OMG – first question and already Joanna will kill me. 😂 “keep your answers short, Bastien” she said – Kalinichta – this is a post by itself.

Let’s start answering the question: my mind translates “favourite” into memory and emotions! So here are a few of my travels in Greece and the lingering memories and emotions.

1. Zagorochoria & surroundings

Last February (2020), I experienced an amazing trip with my (much younger) brother. In the dead of winter, we headed to Zagorochoria, with no real plan at all!

We left everything to fate. We stopped where we wanted, discovered what appeared, knocked at hotel doors to ask for a room… And what a travel this was, a 30-year-old flashback of my holidays.

We arrived back in Athens with many stories to tell and images in our minds that will last our lifetime:

• breath-taking scenery and villages

• lots of laugh with the locals and my broken Greek

• getting lost in the forest for the better part of a day 😭. Thank God for Bear Grylls follow the river!

Take me back now please.

2. Karavostasi – Plitra Peloponese

My typical annual Greek adventure... Every winter, I go with my wife and her family to harvest olives and produce that special olive oil.

My father-in-law (Greek and proud of course) claims ours is absolutely the absolute best in the universe. Not the world – the universe!!

How can I disagree with that? 😂

I am by far the worst employee you can imagine for the harvest - my record stands at 20 minutes of work over an entire weekend, and mostly to take pictures to share with the family.

As useless as I may be – every year, I just can’t wait to discover and rediscover the remote tavernas heated by fireplaces, enjoy the local Χύμα wine, livε the harvest, enjoy the wilderness… and of course visiting Monemvasia & Elafonisos on a sunny day 😉 …

Let’s hope I will be able to go again this year.

Sadly, for my father-in-law; it definitely won’t be a record-breaking year for Bastien the harvester 😴.

3. Cyclades

I have to admit to having a serious summer crush on the Cyclades… Those steep rocks plunging into this blue sea, the beautiful white villages atop the mountains, the windmills, the beaches, the food…

Sadly, I won’t be too original picking my favorites:

• Milos and Sarakiniko

• Serifos and Ganema

• the peace of Kimolos

• Mykonos (off season only please). So many memories to share, so many pictures, so many laughs…

4. Hydra

Hydra… always the first trip I take to kick off the summer season; and the last one as well. The moment I set foot on the quay at the port, I am overwhelmed by a deep feeling of absolute tranquillity. It’s incredible...

I don’t think I have ever known a place that radiates peacefulness just like that one. Is it the lack of cars and traffic noises? The sound of the port and the sea? Who knows!

A weekend in Hydra: breakfast at the port, the sunset and the sunrise, the moonlit dinners, jumping from the rocks into the sea, listening to the church bells, watching the donkeys stroll by…

Hydra - I am blessed to have found you!

5. Some of my other favorite places…

Other amazing destinations where I would love to go back in a heartbeat: Pelion (that Late October sunrise in Tsagkarada, Mani (of course), Crete (especially the West coast!), Meteora, Rhodes (old town please), Symi, Astypalea, and Ithaka… So many memories.

6. Conclusion

The first time I set foot in Greece was for work… Since then, I visited a few places, loved almost all of them. Luckily, I have many more places left to discover – next on the list:

• Agio Oros is definitely top, still waiting on family and friends to set that one up.

• Santorini: Still can’t believe I have never been there… We were supposed to go Easter 2020… but COVID… The stars have just never been aligned for now.

• Some islands: Amorgos, Folegandros… and Karpathos

• Hike Mount Olympus

Unfortunately, COVID and travelling don’t go well together, I’m sure one of them will disappear soon enough and let the other shine once more.

We will travel again– and we will enjoy that much more and SOON.