Children in Greece

Greece with children works better than you would expect of a country whose chief treasures are ruins and wine. The secret is that almost everything for children here is real rather than theme-park. Mythology turns stones into stories: Athens has a quest on the trail of the Minotaur, where the city is seen by solving tasks, and the child drags the parents from point to point rather than the other way round.

The second support is animals and farms. Feeding goats and donkeys, watching cheese being made — on Crete that is an ordinary farm day, not a performance. The turtles off Zakynthos children remember for years: alive, wild, the size of a table top. The third support is water: beaches with a gentle entry, day cruises where swimming is half the programme, and the cave of Zeus on Crete, where by myth the chief god was born — more interesting to children than many a museum.

Practical notes. Age thresholds vary: horses and quads take children from a certain age, boats almost from birth, but the life jacket is compulsory. A pushchair in the old towns is a torment of stairs and cobbles — a carrier is easier. Museums are free for children up to a certain age. In summer everything for children is set for the morning, since the midday sun is harder on the small than on the grown.