Greek Island Hopping: Hidden Gems, Insider Tips & How to Do It Like a Local

Paula and co-host Rachel Beausang sit down with Petros — a Melbourne-born Greek who moved to Athens and never looked back. Now running Blue and White Dream Tours, Petros has spent decades discovering what most tourists miss: the family taverna down the side street, the island the locals actually love, and why August is the worst time most people choose to visit. This one is packed with practical gold.

In this episode

• Why most island-hopping itineraries fail — and the transfer mistake almost everyone makes
• Seven days, two islands plus Athens: the formula Petros swears by
• How to find where locals actually eat: follow the pensioner, never the laminated menu
• Santorini is worth doing once — but go early morning or you'll be in a human traffic jam
• Why Naxos is Petros's personal favourite and the island he keeps going back to
• Milos for beaches, Syros for getting genuinely lost, Crete for eating with the bus drivers
• Skip August. Seriously. End of May, early June or September is the move
• Theatre on the Move: Petros's new concept bringing actors in togas onto Athens tour buses
• What to actually expect from Greek hotels — and why big lifts are not part of the deal

Links & resources

🌐 Blue and White Dream Tours

📸 Blue and White Dream Tours on Instagram

📖 Greek Island Hopping Guide — Truly Expat Travel blog

📚 Petros's novel Echo from the Street — available on Amazon

🎙 Ep 2: Troy Barnes on Everest Base Camp

🎙 Ep 1: Paula's Sicily Road Trip

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast, where I chat with expats about their favourite holiday destinations. Let's be honest, expats are some of the best travellers around, always planning the next adventure, exploring hidden gems and finding the best spots wherever they go. So who better to ask for travel inspiration? This episode is a little bit special because I'm joined today by special guest Rachel Bosang, who you may remember as my co-host from Truly Expat Podcast. And together we chat with Petros from Blue and White Dream Tours. This guy who moved from Australia to Greece and never looked back. We're uncovering what

SPEAKER_00 0:36

inspired his move to Athens, how his island obsession led to creating a boutique travel company. and the secret spots that make Greek island hopping truly magical. Forget the tourist traps, Petros reveals the hidden gems and authentic experiences most travellers never discover. Warning, your travel bucket list is about to

SPEAKER_01 0:56

become full. So grab your drink, get comfy, and prepare to fall in love with the real Greece. Thank you, Petros, for joining us today. We love having you on with us. Thank you. Thank you. Great intro. Wow. Thank you. We

SPEAKER_00 1:11

can't wait to hear about all of your tips and tricks.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Hidden gems.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Yes, exactly. And maybe you could start off,

SPEAKER_01 1:20

how did you get into it? Greece. Yeah. Where are you originally from? So I'm originally, actually, funny enough, I was born in Melbourne, moved back and forth to Greece when I was a kid. My mother had a fascination with coming back to Greece. So they built a house, obviously above the parents' place, which most Greeks do. You've got the parents downstairs, and you've got the son, and then you've got the daughter, and then you've got that kind of works here.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

The generational living.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Yeah, it is. It's literally, you can see how big the family is. And you've got four stories and five

SPEAKER_00 1:59

stories going

SPEAKER_01 2:02

by. You actually see it. People come out of the house, you go, oh, okay, wow, that's a big family. You can fly in it. Sometimes they even throw in an auntie. It's true. You just throw in an auntie or an auntie in there as well. I think in and about obviously with the family, the grandparents are always there as well. They're somewhere. In the basement, somewhere. They're somewhere. I don't know where they are, but the grandparents are always with you. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

