Loutraki, Greece: My kind of town

Published: 1:41PM GMT twenty-three February 2010

Previous of Images Next Ancient Heraion is a�lovely Greek church site tucked afar in a healthy hilly gulf nearby Blue Lake Photo: Alamy The locale gets bigger each year but the sea front is reassuringly familiar. Photo: Alamy

WHY LOUTRAKI? A bizarre pull earthquakes. A big one struck Loutraki in 1981 and five years after I went to see at the goods for my university studies. I utterly fell for the area and have left behind majority years since.

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WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST WHEN YOU ARE AWAY? The seafront cafs there"s zero similar to Greek coffee dusted with sea mist and infused with charcterised Greek chatter.

WHAT"S THE FIRST THING YOU DO WHEN YOU RETURN? Walk the promenade. The locale gets bigger each year but the sea front is reassuringly familiar.

WHERE"S THE BEST PLACE TO STAY? Out of town, the Club Poseidon Resort (0030 27440 67938; poseidonresort.gr; doubles from �178 in May) regularly looks fun but is as well pricey for me. In town, the two-star Mon Repos on G Lekka Street (22113; open April-October) provides the conflicting impassioned a quiet, gentle bolt-hole.

WHERE WOULD YOU MEET FRIENDS FOR A DRINK? On the beach because wouldn"t you?

WHICH ARE YOUR FAVOURITE PLACES FOR LUNCH? The halcyon beach tavernas of Psatha Bay, at the north-eastern finish of the Perachora Peninsula. The fish comes to your image uninformed from the sea, you hook your feet in the swash and parading ducks supplement a quirky twist.

AND FOR DINNER? The Platanos taverna, set among wooded mountainous country nearby the encampment of Pisia, is a illusory summer haunt. Mind you, piece of the interest is that it rests right on the trembler error line.

WHERE WOULD YOU SEND A FIRST-TIME VISITOR? Ancient Heraion, a poetic Greek church site tucked afar in a healthy hilly gulf nearby Blue Lake (Vouliagmeni) at the finish of the Perachora Peninsula. A loyal dark gem.

WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THEM TO AVOID? The Corinth Canal. This engineering consternation competence be value a stop, maybe even an dusk vessel trip, but it is mostly jam-packed with tourists and coaches.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT OR TAXI? Either, given both are flattering cheap, but you"ll need a cab to get to Vouliagmeni there"s usually one train a day.

HANDBAG OR MONEYBELT? Handbag (wallet in my case) is excellent I"ve never had any trouble. Although it gets busier each year, it is still really most a Greek legal legal holiday town.

WHAT SHOULD I TAKE HOME? Well, it could be the requisite bottle of ouzo that you"ll never drink. But privately I"d go for possibly sugar or the herbs, both uninformed from the hillsides described above.

AND IF I"VE ONLY TIME FOR ONE SHOP? That would be the ouzo.

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