Who can go Island Strolling in Greece?

To start with a bit of history: The Island Strolling to Greece from Norway started in the 1950’s, (correction: I have now come across a book titled: "From Greece. The experiences of a Norwegian backpacker in Greece in 1859". See write-up on the book on the page on How to find more information on Island Strolling in Greece). But in the 1950’s it was mainly artists and writers and other so-called "intellectuals" that were travellers. It wasn’t until the 1970’s that the Island Strolling really took off. At that time a lot of young people/students went to the Greek islands on Euro Rail. Then started the first tour operators; some of the smaller operators specialised in tours to the Greek islands giving opportunities for Island Strolling. In the late 1970’s and the early 1980’s many young people/students took the popular "student flights" to Athens. On our first go at Island Strolling we took one of these flights. It was mostly young people that went Island Strolling, probably because of those flights. I have to admit it has been this way up till today. I’m pleased that it’s changing now.

It is getting more and more usual to see young families Island Strolling. The last 2-3 years the amount of prams in the streets of Antiparos has increased heavily – mostly because of families from the Scandinavian countries. Also more and more middle-aged people go Island Strolling. Many of them are fed up with e.g. countless drinking parties on Mallorca and want more variation on their holiday. Island Strolling is it!

Unfortunately there’s one group of tourists that we don’t see; pensioners. We are totally convinced that this kind of holiday would suit them too if they:

Well, all this goes for anybody who wants to go Island Strolling and some of it you can even avoid by choosing the right time for Island Strolling. This goes particularly for the heat and the crowds. May and September are good if you want to avoid the heat and too many tourists.

This pretty bouquet was picked by Anne Grete in the mountains of Naxos in mid-June 1997

Also it doesn’t really matter if you’re not good at speaking foreign languages. Of course it is an advantage knowing a bit of English, but it really isn’t necessary. You come a long way with a bit of sign language, paper and pen. The first room we ever rented in Greece was from a cosy, old Greek woman who didn’t speak a single word of English and we didn’t speak a single word of Greek. We were allowed in to check the room, and we also agreed on the price by using pen and paper. She even managed to make us understand that she needed our passports – even though we were a bit hesitant to part with them. At that time we didn’t know that even people who let out private rooms have to keep records. Besides a lot of owners keep passports as a guarantee that the tourists won’t do a runner without paying.

You can know as few languages as a donkey but if you have the same calm the holiday will go just fine, no matter what

Back to What is, and why go "Island Strolling" in Greece ?	Further on to How travel to Greece ?
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If you have any tips, advice or memories from island strolling, or if there is a question you haven’t found the answer to, use the discussions group.
Thanks to Solvejg Sørensen, Copenhagen, Denmark for her translation into English!
© Jan Bergtun, 25. February 2000	Updated, 02.07.2007
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