They're

SPEAKER_01 2:25

somewhere there. I started getting a fascination when I was quite young. I used to watch TV shows. What you saw was TV shows. We used to see American buildings, like high-rise. So when you're seeing the outside world, that's all you used to think of was, you know, oh yeah, that's what it looks like out there. Big roads, big cars, big American cars. That's all. So when my parents first took me to Greece, I thought, where am I? Everything is small. Everything is like cement, like the way it is what you see now. And so I just, I was bewildered that The world isn't what we see on TV because on TV shows, like I said, growing up, we had three TV channels back then. It was just American shows. There was no other. SBS wasn't even out for a show of my age. SBS was Channel O, if you remember. I don't even know why SBS. It's like an international TV show which had international, sorry, national products, which only had either TV, Australian or American. So I just became fascinated by the architecture and the people and the It kind of drew me and I kept wanting to go back, wanting to go back, wanting to go back, wanting to go back, kept going back with it, especially my mother. She wanted to move back to Greece. They built a house, like I said, but it was just due to circumstances, financial circumstances. It just didn't evolve to that. But at the same time, my parents, like I said, they had their house here. And then what happened was I think I was going back and forth. I started my business back in Melbourne and then I just thought I needed some time off. I thought I'm going to go to Greece. This is in the 90s, out of Greece. And I said, how about a couple of my friends said, come with me. I said to a couple of friends, come with me to Greece. Let me show you a little bit of the Greece I know. As back then, there was no Google, no AI. There wasn't like, you just hashtag, where do I go? So it was obviously harder to navigate and to go the right spot because you don't, everything, as you know, if you roll up to a restaurant, you can't look at the reviews. So you can't see what's in place. And so if anything, instinct had to kick in more and you just say, that doesn't feel right. I got a knack as to where to go, which I still use now. In the 90s, I took some friends over to the Greek islands. Obviously, it was fitness-based because my background is I used to run a personal training studio in Melbourne. And so I would finish orientated exercise in the morning, take them sightseeing during the day. And then at night, just relax and could be bar hopping or just watching the sunset and just chilling out by the beach or something like that. And I'll call it the balance tour. That's when the balance tour came about. Because my friends, they obviously didn't speak Greek at all. And I'd say to them, like, where are you going? And they'd go, look, I've got this rule of thumb. Not to say that it's 100% sure. I've got a rule of thumb. If it's got cushy chairs, it's got laid-back music, and it's got the big tables, I'll go there for a coffee. If the chairs are uncomfortable... And I hear the mother screaming in the background with the son, sweating, eating, cooking. That's where I go and eat. I've got that all the time. I still do that now. I still rely on the instinct of that Connor. And it seemed to work back then. It still seems to work that you go to the places that no bells and whistles to eat. And I'll go to the places where it's got the bells and whistles, they're relaxing, Cafe Del Mar music, and that's okay. I personally, I just don't like the heaven. So people say the Greek experience or Mediterranean experience, I don't go there because that doesn't really identify to me as to. Or Vintik, if you go to them. The Screaming Mama. The Screaming Mama. It's a family business. It's a great name. It's a restaurant. It's

SPEAKER_00 6:11

a

SPEAKER_01 6:11

restaurant. The Screaming

SPEAKER_00 6:14

Mama. Okay, we've got a concept. Let's start a business. The Screaming

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Mama. Mediterranean way. So that's what. And then island hopping. A lot of people, when they do island hopping, they go, oh, I want to go to four or five different islands. But you've got 10 days. A lot of people forget about the transfers. To

SPEAKER_00 6:32

get into these

SPEAKER_01 6:34

islands is far. For example, if you take the super jet ferry, it's minimum, it could be four hours. It could be, all right, sometimes it's shorter on the plane as well, but then you've got to do the transfer to the plane. You've got to wait. It could be you have a cancellation. So therefore, if you've only got four or five days, I always thought, okay, you've got to be careful as to what the transfers involved as well. That's all right. When I started putting – I thought, which islands I could navigate to be closer together where you don't have to sit there thinking, oh, all I'm feeling, I'm freaking, I'm just carrying my suitcase all

SPEAKER_00 7:07

day.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

And another thing I always say to people is that one minute you're relaxing, you know, you're nice and just relaxing, you take it all in. Next thing you know, you're huddled with everyone else. You've got the guy at the port screaming,

SPEAKER_00 7:21

get on board. Matt, carrying your suitcase isn't part of your workout? No. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Exactly. That's right. Bicep curls. Yeah,

SPEAKER_00 7:29

that's

SPEAKER_01 7:30

right. Going up those ramps as well.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

Some of the ramps. Resistance training. Especially if

SPEAKER_01 7:38

the ramps are moving side to side slightly as well. And if you've decided to go shopping, stuff your suitcase even more. Like you've got a full safe. I thought you bring full suitcases to the island. Wine was shopping. They've got bulging suitcases coming out. The wheel's broken off and you're trying to get off the ramp. And then, well, that gets rid of your fancy cheese and those.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

That's right. How are you going to figure out customs? You need to take it back. You got on? At

