As if Greece couldn’t get any better, last year's debut of the One&Only brand has given us Philhellenes even more to (in my case literally) write home about. They went all in on Greece, launching two properties in quick succession, firstly One&Only Aesthesis, reviving a beloved property on the Athenian Riviera, followed by One&Only Kéa Island, marking the group’s entrance into the Cyclades.
Our first stop is Aesthesis, which, handily for incoming island-hoppers like us, is conveniently close to Piraeus port. We were arriving from Paros and soon settled into the One&Only transfer experience: ‘They are the best snack providers ever!’ exclaimed my companion, who was suddenly misty-eyed at the memory of our ride from Puerto Vallarta airport to One&Only Mandarina in Mexico the previous year, while I was already raiding the drinks selection and drawer of snacks.
Athens is a sprawling city with several coastal suburbs, one of the most glamorous of which was always Glyfada. In the Fifties and Sixties, the Asteria Hotel was popular with the usual jet-set suspects, who were also busy putting Mykonos on the map: Maria Callas, Aristotle Onassis, Jackie Kennedy. Now it has been lovingly restored to its former glory, with high-spec hideaways strung along the shoreline, a super Guerlain spa dispensing bespoke treatments and restaurants that import an urban vibe to the seaside. This revival of the Athenian Riviera has been masterfully done by One&Only, with classical Greek details incorporated into the hyper-glamorous design, from the geometric-patterned mosaic pool and parasols to the column-like stools and abundance of olive trees.
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On our first night, we had sundowners on the beach before dinner at the Peruvian fusion restaurant Manko, also on the shore. We ate perfectly spiced anticuchos skewers, ceviche and bao buns. The hotel is also home to Ora, a Mediterranean restaurant serving beef carpaccio and burrata, pizza and pasta.
One afternoon, I was driven into town to meet my guide for a sunset tour of the Acropolis and its neighbouring quarter Plaka. Starting the antiquity theme early, the Temple of Zeus is soon visible at the end of the freeway on the way in from Glyfada. When we arrive, my guide presents a drawing of the Olympians and I soon prove myself a star pupil as I geekily rush to identify them all (I sensed, in the company of an Oxford PhD, that it was a safe space). The site is busy, though my guide insists that this is quiet. We all keep flocking – the Acropolis receives a staggering three million or so visitors a year.
The next day, Kéa was on the horizon. As the great Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis once wrote (in his masterful novel Zorba the Greek), ‘Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean Sea.’ I think of this phrase every time I’m sailing the Aegean, regardless of my mode of transport – yes, even if I’m on board a mass-transit Blue Star ferry. This is, I’m sure, one of the most beautiful landscapes on the planet: the sun, the ripples of the waves, the boats bobbing in the distance, the neighbouring islands sleeping in the haze… Of course, it peaks around sunset, when the sky starts to turn absurd shades of pastel pink, purple and peach.
Naturally, the One&Only vessel is a whole lot slicker, a shiny black speedboat fit for a Bond villain, complete with a subwoofer that our skipper insists we connect to for the swift ride across to Kéa (it’s less than half an hour away from the port at Lavrio). The cove the hotel has been built on is perfection – so much so that I inwardly wonder if they searched all of Greece, and its many hundreds of islands, to find it. It’s an architectural feat with villas and pools stacked up and down the edge of a cliff, a spa so immaculate that looks like a supersize architect’s model and a beach at the bottom with a jetty for more disembarking Bond villains.
The island is rugged and undeveloped, with bumpy, winding tracks and lone houses in the middle of nowhere, miles of hiking trails and beaches that are only accessible by boat. Up until now, Kéa (or Tzia as it’s also known) has been off the main Cycladic track of Santorini, Mykonos and Paros, a secret spot for Athenians in the know who sail or helicopter in for the weekend. Before Airbnb, there was barely a hotel here.
The hotel’s terrace has a ridiculous vantage point for sunset over the Aegean – this is a Greek island after all. After our sundowners, we descend to the Atria restaurant, where we eat taverna favourites: a sharing bowl of Greek salad, lamb kofte and spanakopita in gyoza form, followed by a simple steak and chips.
The next morning, though I’d have quite happily idled the time away in our vast, high-ceilinged villa and private pool with a view, I was up and out bright and early for a hardcore hike to the ruins of Karthea, one of the four city-states of Kéa in antiquity. Five hours later, I almost fall into the spa for a much-needed massage by Australian brand Subtle Energies. The languor continues at the Bond Beach Club, where, toes in the sand, my friend and I feast on Japanese-inspired dishes, such as tuna tataki, popcorn shrimp and Wagyu skewers.
That evening, we headed into Ioulida, one of the two main towns on the island, for a sundown stroll, popping in to Alekos Fassianos’ studio and home – the artist, known as the Picasso of Greece, was responsible for Kéa gaining the moniker ‘Little Paris’ for being a refuge for artists in the 20th century. After breakfast the following day, it feels like a form of torture to leave the island (albeit in our trusty super-glam speedboat) for an EasyJet flight to London.
It would be nice if Helios didn’t forget to pull his chariot over the UK just once in a while between autumn and spring. But in reality, it can be a long old slog, leaving me dreaming of the Greek sun often. Luckily, the new season is almost upon us.
BOOK A STAY AT ONE&ONLY AESTHESIS
BOOK A STAY AT ONE&ONLY KÉA ISLAND
Caroline Lewis has been a travel journalist for more than a decade, reviewing luxury hotels and covering destinations all over the world, but with a soft spot for Greek islands and absolutely anywhere in Italy.
Among her most memorable trips are a month spent subsisting almost solely on guacamole in Mexico, sleeping in a room made of ice in Swedish Lapland and a rather lengthy but thankfully bear-free drive across America's wild west.
She was previously deputy chief sub-editor on the print team at Harper’s Bazaar and is a long-time contributor and editor at Mr & Mrs Smith. She writes about travel for Hearst Digital titles such as Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Red, Esquire and more. She read English and Philosophy at Durham, before doing a master's degree in magazine journalism in her hometown of Bournemouth.
When she's not testing out the buzziest new hotels, she's at home in London, probably baking.
