Bucket list reimagined: Mindful return to the Greek islands

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. As travel restrictions have eased since the peak of the pandemic, the Greek islands’ wide-open blue beckons this spring and summer — with the opportunity to focus less on Instagrammable snapshots and more on chatting with a taverna owner over a cold glass of tsipouro, the potent Greek spirit, while waiting for take-out octopus. Over two long weekends, I never tired of looking at that 13th-century castle, whether floodlit at night when the warm air smelled of aromatic herbs, or standing guard in the brilliant sunshine as I swam in coves around it, in the most multi-hued waters I’ve seen outside of a South Pacific lagoon. SANTORINI, vertiginous luxe Blue lights also dapple Santorini’s villages – but they are the infinity pools and jacuzzis of luxurious hotels carved into the rim of the island volcano that exploded into the sea 3,600 years ago.