SPEAKER_01 8:15

the time. They sold it to me. It was amazing. You've got all these jars. You go, oh, where am I going? Are you sure I'm going to get through customs? It's never going back to Australia or New Zealand and you have to worry about customs.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Yeah, exactly. Okay, I've

SPEAKER_01 8:30

got a quick story. I've got a friend of mine that came. I met a friend of mine years ago. He's still a friend of mine, obviously. And I said, come to Australia. I said, come to Australia, come to Australia. He's never traveled before. This is a true story. He's never traveled before, ever, never. Because unfortunately, I could talk to you, this could be another podcast, is a lot of Greeks actually don't have, can't afford to travel even to Santeria. It's very expensive, but that's another. But he's never traveled. I said, come to Australia. Obviously, in the moment, we had a few drinks together, hugs and kisses. You love it, you love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come play with me. So he comes. Did he bring his donkey? No, this isn't. This is a true story. I can't make this up. So he comes. So back then, we're talking back mid-2000s, I couldn't text him. He come in. I think Nokia just came in with a big brick

SPEAKER_00 9:14

front. Oh, yeah. So

SPEAKER_01 9:16

he doesn't know whether I'm going to show up. That was the beauty of back then. He doesn't know.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

He

SPEAKER_01 9:20

came all the way. So I'm waiting at the airport. The plane was, say, 2 o'clock, came 5 o'clock. I go, where is he? Who do I ask? Who do I ask? I go, I've got to wait a little bit more. Where is he? He comes out. He's ghostly white. I go, what happened? He goes, I'll get held up at customs. I goes, why? I goes, my mother, true story, decided to pack a sandwich. That was like a bus. You get off and you have a break. She packed ham and cheese tomato sandwich rolls in his suitcase without telling him. So when he got accustomed, I go, what's this sandwich here? And the fish said to him, what is this? And he didn't declare it because he didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

That it

SPEAKER_01 10:03

was in

SPEAKER_00 10:05

there. Oh, my God, that is

SPEAKER_01 10:06

hilarious. What did they do to him? Did they find him? No, they actually. Probably felt sorry. Yeah, they did, because obviously it's a true story. I didn't know it was my mother, and I saw it was all wrapped up.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Did you pack your own bag? Yeah, did you pack your own

