You can hike one of the longest gorges in Europe, walking in the footsteps of Minoans.

For more on Julia Bradbury’s walking wonders,

“The Greek Islands’ beauty is completely surprising”

How did series come about?

It came about with me sitting at my kitchen counter thinking about my Greek roots and the more than 40,000 words in the English language whose etymology is Greek. I wanted to do a series that explored it a bit, and I thought it was time that my mum had a bit of the action on TV because my Dad’s got all the glory for the walks.

The Greek Islands

What was it like returning to your Greek roots?

Me and my mum end up on the isle of Chios, which is where my grandparents are from originally, although they emigrated to Wales. Chios is the world’s exporter of Mastiha, which derives from the mastic tree. The people of Chios harvest the resin and they turn it into just about everything... coffee, biscuits or you can just lick it from a spoon. Everyone is somehow involved in the trade, even the old yayas (grandmothers) who sit around these little wooden tables, sifting through the first harvest, talking and singing. It was a really magical experience.

Did anything surprise you? Well, first of all, the contrast of all the different islands. Corfu has been invaded many times over the years, by the Italians and the Turkish. I was surprised by the impact of the Italians because it was like being in Venice. The beaches of Crete are beautiful and the interior has these enormous valleys where they grow everything.

And then you go somewhere like Santorini where, in the late 1960s, there was no electricity, and it has now become this luxury destination. We don’t want anywhere to suffer from overtourism and a lot of the Greek islands are looking towards Santorini and thinking, “We don’t want that. How can we make this more sustainable?”

Is sustainability important? Yes. I plant trees for carbon offsetting. I also try in all of my stories to cover green issues and raise awareness like I did in Santorini, where tourism has a knock-on effect on plastic pollution. I met this man who runs this charity called Enaleia. The fishing industry in Greece has been decimated by overfishing and a lot of the fisherman aren’t aware of the plastic problem so they’re picking up the plastic in their nets and then just chucking it back overboard. His charity pays them to fish out plastic debris, which then then gets [upcycled].

I’m also trying to promote advancement in the aviation industry, which now accounts for 2% of carbon emissions. It’s about putting pressure on the airlines to reduce their singleuse plastic, to use a different fuel – there’s a new fuel which reduces carbon emissions by 60% – and I think people would be happy to factor that in if they knew the good it was doing.

What were the highlights of the Greek islands?

The beauty of it is completely surprising. I focused on trees, especially the olive grove, with these two amazing boys who had taken over their family business and turned it from being a mass producer of olive oil to a bespoke specialist producer of this wonderful olive oil that you drink – rather than drizzle on your tomatoes. I interviewed them up a 1,500-year-old olive tree.

What was the walking like? Crete is amazing for walking. They have a hike through one of the longest gorges in Europe, where you’re walking in the footsteps of the Minoans. And I did some walking in Corfu in a little village called Old Perithia. If anyone wants to do hiking in Santorini, there’s a guide on the island called Niko who’s incredible, and there are amazing trails with fig and fennel trees.

If you had to choose one place to go back to which would it be?

There are over 6,000 Greek islands and I want to go and explore some of the little unspoilt ones, but if I had to pick one, it would be back up the tree with my olive oil boys. The Greek Islands with Julia Bradbury is available on ITV Player now.

Read the full interview online

Go to www.wanderlust.co.uk/204

Not Venice Julia was surprised by Corfu