Your say ‘We love Spain, but learn from Greece’

Which of these Mediterranean favourites gets your vote for a holiday? Clearly, there is lots to be said on the subject… Tell us why you love Portugal – and can’t wait to go back – for the chance to win an overnight stay worth £250 with England’s Coast

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

The valley of Nemea, voices on the wind. Golden-eyed warriors sleep quiet in their graves as the grass grows long. Their lions wait patiently by the open gates, guarding the emptied treasury.

History never left this place. A millennium after Mycenae slipped into its slotted-stone sleep, Epidaurus took the stage. The amphitheatre thrums even yet with echoing drama; masked actors gesticulate, shadowed by overhanging pines. Romans succeeded Greeks, succeeded by Turks succeeded by Greeks. History turns like a wheel. The germlines of our civilisation weave like the grass around the ruins; old before our people made cups of clay. We love Spain of course, but we learn from Greece.

Liz Kolbeck, Manchester KEEP IT SIMPLE

Spain or Greece? I have fond memories of both. The energetic flamenco display (accompanied by a large vermouth) that we watched in awe, then flamenco’d our way home through quiet streets, laughing. The fun fair on the hill at Tibidabo, reached by a steep tram ride.

But Greece wins for simplicity. The creamy tzatziki, crusty bread and cold ginger beer in Corfu town; the blackclad Greek lady who gifted my toddler a freshly laid egg; negotiating narrow roads, flanked by olive groves, in our tiny hire car – and confronting a bus. The fireflies lighting our way home in the evening, being followed by a goat, and battling whining mosquitos all night. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat!

Ann Walker, Hants STANDING THE TEST OF TIME

During the past year, I have often closed my eyes and imagined I am sitting on the headland approach to Cala d’Or Marina, Mallorca. We found Parque Mar Apartments in the 1980s with our young family and it suited us during their teenage years. Time passed, the children left home and we holidayed elsewhere.

Thirty years on, while in Mallorca, we called in to see if the complex had stood the test of time. The gardens were beautiful, the amenities inviting. There and then, we booked the next year’s holiday for ourselves and our extended family.

All age groups loved it, so we returned every year until 2020 when Covid struck. When you are told “Never go back”, ignore it. Luckily we did.

Glynis Currie, Hants

bright side: Greece is loved for its picture-postcard villages, simple food and warm welcome