Island paradise on the edge of a blue volcano

It was about 20 years ago when the Meltham couple first discovered Nisyros, about an hour’s boat ride from the popular tourist island of Kos.

It’s a place they keep going back to again and again.

For several years they spent their summers there and came back to their home in Meltham for the winter months.

Initially they ran a craft shop on the island, selling goods made on Nisyros, including traditional lace, honey, wood items and foodstuffs.

Richard says: “It hasn’t really changed since we first discovered it. Yes, the electricity does not fail as often; the water rarely runs out like it used to and there is even an internet cafe.

“But the underlying warmth and hospitality of the people remains the same. It is still possible to find home-cooked food and every minute lasts for ten.”

One Perfect Day: On a Greek island

The travelers: Concord residents Barnie Race and Ann Allen, owners of Bay Area Jump, and their daughters Alexandra, 19, and Karina, 17.

The trek: We explored the Greek Islands for two weeks. This was our daughter Karina's graduation trip. She chose this location after watching "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

Best beds: Our family, hands down, chose Alkyoni Beach Hotel (www.alkyonibeachhotel.gr) on the island of Naxos as our favorite for the combination of location — only small grassy sand dunes separating us from the beach, short walk to town — amenities, fabulous food, bar, and very friendly staff. We all liked it for different reasons, and were sad as soon as we left.

Best eats: Taverna Akrogiali, in the small town of Ag. Georgio on Antiparos — right on the water, away from the crowds. String of octopus drying out front. Fresh, grilled sardines, straight from the sea. Greek salad with delicious homemade goat cheese. Amazing light, thin French fried zucchini sticks.

Alonnisos, the idyllic Greek island

More self-deluding guff is written about Greek islands than about anywhere else on the planet.

Their enduring out-of-the-wayness, raw beauty and sparse, matriarchal communities, even now, foster the illusion of personal discovery - of ownership almost, as if we were staking out a private paradise handed down by Homer.

There is another illusion, too, a hang-over from the islands’ colonisation by hippies, of a freewheeling, free-loving detachment from time and toil, in which everything drips with honey.

In Corfu, a Two-Villa Retreat

A hilltop studded with olive trees in the mountainous northern reaches of Corfu, one of Greece’s most popular islands, has inspired a restless foreign correspondent to create a haven.

Over the past four years, Keith Miller has built two luxury villas with views stretching to the mountains of nearby Albania. “I wanted the houses to be organic — to look as if they had grown out of the ground along with the olive trees,” said Mr. Miller, 59, during a recent tour.

Both structures are a mix of modern and traditional Greek styles but blend with their surroundings thanks to the use of locally produced building materials and the earthy colors — chiefly cream, beige and rust — commonly used on the island. External walls and some of the internal ones include fragments of local stone, and the roof tiles were reclaimed from old farmhouses, increasing the sense of authenticity.