SPEAKER_01 10:20

bag? Exactly. Is that how you decided on the type of islands that you go to? Yes, I did. I decided I felt was a little bit more convenient as to, like I say, if people are coming for seven days or eight days, try and make it stress-free in regards to the transfers, because it's I've tried a few options. For example, sometimes I went hopping for two days. Two days here, two days there, two days there. And that's great. But if you're doing it peak time, you've got crowds packing onto the port to go to the islands, getting on the same ferry. And so there's a lot of stress involved with that. So which is easiest to navigate? For example, one of the islands I always love to choose is Naxos and Santorini. Why? Between Naxos and Santorini, it's only an hour and a half away. So it doesn't seem so strong for so long in regards in between those particular islands. Mostly I focus on the Cyclades at the moment is because obviously everyone wants to see Santorini and everyone always wants to go to Santorini and that's obviously the most... picturesque for sunsets as well. Yeah. Base it in regards to what's more convenient for the traveler. So I'm always trying to think about what would, if I was traveling, what would I be looking for rather than as a local, what I think works best. There's a little bit, there's a little bit of difference in that. Would you suggest seven days is a good amount? Seven days is a good amount. It depends like what people have in regards to the time off. I suggest seven days and in that probably maybe two islands if you did Athens and then two other islands with that rather than trying to focus on doing Athens and then doing three islands with that because you really, by the time you get off, you're already thinking about I've got to pack my bags and go to the next island. Yeah. If you're doing that in two days, probably you package like we stay on one island for three days and really get to enjoy and just relax and then obviously do another island for two days and obviously if you want to see Athens, You can, you know, Athens, you can, if you just want to do the kind of normal, he say, kind of places, two days as well, Kropoulos and Plaka and things like that. But just really, it depends. Again, we can touch on that as to what the individual is looking for, as to what people look for. But yes, seven days, two islands with Athens. That's what I'd probably recommend or that's what I would recommend. That's what I used to do. Seems to work. And then we changed it to Greek Balance Tools, which is focused on Greek. Balance Tools always incorporates yoga in the morning as well. I used to have people doing yoga in the morning. And then it just changed the platform now to Blue White Dream Tools, which primarily focuses on different type of groups that we offer for the islands as well. Which is very exciting. I'm excited because I'm going on one of them, so yeah. Which one are you going on, Paula? I'm hoping to take a group of women. off later in this year, which we've been discussing. Yeah, fantastic. So is there some spots left on that? There is, yeah. All right. So what's the pace of the tour? Look, look, with these types of tours, you've got different types of people that come along. You can't, you know, a lot of people come for different reasons. So what we offer, for example, if someone wants to just look at the history of There's options into seeing the history of Greece. If someone wants to see architecture, they can see that. If someone just wants to sit and relax by the beach and watch the sunset, sunrise, and have an amazing cocktail and say, wow, where am I? That's off as well. I've had groups. I've had people. When I first started, I had people that came with me. All I had was one guy because he had a high-stress job, and all he thought was, all I need, all I want to do is just sit at the beach, hear the waves, and read a book, which he never done.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Whereas I had another lady that wanted to get up at 7.30 in the morning. I'm up. I'm off. I'm going hiking. She went hiking, came back. All right, what can I do for the day? Seven points. Okay, all right, you can come and see that. All right, I want to tick this off. I want to see this. She had a list before she came as to what to see, what to search. So therefore, what I'm trying to say, it's all up to the individual. We can offer that. So particular islands that we go to, what I suggest is – offers that on that bucket list. Most islands do, but I think I feel like sometimes the island has to be big enough to cater for things like that as well. Some people just want to just go try different eateries. So they go to different eateries. Other people are fussy. If you turn around and say, look, I want to go, we organize that. So anything can be organized. We've got a group. I've got a couple next week or in the month. I want to do a helicopter ride around Santorini. So we've done that. We've organized that as well. What's the perfect size of a group when they go on tour, do you think? About 10. Okay. You could about 10 or 40. But look, again, there's a lot of factors. I've had a group of 20 and seen a group of five. I've had a group of five and they've seen a group of 20. So that's really how the dynamics works together as a group. That's so true. For sure. And what are the hidden gems or off-the-beaten-path islands that your guests absolutely love? Look, that's a tricky one. Everyone asks me, what's a hidden gem? I think what I could probably say, because all the islands that I've been to, I've enjoyed for what I feel. For example, like when I go to pick up, there's a memory with it. I go, wow, that's for me, my hidden little gem. That's for me, my little... Again, I think it goes to individual people. Now for beaches, I could probably say Milos probably offers the best beaches.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

I've been told that.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

But on the flip side of that, but that's how I feel with mixing with the locals, Naxos is for me, is dealing with it. And I've got a lot of stories. So that for me is like my own little hidden gem. The villages in Naxos is another hidden gem that I just love to go. and explore and go, well, this is what experience I've had in Syros is another little hidden gem. Syros for me is another hidden gem that I find that like just exploring the streets in Syros, being lost and getting actually lost. Google's not working. Come on, it's not working. What's happening here? Exploring and then finding that little nook and go, you know what? That's my little hidden gem. Hidden in Athens. My hidden gem, if you really want to know for it, if you take people around Athens is I follow the pensioner I followed the widower to the local tavern

SPEAKER_00 18:49

because

SPEAKER_01 18:49

that's hidden. I actually stalked someone once.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

I think

SPEAKER_01 18:54

I stalked them. I literally did. The black leather jackets. Okay, here we go.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

I

SPEAKER_01 18:59

watched them walk. And I followed them.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

And there was this corner place.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

You wouldn't even know it's there. It's just sitting down. It's getting value for money. And it's all clean. There's no bells and whistles. Have this vision of Paula hiding behind a lamppost. I thought you were going to say get arrested, but follow someone. I can just imagine you going. Yeah, where's she going? Mostly the picture is because we've lost it. And so they need to, they want to eat, don't they? So that's where you find real authentic food. And that's where I always say to people. That's a great tip. That's a cool tip. And another, if you want another hidden gem, if you want, At the port, it's all nice. If you want to go where the locals go, they say go always one street back, two streets back. That's where you see the locals. That's where you see them. In Crete, when I was there, when I spoke to a local, they said, don't come here. You need to go down a couple of streets down there in the alleyway. Always at the back. That's where we eat. Or another one, I think, is where the transfer people go. When I say transfer, the people that do the transfers, the bus drivers. Where do they go and eat? They go where it's affordable and the food's clean and they go to where it's no nonsense. And that's where you go. That's where, I don't know if I've mentioned that to you, I did that in Mykonos once. I had a group and I was going to take them shopping and then

