TRAVEL
Don’t be distracted by ‘medsplaining ’ from people who visit the same places each year. From the Orange Blossom Coast in Spain to Alonnisos in Greece, try something new, says Chris Leadbeater
If you think there’s nothing more to explore along the Meditterranean coast line, we prove you wrong with these hidden gems.
‘Now hang on just a moment there. I think we need to take a minute to think about this. What you fail to appreciate is that the Mediterranean is a very large sea. There’s about 970,000 square miles of it, all told. There are 21 different countries either on the edge of it, or in it. It has sustained a huge range of civilisations over the course of the centuries. So, inevitably, it’s a brilliant place for a holiday. What did you say your job was again? International professor of Mediterranean studies? Okey-dokey. Well in my experience...” All right – that’s quite enough of the man-splaining/Medsplaining pun. You get the idea.
In all seriousness, though, Europe’s greatest body of water – the quasi-ocean which both separates it from and connects it to Asia and Africa – is a brilliant place for a holiday. We all know this. But then, we don’t necessarily see the full picture, with many of us returning to the same familiar spots year after year. Yet for every busy Costa there is a less-appreciated segment of the Spanish coast. For every overtouristed AmalÀ, there is a quieter Calabria for every much-visited Mykonos, a calmer .arpathos. For every Áy-and-Áop break, there are more intriguing ways to explore in Turkey or Cyprus.
Inside, we examine these delightful alternatives – the Mediterranean beyond the tried and trampled, if you will. Of course, the key word is going to need a little Med-splaining of its own. For the purposes of simplicity, here, “Mediterranean” covers all the various sea-within-a-sea fragments of the wider whole - the Aegean and the Ionian, the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic. And for even further simplicity in these complicated times, we’ve focused on the European pieces of the Mediterranean jigsaw. So if you are dreaming of a holiday on one of its shimmering shores - either later in 2021, or in a calmer post-Covid summer - and you want a good retort to the next person that tries to Med-splain at you, these 20 options should provide plenty of ammunition beyond the obvious.