Days spent on the beach at Martinakiya provided a cavalcade of entertainment. In the early light, the local old folk appeared for their constitutional swim.

As the morning wore on, the oldies strolled on the sand, paddled or bobbed about in the water, behatted and chatting to each other. Then families with kids started to arrive and set up picnics. In the afternoon, young women with babies came and sat under the trees, and in the late afternoon teenage boys and girls gathered, increasingly noisily, showing off, splashing about in the water and playing the fool.

By the evening, all would be quiet again, with a few stragglers of all ages sitting quietly beneath the trees and the slowly cooling sun. We let the whole procession pass us by - and the day seemed to have gone in an instant.

While Merihas is the sort of place where you can buy a terracotta frog with a disturbingly large penis, a few miles inland, the chora of Kythnos is so beautiful that you couldn't make it up: a cool poem of whitewashed alleys punctuated by brilliant bouganvillea. It is also a place of pricily stylish boutiques, trendy bars and seductive restaurants - a confection that's difficult to resist

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These lesser known, less visited islands of the Cyclades such as Kimolos and Kythnos are as unspoilt as you're going to get in Greece (short of visiting uninhabited islands that are home only to rocks and temporarily visiting goats put out to graze).

The fact that they are too small for airports only adds to their appeal, and the inevitable journey to them by ferry only enhances their delights.

NEED TO KNOW

Staying there:

Doctor's Windmill, Kimolos - from 75 euros per room per night (including breakfast)

Villa Elena, Kythnos - from 70 euros per night per apartment

Eating out:

Kimolos - Tou Samplou, Plateia Karmou (0287 051666) - from about 10 euros pp

Kythnos - Ostria, Merihas (22810 32263) - from about 10 euros pp

For ferry information and booking: Ventouris Lines, www.ventourissealines.gr - ferry prices and times usually announced late spring.

If you're staying overnight before getting a ferry to the islands, stay at the Dream Hotel, Piraeus - rates from 65 euros per night (including breakfast)

For walks on Kimolos and Kythnos and other Cycladic islands, visit www.cycladen.be

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