Afternoon all. You may have already read on the blog that I had a recent holiday in Porto Heli, Greece with my food and lifestyle photographer friend Jemma Watts.

One added bonus of being on holiday with a photographer of course is that we are guaranteed great photos! So I thought I would share a few with you today as Porto Heli is not somewhere I had really heard of before, so great to see new places.

This is the villa which was just above the town of Porto Heli with fabulous views and a gorgeous pool – you would be quite happy there not moving very far at all, believe me!

One of the days that we did move, we popped into the town to visit the local market. They had an amazing array of local produce – fruit and veg, honey and of course lots of fish.

Island of Hydra

We took a short boat ride to the beautiful island of Hydra – and had an amazing day. It was so pretty and idyllic – as if it were straight out of a film!

As the island is so full of steep hills and windy streets they use donkeys instead of cars to transport stuff around. I know the donkeys must be used to this, but me being an animal lover got a little upset when I saw them lugging stuff around in the boiling heat!

We had lunch with Jemma’s father and local artist Pauline Keaney (middle in below pic). Pauline is English but moved to Hydra to paint about 17 years ago and never left!

This is the restaurant we were at for lunch – what a view! Great food and wine too!

Jemma enjoying her wine!

Me enjoying my wine!

There were yachts coming in and out of the island all day…

After lunch we went for a dip in the sea – it was so lovely after sitting in the sun all afternoon! There are not really any beaches in Hydra, but lots of areas of rock that have been flattened out so you can sit and sunbathe and jump into the sea.

We found a spot on the rocks and ordered ourselves a frozen strawberry daiquiri! Just what you need whilst sunbathing next to the sea!

A few daiquiris later and we even got to see the start of the sunset – so pretty!

After all of that relaxation we had a serious trek up the steep streets to Pauline’s place before attending a gallery exhibition with her. It was so hot and so steep, I just wanted to join the cats!

Also, we had no idea where we were going which made things a little more difficult! We had a map drawn on a paper table mat, which I am unsuccessfully trying to read below!

We eventually found our way up there and the climb was definitely worth it! The house was beautiful and overlooked the whole of Hydra – you would have to be so fit to live up there! Again, the cat has the right idea!

Corinth Canal

On the way back to Athens airport we drove over this Corinth Canal. It was dug out of the rocks to sea level in the 1800′s to create a pass through, to save ships going all the way around. This photo does not do the depth justice – it was so deep and very scary to walk over – with a fairly old and small bridge!

What do you think – somewhere you would fancy going, or have you already been? I would definitely recommend it and I especially loved the island of Hydra.

Have a fabulous Friday and I shall be back soon xx

All images via Jemma Watts Photography.