As Greece eases travel restrictions, people are
planning healthy, self-distancing post-Covid
holidays in the Greek islands
Where are you planning to go as soon as you can get away? Many, it seems, hope to head for the Greek islands.
Demand for a guide to Walking on the Greek Islands:Naxos, Paros, Amorgos & Santorini, has prompted leading outdoor activity publisher Cicerone to release the book for online ordering. Its April release was cancelled due to lockdown. Cicerone is further encouraged by the Greek government’s announcements this week (from 16 May) of its plans to open up borders, flights and ferries for tourists.
Greece has been one of the most successful countries worldwide in controlling the spread of COVID19, with only 157 deaths, and only one suspected infection on the four islands covered by this book (a port policeman on Naxos who was despatched to Athens, and everyone he’d been in contact with traced and isolated). “The island’s a good place to be at this time,” commented a British resident.
The Greek Government has released procedures for safe air, ferry and road transport, and is seeking bilateral travel agreements with other countries (for up-to-date information, visit https://news.gtp.gr/). Travel to the islands, banned during the country’s strict lockdown, is due to be lifted on 25 May, but restrictions on flights to Greece from the UK, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands continue at least until 31 May. Government spokesman Stelios Petsas has stressed the importance of extending the tourist season into the autumn, and to plan ahead for next year to ‘cushion’ the ‘large losses’ that are expected this summer.
So those independent hikers should be welcome guests – as Walking the Greek Islands advises that autumn and spring are the optimum times for exploring the islands, when countryside, climate and wild flowers are at their most alluring. And what could be more liberating and uplifting, safe and social-distancing than an independent hiking holiday in the pure air and rugged beauty of a Greek
island!
WALKING ON THE GREEK ISLANDS
The Cyclades
Naxos, Paros, Amorgos, Santorini
by Gilly Cameron-Cooper UK online order link: https://www.cicerone.co.uk/walking-on-the-greek-islands-the-cyclades
· Greece online order link: (https://anavasi.gr/index.php?route=product/product&search=Cicerone&product_id=570&search=Cicerone)
· Paperback Gloss Laminated, 172 x 115mm, 256pp,
· c. 200 colour photographs throughout, 40 maps
· ISBN: 9781786310095
Naxos, Paros, Amorgos and Santorini are linked by history, location… and ferries, but each one offers quite a different walking experience. They encapsulate all that’s magical about Greece, with remnants of ancient settlements and temples lying in open country, wild-flower hotspots, and age-old paved paths that thread between steep-stacked mountain villages, over marble rocks and bouldered tors, and down to the island-studded Aegean Sea.
About the author
Gilly Cameron-Cooper's main career was as a journalist, non-fiction author and editor, but in 2002 she and her husband Robin set up Walking Plus Ltd, the first company to offer guided and self-guided hiking holidays in the Cyclades islands of Greece. Gilly has hiked all over the world, publishing articles for national magazines and newspapers, and written or contributed to books on mythology, travel, antiques, gardening, Walking London's Waterways, and Beatrix Potter's Lake District. She lived and worked in mainland Greece and the islands for several years, exploring the country and writing for the English language press, and produced consultation documents on sustainable tourism for the Greek government.
For further information, or to receive areview copy please contact Hannah Stevenson at Cicerone
hannah@cicerone.co.uk, 01539 587985
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