I love the Greek Islands and no matter how many plans I make to travel elsewhere around the world I am always drawn back there. I visited Greece for the first time over 20 years ago. It was a package holiday to Halkidiki - I vaguely remember that the hotel was owned by Niki Lauda - very nice hotel and a fantastic holiday. My next trip to Greece was about a year later. Having split from the same boyfriend that I went to Halkidiki with, I wanted to get away on my own and booked myself a holiday to the pretty Island of Poros. It was Spring because I remember being astounded by beauty of the flowers that littered the hillsides.
It was a few years after this that I went island hopping for the first time. This visit took me to Andros, Naxos, Mykonos, Paros and Anti Paros - and this is when the bug struck!
There is nothing more romantic than arriving at your next island by ferry, standing on the car deck as the back comes down, the anticipation of what adventures and sights will reveal themselves to you during your trip.
I have visited 30+ Greek Islands now - certainly a real novice in comparison to some Greekophiles. It becomes addictive. When planning the next holiday I look at islands that I have yet to visit, trying not to go back on ones that I have already been to. It isn't a case of 'collecting' islands like one may collect stamps. I think the appeal of the islands (apart from their obvious beauty, the culture, the people, the sunshine .............) is that you can get a real sense of the place - even in a short visit.
It has certainly become more expensive to backpack around the Greek Islands now - I do remember in the days of the drachma that you could get a meal for two and bottle of wine for £7 - that's certainly not the case now!
Of recent years all of my travel photographs are digital making it easy for them to incorporate into blogs and online albums - this is great for sharing with your friends and family. This blog is going to be an on-going 'work in progress' as I route out all of my hard copy photographs of my pre digital visits to the Greek Islands. It's going to take some time to scan and upload but it will be a work of joy to revisit the islands I had almost forgotten and to record them for posterity for my family.