SPEAKER_00 20:24

one of

SPEAKER_01 20:24

them said to me, where are you going? I go, I'm going to eat. And I go, where are you going? Down that way. And I was going to where the transport, the buses and all that, they go and eat. And They decided to come with me and the food was amazing. It wasn't by the Mykonos port. Yeah. You know what I like about that? Most tours you go on, and everyone has to make a living, but most tours will take you to somewhere where they get a commission, so you're going somewhere touristy. So it's nice, actually, a nice breath of fresh

SPEAKER_00 20:52

air that you take them somewhere not most people go.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

That's another thing that's different. We don't work on commission. There's no paybacks. We don't walk in and they all know our name from first-name basis. A lot of places keep changing. Unfortunately, they keep changing. Could be changing the chef. Could be somebody this year could be a good chef. Sometimes the quality food drops, which I've seen. Sometimes they just get too busy in some places. But no, we do not work on commission because it just doesn't work for us. And it's not fair. In the local community, unfortunately, for example, when they say all-inclusive boat tours and you get off the boat, they've got to regulate it. A lot of local taverns miss out or eateries miss out on what they can sell or what they can give to people.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

That's nice to know, isn't it? It's peace of mind, really. And

SPEAKER_01 21:41

also, unfortunately, it's also got to do with social media plays a big influence on that. For example, if you go to Mykonos or somewhere and you've got to influence the hashtags in a certain place, everyone just goes to that. And what about the place that doesn't kind of afford to pay this influencer? Yeah. What about the place that can't afford to use social media as a savvy? What happens to them? Yet they're more authentic. I can get into a lot. If anything, a lot of times we'll be walking down the street and say, oh, this sounds great, or this smells right. All right, who wants to go in there? It's as structured, again, as to how the tool runs, or it's people who are running it. It's not as structured as what a lot of mainstream tools are.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Can I ask you a question? I'm feeling like Mamma Mia throwing plates on the ground. Does that ever happen?

UNKNOWN 22:29

No.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

It doesn't anymore. It

SPEAKER_00 22:30

doesn't. Oh,

SPEAKER_01 22:32

wow. No. Stop that. There's no dancing? There is. They do that. For example, a lot of people do that. There is a place in Naxos that we take a restaurant. They do offer the dancing. They do offer the playstation. But no, they don't do that in essence. Not because of injuries. Yeah, they just don't do that anymore. They offer the dancing, but not the playstation. That's gone. Oh, that's sad. Yeah, yeah. But obviously, like I said, there's a restaurant that we do offer in Naxos that we do take people, and they do the plate smashing still, and they get everybody up to dance, and they teach them how to dance that. Oh. Yeah. I like the sound of this Naxos place, actually. It sounds better than Santorini. I've never been to Santorini, and I can safely say that I'll be happy for the rest of my life not going to Santorini. But I wouldn't be happy if I didn't go to Naxos. Because the way you've explained it, that it's like locals and all that sort of thing. And that's what, that's what floats my boat as well. I want to get like down to the local level and understand how the society functions. You can't do that in a touristy place, but I'm not putting off people. We want to go to Santorini. It looks amazing, but yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's Santorini. Okay. Santorini is the wonder of the world that you do once in your life. But, If you want to know a travel tip, is if you're going to see Santorini, either do it first thing in the morning and just have some time off and really capture it. Why? 7.30, 8 o'clock in the evenings. It's like at Flinders Street Station, which is a railway station. People are everywhere. Busy,

SPEAKER_00 24:13

yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Busy. You are stuck. And if you're okay with that, fine. But it is crowded. Piccadilly Circus. Yeah. And yet on Instagram, people see a photo and there's no one else around. Yeah. They do these photo shoots. During the day when it's super hot and no one's around, when you want to go and see the sunset, especially if you go to here, it is packed. And I say now to your viewers, just be wary of that. It is busy during those times. Just be wary of it. That's it. Don't think they're going to have that isolated. Of course you can if you shut everything else out, but it is very busy.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Or you use Photoshop.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

