A taste of Greece
It’s taken me a long time to get around to visiting Greece, a favourite of Britons and all tourists alike.
I chose the island of Santorini, famed for its azure seas, cliff-clinging villages and magical sunsets.
It delivered all of this and had a fantastic light for photography.
But I have to be an honest traveller. Santorini is incredibly popular and crawls with visitors. Quad bikes choke the roads and destinations like Oia trap tourists like flies. Departing from the oversubscribed airport can be an uncomfortable experience.
If you want to relax in the Greek islands, choose one of the many others which still enjoy relative anonymity. A lesson learned…
Click first image to view gallery
mikeosbornphoto 
Great shots and thank you for stopping by my travel and photography site to leave me this link!
LikeLike
I haven’t travelled in a while so it’s good to see far-flung places with your site :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I arrived back in Australia in Feb 2020 after being away for 6 years. Got stuck back home during COVID so working now. But, I have a dream… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
It will come true, I’m sure! I have a mental block which is keeping me away from the airport. In time… :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very nice pictures! Indeed it is better going to Greece off season 😉
LikeLike
Thank you for your comment, much appreciated :) You are right, or perhaps choose a less known island.
LikeLike
Hahahaha yes for sure!
LikeLike
What a lovely collection of images, Mike!
LikeLike
Thank you Sheila :) Very picturesque place although unfortunately everybody knows about it…
LikeLike
I especially like “summer fruits” – the composition and colours are very calming to me.
LikeLike
Thank you, Kiki. I’m not sure how edible they were but the colours were blazing yet low key somehow :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey! we might have been there at the same time! I was on Santorini the last week of Sept and have to totally agree with you about the tourists (of course we’re not tourists ourselves, just photographers). Though we had the tail end of Cyclone Zorba and overcast skies, the ferries were cancelled for 2 days which caused chaos. The number of tourists behaving badly just to capture a ‘selfie’ was amazing – walking on church roofs and intruding into peoples properties, but it was the crush of people at sunset in Oia that was the worst!
Would I go again, no, though I did enjoy my stay and happy with my shots. Maybe I’d go to an island way off the tourist route, if such a one exists. I believe most places shut down over the winter, where we stayed closed at the end of Oct for 5 months as were a number of other places both on Santorini and Mykonos (went there too :) Most waiter staff come over for 7 months non stop work and go back home again for the 5 month off.
Love your shots, could recognise many of the places as the same ones we went to. Here’s to a tourist free trip next time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Lee, lovely to hear from you. How funny! I was there at the start of September so must have missed you by s couple of weeks. I tried to avoid getting too many of the crowds into shot but felt it was hard to do something different. My year of travel has started in earnest so stay tuned for some other destinations – hopefully less well trodden ones. I’ll call by soon to see how you captured Santorini.
LikeLike
Oh Wow! a year of travel. Taken time off work? Looking forward to seeing where you get to in your travels and maybe put it on my ‘to see’ list.
LikeLike
Yes, a career break. Life has changed for sure :) Hopefully I’ll provide some food for thought for your own travels, Lee.
LikeLike
Hope all is well Mike, and nothing too, too dramatic has happened ( well apart from taking a career break)! Looking forward to your travels. Take care.
LikeLike
Just the bit about not going to work any more! Look forward to keeping in touch via the medium of WordPress :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lovely shots, as usual. What month were you there? Does Santorini have an off-season?
LikeLike
Thank you Bunty. This was last month. I would assume it calms down a little in the middle of winter.
LikeLike
Beautiful photos of an island full of tourists. Great job on not getting them on the photos ;)
LikeLiked by 1 person
… and, thanks for the heads up, I’ll delete this island from my bucket list.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Koos! The moral of this story is to do a bit more research before taking the plunge!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You can do that, you’ve got enough time for some research ;)
LikeLike
Yes for sure! I’m still researching a state visit to the Netherlands…
LikeLiked by 1 person
But it looks as if the discomfort was worth it photographically speaking
LikeLike
Yes Diana, it’s beautiful and highly photogenic which is why the crowds flock there. A shame in many ways.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A lovely selection of photographs, Mike. I love the mix of obviously-Greece images with the more anonymous shots, ones that could be anywhere. A nice break indeed! :)
LikeLike
Ah thanks Richard. When in Greece etc… I must admit I hadn’t expected the deluge of people which wasn’t what I was after. But made the best of it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Beautiful photos of a fully packed, touristic island. You’ve managed to take photos without the many tourists! I guess I can delete this island from my bucket list :)
LikeLike
Thank you very much, unfortunately it doesn’t say who you are. I’d say you can achieve the sunsets and marvellous light on a much quieter island in the Cyclades. That’s my aim next time!
LikeLike