94 AUGUST 2019 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM
Island-Hopping in the Cyclades
You’ll want at least a week to combine the glamour of Santorini with
the unspoiled beaches and villages of Milos and Folegandros.GETTING THERE
Within Southeast Asia, Scoot
(flyscoot.com) offers direct
flights to Athens from Singapore.
From there, fly to Milos or
Santorini, where you can
transfer between the islands by
boat. Or take a ferry from
Piraeus, the port of Athens—the
fastest jet boats reach Milos in
just under three hours,
Folegandros in four hours, and
Santorini in less than five. Rental
cars are easy to arrange on all
three islands. To find out if you
need a visa for the E.U., visit
schengenvisainfo.com.Santorini
There’s no shortage of high-end
hotels on Santorini—though
you’ll need to book well in
advance. I stayed at Canaves
Oia Epitome (canaves.com;
doubles from €700), where each
of the 24 suites and villas has its
own private pool with Aegean
views. Perivolas (perivolas.gr;
doubles from €675) is a classic
property set into the cliffs
outside Oia, while the new
Istoria (istoriahotel.gr; doubles
from €445) brings a boutique
aesthetic to the low-key
Perivolos beach. At Vineyart
(oiavineyart.gr; mains €12–€25),
in Oia, updated regional dishes
made with locally sourced
ingredients are paired with wines
made on the island. The
picturesque Aktaion (aktaion
santorini.com; mains €6–€14),meanwhile, has been serving
classic Cycladic cuisine since- I spent a day with
Santorini Walking Tours
(santorini walking tours.com),
a great way to see the islands’
hidden treasures, such as
wineries, archaeological sites
and unspoiled inland villages.
Milos
The stylish Milos Breeze (milos
breeze.gr; doubles from €300) is
a boutique hotel with a mineral-
rich swimming pool and stunning
views. Milos Cove (milos cove.
com; doubles from €265) is a new
resort with chic, minimalist
rooms and suites on a cliff above
a gorgeous stretch of shore.Folegandros
I loved my stay at Anemomilos
(anemomilos.com; doubles from
€230), a delightful hotel on the
cliffs outside the little town of
Chora. The family-run Pounta
(pounta.gr; mains €4–€10)
serves classic Greek food in a
bougainvillea-draped courtyard.TOUR OPERATOR
My trip was set up by Christos
Stergiou, a member of the
A-List—Travel + Leisure’s list of
top travel advisors. His company,
Tr u eTr ip s (truetrips.com;
weeklong tours from €3,350),
can arrange customized
itineraries in the Cyclades with
all flights, ferries, and ground
transfers included. − M.T.SantoriniMilos
Folegandros OiaAEGEAN SEAAthensGreece
Alexandros assured me, the beach is too remote ever to
become crowded. “Milos has over a hundred beaches.
Eighty are easy to find. Twenty are only accessible by
boat.” The result of the island’s volcanic geology, Milos’s
beaches are indeed remarkable, the interactions of fire,
stone and water evident in an amazing range of caves,
cliffs, sand, shingle and luminous white stone.
We visited Papafragas, on the northern shore, where
the volcanic cliffs are shot through with several caves
and arches—giving them, from a distance, the look of
Swiss cheese. Alexandros showed me a place
where pale green water, still a little cloudy from the
medicane, churned through one of the arches and filled a
secret inlet. Three kilometers or so west along the coast
at Sarakiniko beach, the sea collides with a dazzling
white shore formed of volcanic perlite, gypsum, white
lime, and chalk. The effect was ravishing: it had the
elemental simplicity of a daring minimalist sculpture.
A 10-minute drive away, Alexandros and I stopped in
Plaka, the beautifully preserved main town, where the
streets are lined with flat-roofed whitewashed houses. At
the Utopia Café, perched above the island’s huge bay, we
ordered espresso. Not far from where we were sitting,
Alexandros said as we sipped our coffee, the Venus de
Milo was unearthed by a farmer in the 19th century. The
famously beautiful (and armless) statue was whisked
away to France and now stands in the Louvre.
Sitting in Utopia with Alexandros, I pondered which
island had been my favorite. Below us sparkled the
Aegean, across which Greek ships sailed for Troy in
Homer’s Iliad. It struck me that perhaps the ancient
statue of Milos carried a message. According to myth, the
goddesses Aphrodite, Hera and Athena took part in a
beauty contest judged by the mortal Paris. Paris declared
Aphrodite the victor, but his decision caused such
acrimony that it set off a series of events that led to the
Trojan War. As Alexandros and I finished our coffee and
headed out into the sunshine I realized, smiling, that the
lesson of Greek myth is not to pick a winner.