You

SPEAKER_00 24:50

don't have to go anywhere. Don't even leave your living room.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Okay, so what kind of travellers usually join your tours? Look, it's a... Mixed bag? Mixed bag, really. It's a mixed bag as to what people are looking for. I think a lot of people that come with us. They want to feel safe. That's, I think, paramount, especially with women. They want to feel safe. They want to feel like they're getting, obviously, value for money. I think they come with us just because we're a little bit... Because you're talking to me now. I'm the person that meets you at the airport. Whereas with a lot of, unfortunately, a lot of tours, whoever you talk to, but you don't know who you're going to meet. You could meet Spiro. Yeah, because they're big tour companies. Yeah, you might meet Katarina. You're just not sure. Whereas... Because now, for example, now I'm talking to you, I'm already starting to get a vibe as to what you might be looking for, what you might say, go, all right, you know what, I could work on this. On the way home, on the way back to the hotel, I might drop them off here because that's what they might like. I want to try some local mothers. I want to try a Spanish ricotta because I heard him say that earlier today.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

I heard

SPEAKER_01 26:08

him say that a month ago. You know what I

SPEAKER_00 26:10

mean?

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Yeah. I'm already building data into the conversation. So when you... comes to time for us to say, okay, we'll come with you. I've already got a database as to what you might be looking for. It could be like, for example, now, you know, you're interested in music. I'm already thinking about, you know what, there's a place that I know about. I want to spring in there and tell you music because I've already built the data

SPEAKER_00 26:32

in

SPEAKER_01 26:32

regards to what you're talking to me about. That's why I've got no idea who you are.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

This is where they're going. This is what they're doing. Boom, boom. And they just follow. Yeah. So that's what, obviously, I'd like to think that we

SPEAKER_00 26:46

can. And that's truly curated.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Yeah. More personal. And so that's all. So that's what we feel. Well, obviously, from 20 to 25, you know, they'll want to do the EOS, which is obviously with the bottle. A lot of them are saying, EOS isn't beautiful, but they go, the part, which is obviously, you do the Micromas, you do EOS. So it depends on the demographic, but usually a little bit older, when you, I shouldn't say past all that, you want to do more with the EOS. Take him for what it is that you'll send tickets.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

You want to wake up in the morning

SPEAKER_01 27:17

and see the sunrise. You don't want to be seeing the sunrise after a massive night out. Let's just get that on the table. Or see the sunrise and go, where am I? Yeah. There I am. Where am I? I'm at the beach still. Is there a month or is there a particular time that you think is the best season to travel there? August is heavy. It's crazy. Super hot.

UNKNOWN 27:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

And it's super busy. And again, it's all about the transfers. Getting, for example, from the port of Santorini up to the top. And if you're doing this in August, you've got about 20, 30 buses all lined up to go up this narrow road and just sitting there. That's why we're probably flying there. But then going flying there, it becomes super expensive. So what I'm trying to say to you is probably early on the shoulder seasons, which is probably, I want to say end of May or June. Why? Because everything's fresh, everything's clean, everything's painted. Yeah. Everyone's ready to go. Wow. Here we go. Great season coming along. Oh, yeah. We're up for it. The water could be a little bit cold still because it's just coming off because if you're okay with it. Everyone's all buzzing. And then, obviously, I always say about September coming very properly again is because the weather is getting a little bit, obviously, slows down a little bit. It's right in the high 30s. And people start to relax and go, all right, we've had the craziness of August and even July. Let's just start slowing down there. So September, October or end of May, end of May, early June. Shoulder season. Shoulder season. Why? Because people forget how hot it gets here. Yeah. We've got major issues with a lot of people that just don't come out of their rooms all day because it gets super hot. Oh, we want to go July because we heard it's great. It's busy. That's fine. But if you're at 35 degrees and you're not used to this type of heat, you're not going to walk anywhere. You don't want to walk anywhere. You're only going to be able to get up in the mornings, which a lot of people struggle with. It's 7 in the morning to actually enjoy. It's still been 20, 22 degrees in the heat to enjoy that, whereas during the day, it gets a little bit too hot to actually go sightseeing. You don't really enjoy it as much as a Great Torrent, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

That's good to know because you're right. Most people go around that period of time. And it gets super busy over tourists. It's

