GREEK ISLANDS – STAR FLYER SAILING THE CYCLADES





WORDS © MARION FRIEDEL



»But I have seen/pointing her shapely shadows from the dawn/an image tumbled on a rose-swept bay/a drowsy ship of some yet older day.« So wrote the poet James Elroy Flecker in his Mediterranean elegy, The Old Ships. Sailing under splendid canvas, in the wake of the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, the Crusaders and the Venetians, is the best way to experience the mythology of the Aegean, the cradle of western civilisation, or the Balearic Islands, or the coasts of the Tyrrhenian Sea. This dream comes true on the Mediterranean cruises of the Star Clipper’s windjammer fleet. Gnarled olive-trees overhang weather-worn tombs and ruins that bear witness to wars and campaigns of conquest. The lure of the azure-blue sea gives way to fascinating views of the land, revealing the romantic enchantment of old churches and fortifications.