Parthenon of Shipwrecks, Alonissos
Home to the Mediterranean’s first underwater museum, Alonissos is one of the remotest islands of the Sporades island chain, which includes Mamma Mia island, Skopelos and party-loving Skiathos. Greece’s so-called ‘Parthenon of shipwrecks’ is a merchant vessel that sank off this coastline with several thousand wine amphorae on board sometime in the fifth century. It lies some 20 metres down, beneath glass-clear waters in Alonissos’ 2,260 sq km national marine park where endangered monk seals love to frolic. Away from those mesmerising waters, grab a seat at Hayiati, a cliff-perched café in island capital Hora’s cobbled streets where they serve the best cinnamon-dusted galatopita milk pie on the island.
Teriade Museum Lesvos
One of my favourite Greek islands, Lesvos, has plenty of hidden gems, but the Teriade museum, housed in the family home of art critic Stratis Eleftheriades-Tèriade, is the one not to miss. Teriade, who studied art in Paris, rubbed shoulders with many of the 20th century’s greatest artists, and he managed to persuade them to visit Lesvos and contribute to his magazine Verve, which he published from 1937 right up to 1960. These original artworks by Chagall, Picasso, Matisse and other 20th-century ‘greats’ are on display in the museum. In any major city, this museum would be packed; in Lesvos, you’ll probably have it all to yourself.
Meteora Monasteries
It’s hardly surprising that the magical Meteora monasteries have starred in countless Hollywood blockbusters, including Clash of the Titans and Game of Thrones: perched on top of their lofty stone pinnacles, these medieval sanctuaries rise out of Thessaly’s pancake-flat plain like colossal sponge fingers. The six monasteries, named from the word ‘meteorizo’, which means ‘suspended in the air’, are rarely crowded; however, perhaps because Kalambaka, the rural backwater where they’re situated, is a four-hour drive away from Athens. It’s well worth making the effort to visit, however for the thrill of visiting Agia Triada (Holy Trinity), which starred in the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, or seeing the threadbare string net that was once used to hoist monks to the top of Moni Varlaam a 16th century monastery perched on a precipitous cinnamon-coloured swirl of rock which is now reached by clambering up 195 steps.