SPEAKER_01 29:37

like when you go to Dubai or Abu Dhabi. You know that. You go in August. It's like 50 degrees. You're not going outside. You're staying. And then you're trying to just get from there to the transfer. When do Greeks have their holiday? Is that August? Yes. Like the Italians? Yes. Like the Italians, yeah. Greeks don't go to the islands. Greeks do not travel to the islands. A lot of them go to villages, especially in Athens. A lot of them go away to villages or just try and stay away. We found a lot. Thessaloniki? The little peninsulas off Thessaloniki. I went there once and it was awesome. And it was just a whole lot of Greek people. And it was the best. It was so good. It was good fun. And it was so laid back as well because there was just like nobody there. The Greeks, Greek people were there, but there was just like, it wasn't like hustle and bustle. It was quite nice. Yeah, that's most of the August stuff. It's obviously quite big. I personally love staying in Athens in August because I can drive the car freely. I can park wherever I want. Taking little things like that because I think when we had this conversation last time, navigating, trying to park the car, it's like strategizing for a whole week ago. If we go over there, where am I going to be able to park the car? How am I

SPEAKER_00 30:54

going to park it? Wow. Whereas

SPEAKER_01 30:56

in August, I love being in Athens. Everything's quiet. I love being in August in Athens. But yeah, most people disperse and go to the islands. And that's when it's like Christmas time for most people. In Australia, I grew up, Christmas was that month. Here in Greece, they do that. In August. And you've got plans in Athens too, though, right? As in you've got something on the horizon, am I allowed to say that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The bus tour. I could send you a pic. So what it's called, a theater on the... A friend of mine came up with a concept, and I jumped onto that as well. So it's having theater production on a bus. So usually you get on a bus, wherever you go, and they've got the microphone going. They could have a curator, could have someone speaking, or you could have the headset. And it's usually, unfortunately, everyone's tired of going, here we go. Now we're passing. Or even worse, you've got those headsets in, you've passed the acropolis. Yeah. Yeah. You're talking about food. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

You can't. You're

SPEAKER_01 32:01

pressing the headset. It's not working. So anyway, so how can we make it more exciting? So having a theater on the bus is like playing the ruins, but from a theatrical point of view.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Oh, how cool.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Having an actor on board dressed in. Toga. And also serving some alcohol. Red

SPEAKER_00 32:20

Cena.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

And traditional snacks. And that's called Theatre on the Move. But actually, we just did that. And hopefully, we're doing some practice runs now, and they'll be running shortly. Yeah, so we can come up with that one. It's called Theatre on the Move. Do you have anything to tell anyone or give any recommendations for anyone listening that are thinking of coming on one of your tours? Look, I think it's not really about coming on one of my tours. I think just in general in Greece. Look, like I said, the point is the difference. We don't work on commission, as I told you. We work also on the individual. We don't have it like a set cookie cutter. This is what you're doing, blah, blah, blah. I'm not going to mention the big companies. So everything's more personal. Who you are is who you meet. For example, I'll give you another one is for safety. For example, I had it, which is going to happen again. I had a group. I had 20 women, which I'm taking again next month. I had to individually walk them. back to the room, each one from the bar up and down. I went to 20 times. I'm okay with that. Just a little bit more personal like that, just to make them feel comfortable. Not to say that safety is very, you feel very safe here, but just for their own comfort when we walk back. So that's what we offer, a little bit more personal. Like I said, we build a data just by having conversations. Like I said, we're the person you meet at the airport. We're the person that you meet at the hotel. We're the person that What I offer is always suggest to people, it's not about coming on tours, is to be open-minded when you come. A lot of people, unfortunately, have expectations. Like, for example, if a lot of people, I'm not saying go to Thailand or things like that, they go to a big hotel with a big lift and then they come to Greece and go, wow, the lift is the size of a coffin. Where am I? I can't get into that. I thought you meant like, People would be singing ABBA all the time. Yeah. I don't think I had someone ask me, do you live in those blue domes? We don't live in those blue domes. No. I thought you were going to say, does someone ask you if you use Windex everywhere? No, Jif. Oh, Jif. Windex does work though.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

Yeah, no, it's not Windex. Then I know it's a stadium joke.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

No, it's that big fat Greek wedding. Jif,

SPEAKER_00 34:38

yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Yeah,

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Jif, yeah. Yeah, Vicks cures everything as well. Yeah,

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Vicks cures everything, especially during the winter. So what I was really talking about is just to be more open-minded, not to come with expectations of when they're traveling. To understand that Greece is really, it's a very small place, especially Athens. And the hotels, if you look for grandeur and really big hotels, it's very hard to find because of, it's a small place. And a lot of the businesses, are families still run? Like, for example, if you go to Villa Sulla in Santorini, you'll meet Sulla. That's

SPEAKER_00 35:18

how it is. Yeah, it's because it's small. It's

SPEAKER_01 35:21

small. So just be aware that it's run like as a family store. A lot of it is. Sure, they're getting more, how can I say, more corporate, more, you know, where you get people. Big brands. Big brands and sure. But again, just be open to it that's still run as more or less like a big family. like a family and don't have expectations when you come as to, oh, but I thought I was getting this. Do I really have to walk this far? You have to walk a lot.

