time in Crete. It was on reaching Koutouloufari that we discovered the ideal one-day excursion to Santorini. This was by catamaran, a high-speed ferry which made the journey between Heraklion and Santorini in less than two hours. The organisers arranged it so that the catamaran made both the outgoing and returning journeys on the same day, which we were unable to organise easily long distance, on the Net.