In all my years of travelling, there is one country I had never been to: Greece. When I mentioned this to friends abroad, they were surprised. But no Indian I spoke to thought it was at all odd. Unless they have had to go to Greece for an event (say, the Olympics) very few Indians I know have ever been to Greece and most have no plans to visit either. And those who have gone have focused on the islands: Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Corfu etc. Hardly anyone has wanted to go to the mainland.

This, as we discovered, is a huge mistake.

Two months ago, my wife and I decided that we would finally find a way of going to Greece. Like most people, I wanted to visit the islands and thought that I could plan a trip that combined the mainland with a couple of the islands. We junked that idea when we realised that a week was not enough to do both. So we settled on a compromise: The mainland this year, and the islands next year.

I hadn’t realised until I sat down to plan the trip that the city of Athens is so vast and spread out that you can stay in three different parts of the city and feel that you have visited three different destinations.

We started in town, staying at the hip, mostly pedestrian-dominated neighbourhood of Plaka, that has lots of charm and lots of history. It is always busy, packed out with restaurants, cafés and little shops. The closest (not fully appropriate) parallel I can think of is London’s Covent Garden or perhaps, parts of Soho.

Given the trendiness of the area, it was only appropriate that we stayed at the relatively new The Dolli, an achingly hip jewel box of a hotel that is in the heart of Plaka and which, despite opening less than a year ago, has already been acclaimed by Condé Nast Traveller as the best hotel in Greece.

It is the sort of boutique property where sculptures from the third century BC share space in the lobby with an original Picasso. Unlike most fashionable boutique hotels in the West, however, service is friendly and efficient. (I was to later discover that this is true of all of Athens.) Rooms can be small, but given that there is so much happening in the neighbourhood, you don’t really want to spend too long in your room anyway.

The hotel’s most famous attraction is its rooftop restaurant, which offers a stunning view of the Acropolis, which is only a short distance away. On our second day in Athens, we walked through Plaka to see the Acropolis up close. It is possibly the most famous of Ancient Greece‘s monuments that is still standing (well, sort of standing: A lot of it has been damaged over the centuries) despite having been built as long ago as the fifth century BC.

Two days of monuments, relaxed rambles and meals at casual restaurants (most of them with outdoor seating) were not really enough for Plaka and the heart of the city. But our schedule then took us to the Athens Riviera. This is a lagoon-facing area that was once full of large villas built by millionaires who parked their yachts in the calm waters of the marina. More recently, the Greek government and private investors have spent millions turning it into a buzzy area with public beaches, deluxe hotels and seafood restaurants. The term Riviera usually refers to the region in the south of France, but despite the similarity of the name, the Greek version aims to be enjoyable rather than chic.

The promenade is beautiful, with clear views of the lagoon and the sea. So we went for seaside walks, ate at little restaurants and even had a gourmet meal at an Italian restaurant in the Roc Club, our hotel. (They are big on al fresco dining and rooftop restaurants in Greece.)

Then it was off to Sounion, about half an hour away. This is also a sea-facing area, but it’s not as busy as the Riviera. It is near the edge of Athens and has many good hotels, though we were fortunate to find ourselves in a large villa with a garden and a pool at the Grecotel Cape Sounio, the best resort in the area.

As I always tend to do when confronted with great natural beauty, I spent most of my time in a trance-like state staring at the sea. But my wife prodded me into embarking on two excursions. The first was to the Temple of Poseidon, which we could see from our garden.

As you probably know, the ancient Greek gods were precursors of the Roman gods and many have argued that there are similarities with our own gods. There are obvious parallels between Indra, one of the primary gods in the Rig Veda and the Greek Zeus, for instance. Zeus became Jupiter for the Romans but to the Greeks, he was part of a holy trinity: He was the god of land, Hades was the god of the netherworld (like our own Yama) and Poseidon was the god of the sea. (He became Neptune to the Romans, and also, I like to think, Aquaman to the Americans.)

The Temple of Poseidon, located on a hill overlooking the bay, dates from roughly the same period as the Acropolis (around 400 to 500 years before the birth of Christ) and may be one of the oldest structures that any of us will ever see. It features prominently in Greek mythology, so if you know the stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey, you will be familiar with its significance.

The second excursion required us to wake up at 6am, drive to the port and to take a ferry to the island of Kea, about an hour away. I would normally have refused to get up that early, but it was my wife’s birthday so I was not in a position to argue.

In the event, I was glad I listened to her.

Kea is a smallish, scarcely inhabited island with a charming old town where no cars are allowed. Deliveries are made by donkey (Yes really. I saw a guy delivering gas cylinders on a donkey up a hilly road). You can walk for half an hour and not see another human being and there is a distinct sense that if you had come here decades ago it would’ve been much the same.

Naturally, I loved it!

Did I love the rest of Greece? Well, I actually loved it even more than I imagined I would. I will go to Mykonos, Corfu, etc, later but even a full week was not enough to enjoy the beauty and history of Athens. Our time there was a perfect combination of seeing wonderful sights and just sitting back and relaxing, while admiring the beauty of the seaside and the hills around us.

Of course, nothing is perfect. Some of us may find the food too bland. If you don’t like fish, then your options are limited. (On the other hand, if you do like fish, the seafood can be fantastic.) There are no direct flights from India: getting there involves a change of aircraft either in the Middle East or somewhere in Europe.

But, on the plus side, Greece is beautiful. All three hotels I stayed at were fabulous, the people were friendly, and getting around was easy. There are many taxis, but I used Uber throughout and it was painless. English is widely spoken and all prices are much lower than they are in other western European destinations.

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