SPEAKER_00 35:47

Okay, that's

SPEAKER_01 35:48

good.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

You just

SPEAKER_01 35:49

have to walk.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

Yeah. You have to walk. What did you say? Do you have to walk? You

SPEAKER_01 35:53

have to walk. There's no transport. Especially if you go to San Serenity, there's big steps. Greeks just walk. Yeah. We walk everywhere. We're not going to take the car. It's not like you go into a shopping mall and you wait for 10 minutes driving until someone gets out and you can just walk on it. travel later. People walk. Be ready to walk. Be ready for the heat. Not to have any expectations. I said, oh yeah, but could be in America. Oh yeah, but in Australia. We've got big lifts. Oh yeah, had the concierge come and take my stuff. Sometimes that doesn't work like that. Don't have any expectations. Just be open-minded to what, just take it all in. Just really, for what it is. That's really good advice. And try and build up a memory because this is, life's all about memories, isn't it? So when you go away, he's trying to have a good memory. It's not reality. Sometimes. Sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Yeah, that's great. It's so exciting. I love Greece, so I'm really excited about it. I'm pumped. Yeah. Thank you so much for sharing such a valuable information about Greece. So if it's

SPEAKER_01 36:49

anything, if anything you're trying to portray is the passion of the place. That's the thing that's a backbone about all the minutes right away is really once we lose that passion, then we become more passionate. How can I say it? Just more robotic in the way things are done. So if we can still instill passion and you feel it when you're talking to people as to what you're showing as well, that's, I think, the most important. I think once that's gone, that's when it starts getting a little bit tough.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

Yeah, and you've lost that. You've lost that

SPEAKER_01 37:21

spark. You've lost your culture. You've lost your feel. You've lost your way. Then you become a bit more robotic.

SPEAKER_00 37:25

Yeah. Really appreciate all of the information.

SPEAKER_01 37:29

I'll write a short novel

SPEAKER_00 37:30

about someone traveling to

SPEAKER_01 37:32

Greece.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Oh, sorry. Mary. Oh, there you go. So what's it called?

SPEAKER_01 37:35

Echo from the Street. So I write this during COVID. It's a short novel about a young boy moving to Greece in the 90s. Echo from the Street. So I write that, but I... It's only in novella, but I've written more onto it now. But yeah, so that can give you an example as to transitions from a boy moving from in the 90s, growing up in Australia and then coming to Greece and then taking from what he learned in Australia, try and implement that in Greece and then try to synchronize and make it work best for him. And it's an adventure. So it's called Echo from the Street. I

SPEAKER_00 38:08

love Echo. Have you got a link? We can go to that.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Yeah, I'm not sure. Yeah, it's on Amazon. Okay, perfect. If you can link with us and we'll put it in the show notes. Yeah. So I wrote that a few years ago. It's just only a short number. But I did that. That was another box I wanted to take as well.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

Oh, I love that. Thank you. That's

SPEAKER_01 38:29

been awesome. Yeah. Thanks so much, Petros. Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful knowledge. And I love that you curate each tour to be quite original for the people that come on your tours. So it's really exciting. And so... Thank you again for coming on. I appreciate it. Before I sign off, I'd like to mention that I am taking or hosting a group of women to go on a tour of the Greek islands from the 3rd of the 10th of September with Petros. And if you'd like to come, we are going to Athens, Naxos and Santorini. There is more information on www.trulyexpat.travel.com. Sorry, I don't even know my own address. www. TrulyExpatTravel.com. And if you want to contact me, yeah, just contact me through the website. I'll speak to you then. Thanks. Bye. Take

SPEAKER_00 39:24

care. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 39:25

Bye. Bye. Bye. Join us again next week on Truly Expat Travel Podcast, where we have another exciting destination in a world that's too big to be left unexplored.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Ciao for now.