Regional gastronomy is more diverse than on the islands and there is no better place to discover the joys of Greek wine, the vineyards of 1,300 winemakers planted almost entirely with indigenous grapes. And then there’s the warmth and hospitality of the Greek people, famed for their philoxenia, a love of strangers.

This October, The Pursuit Of Greece is set to balance the scales. We’ll take in the galleries, street life and outdoor wine bars of Athens, set off across the Peloponnese to Ilia, then up into the mountains of Arcadia, finishing with a few days on Hydra.

The Pursuit Of Greece:

12 nights, 2-14 October 2025

A$15,700 per person double, A$19,800 per person single 

50% deposit to book with balance due 90 days prior to departure

Who should book this trip?

The Pursuit Of Greece is perfect for anyone who has rushed through Athens to see the Acropolis on their way to Mykonos or Santorini—and longs to return for a more immersive experience—as well as anyone who has never been to Greece. If you like your travel to be more than one thing, a mix of art, nature, food, wine, history, street life and legend—even hiking and yoga—this trip is for you.

Renowned for its islands rising up out of the blue waters of the Aegean, it is because they’re so dazzling that as travellers we often overlook the mainland and the Peloponnese.

Day 1-5: Athens.

Athens is unlike any other city in the world. Its biography spans 5,000 years, from cradle of Western Civilisation to outpost of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires and—when Greece finally won its independence from the Turks in 1832, ending 2,000 years of occupation—as the capital of Modern Greece. More recently, the city was the graffiti-laden poster child of ‘the crisis’, 

It’s the struggles, though, that give Athens its unique rhythms. Thanks to Athenian creativity, the battered Greek capital emerged from the recession as one of Europe’s most dynamic destinations, a hotbed of art, design and innovation juxtaposed against the glow of its ancient heritage.

We check into the gorgeously cinematic MONA, crafted from the shell of a 1950’s textile factory with bang-on views of the Acropolis. It’s the Kate Bush of boutique hotels: an ethereal beauty, where stripped-back industrial surfaces are softened by contemporary art and billowing panels of semi-sheer cotton, recalling the folds of an ancient chiton.

Walking distance to everything, the city is ours to explore. We’ll take in ancient sites as well as the new cultural institutions that’ve taken Athens from stopover-to-see-the-Parthenon to major player on the international art scene. These include the Acropolis Museum—one of the most beautiful museum on the planet—and the Goulandris Foundation, home to a stellar collection of modern art. We’ll pop into the Ghika Gallery and also check out folk costumes at the Benaki, enjoying outdoor wine bars, hearty tavernas and fine restaurants along the way. As Athens reveals itself, you’ll fall in love with the city and its people.

Day 5-8: The Peloponnese.

We depart Athens after breakfast on the start of our road trip across the Peloponnese peninsula. First stop is the ancient city of Corinth followed by a late lunch in Patras, afterwards heading southwest along the coast to Dexamenes Seaside Hotel, our architecturally striking crash pad for the next three days.

Dexamenes was fashioned from an abandoned wine factory, where tanks and silos from the 1920’s have been reimagined as boutique accommodation overlooking the Ionian Sea. It has an interesting history, dating back to the 1830’s when currants were Greece’s number one export. Fast forward to the ‘currant crisis’ of 1910, when the trade collapsed and unsold stock had to be turned into other products, such as wine. The location was chosen so ships could load wine directly from the tanks before setting sail across the world.

After the frenetic pace of Athens, we’ll take a day to simply relax and enjoy Dexamenes. You might want to take a yoga class or hit the beach, meeting up to quaff natural wine and explore the hotel’s hyperlocal gastronomy, situated as it is on the edge of fertile agricultural plains. The following day we’ll explore nearby Olympia, one of the most important ancient sites in all of Greece, also visiting local vineyards and the studio of a sculptor.

Day 8-10: Arcadia.

From Dexamenes we drive east into one of Greece’s most storied regions. Arcadia was home to the god Pan in Greek mythology and its remote, unspoilt nature formed the benchmark of bucolic bliss in ancient poetry and Renaissance literature.

Our sights are set on MANNA Arcadia, an alpine lodge in chunky stone nestled in the highlands of the Peloponnese. Perched like an eagle’s nest amongst virgin fir forests on the side of Mount Mainalos, sitting at an altitude of 1,200 metres, the site was chosen for its healing properties when it was built as a sanatorium in 1929. After many decades abandoned, the property was brought back to life by K-Studio—the same Athens architects that did Dexamenes—this time as a luxurious retreat. Here we’ll visit a Byzantine monastery and hike along some of the mountain trails the region is renowned for. Or you can just relax into the stillness and beauty of the setting, enjoying the hotel’s wellness zone, with cave pool, sauna, hammam and fireplace-warmed yoga room.

Day 10-13: Hydra.

Our road trip continues across the Peloponnese to the Asklepieion of Epidaurus, a sanctuary from the 4th century BCE named after Asklepios, the god of healing and son of Apollo. Here we’ll check out the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, considered to be the most perfect theatre of ancient Greece. After lunch nearby, we make our way to Ermioni for the boat ride to Hydra, where we check into the super charming Bratsera Hotel, originally a sponge factory from the 1860’s.

While the tales of many Greek islands hark back to times when gods roamed the earth, Hydra’s legend is more recent. During the Napoleonic Wars, its seafaring residents made fortunes running the blockades to sell Russian grain. A few decades later they added to the coffers selling sponges. Neither windfall was to last: the Hydriots spent all of their money building and furnishing grand mansions on the island and saw out the next century in a state of declining grandeur.

Then, in the 1950’s, a variety of cash-strapped hedonists made Hydra their home. One was the British painter, John Craxton; another was swashbuckling travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor. Both lived on and off at the mansion of the Greek artist, Nikos Ghika, whose studio we visit in Athens.  Sidney and Cynthia Nolan were amongst Ghika’s other long-term guests.

It was another Australian that left the most enduring expat legacy: the writer, Charmian Clift. Her 1959 memoir, Peel Me a Lotus chronicles a year of life on the island with her husband, George Johnston (author of My Brother Jack), their children and colony of friends. The book derives its name from Homer’s lotus eaters, islanders who spent their days getting high on the narcotic lotus plant, referencing the alcohol-fuelled ways of the couple and their chums. One was Canadian writer-musician Leonard Cohen, who moved to the island in 1960, lodging with Clift and Johnson before buying his own home on the island.

What will we do on Hydra? We’ll explore its hills, coves and amphitheatre of an old town, taking in sights like Jeff Koons’ new Apollo sculpture—immersing ourselves in the simple beauty of the place just as Craxton, Leigh Fermor, Clift and Cohen did decades ago.

Photography: Eftihia Stefanidi, Dexamenes Seaside Hotel, MANNA Arcadia and Jason Mowen.

The Pursuit Of Greece is perfect for anyone who has rushed through Athens to see the Acropolis on their way to Mykonos or Santorini, and longs to return for a more immersive experience. 

The Pursuit Of Greece

12 nights

2-14 October 2025

A$15,700 pp double A$19,800 pp single

50% deposit with balance due 90 days prior to departure