Greece Honeymoon

The most replicated travel image in the world — blue-domed churches and whitewashed houses perched on the edge of a submerged volcanic caldera. The sunset from Oia draws crowds; the real magic is staying in a caldera-view cave hotel and watching the light change from your terrace alone.

The Parthenon has stood for 2,500 years and still stops you cold — white marble glowing in the Mediterranean sun, the city of Athens spread below it, and a sense of civilisational weight that no photograph conveys. Go at 8am when it opens; the light is perfect and the crowds haven't arrived.

The queen of the Cyclades — a maze of whitewashed lanes, windmills on a promontory, and beach clubs on Paradise and Super Paradise that go until dawn. Little Venice's waterfront bars get hit by Aegean waves at sunset while you sit drinking cocktails. Pure theatre.

Greece's largest island is almost a country of its own — the Palace of Knossos, Europe's oldest civilisation; the White Mountains; Elafonisi's pink-sand beach; and the 16km Samaria Gorge hike through a national park to the Libyan Sea. Cretan food and wine are among Europe's most underrated.

Delphi was the centre of the ancient world — the oracle of Apollo sat here, and kings came from across the Mediterranean to seek her counsel. The ruins cascade down Mount Parnassus above a valley of olive trees. Ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Games, is equally powerful.

Six Byzantine monasteries perched atop 60-million-year-old rock pillars in Thessaly — built in the 14th century when monks hauled themselves up by rope. The sunrise view with the mist filling the valleys below and the monasteries floating above it is among the most otherworldly landscapes in Europe.