The Aegean is blue on blue — water the colour of cobalt ink, hills the colour of dust. You leave Alimos in the morning, clear the Saronic by lunch, and by the second day you're tying stern-to in a fishing harbour where the only other boat is a caïque painted three different blues.

The meltemi shapes everything here. It blows hard from the north most afternoons in high summer, which makes for fast downwind days and occasionally pinned-down evenings. Right for crews who want real sailing and don't mind reefing early. Less right if you're after flat-water lounging — try the Ionian for that.