Choosing the right Greek island (part 3)

Today we’ll be concluding our quick look at choosing the right Greek island for your holiday, by looking at some of the major islands and their main attractions in as far as activities or interests go.

Best Greek diving and snorkeling: Karpathos, Milos, Paros, Kastellorizo

As you might expect, the Greek islands are some great locations for scuba diving and snorkeling. From beginners to the more advanced, there are waters to explore, and even for novices, many scuba diving schools exist so you’ll have fun for sure.

Karpathos has a great series of sea caves which feature a bunch of colourful aquatic life. Milos also features some great diving, and you can see here deep-sea fish, dolphins and even monk seals. Great snorkeling can be had here, as well as Paros and the remote Kastellorizo.

Best Greek gastronomy: Lesvos, Samos, Corfu, Folegandros, Crete

Tradition Greek food is obviously easily accessible wherever in the country you may find yourself, but as per usual, we’ll mention the places where you’ll get the most quintessential Greek culinary experiences possible.

Lesvos for instance, is renowned for both its olive oil as well as its ouzos – in fact it produces about seventy percent of all Greek ouzos, so that’s quite the feather in its cap. The Greek national aperitif is served with mixed mezedhes – appetizers – at traditional ouzeries – yes, they have special ouzo-focused restaurants – which mix the old Turkish influences of the island with its Greek seafood specialties. Besides the ouzo, Lesvos also make some great wine, which you can also find on Samos, famous for its sweet muscat dessert wine.

Corfu was never Ottomanized, so the cuisine here is still very heavily Italian influenced. And as far as Folegandros goes, it has a specialty called matsata – pasta with rabbit/chicken in red sauce, astakomakaronada – lobster with spaghetti, and liokafto – sunt-dried fish.

Crete is also well-known for its olvie oil and specialties like Dakos – rusks topped with tomato, olive oil and cheese, and myzithra – sweet cheese.