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Walking holidays in Greece: Exercising mind and body on a Classical Greek Journey

My Classical Greek Journey with an eclectic bunch of hikers was a winner from the start; organised but not regimented, as we found at our first stop - magnificent Delphi.

The views from this sacred site, backed by majestic Mount Parnassus, are superb. No wonder the ancient Greeks thought it the centre of the world. With Apollo as its god and a priestess to interpret his pronouncements, Delphi was top of the oracle league for more than 1,000 years.

Still beautiful: The ruins of the Tholos at the sacred Greek city of Delphi

We marvelled at the view and the atmosphere and age of the place, and then our party split up. The more energetic carried on up to the city's stadium while others went in search of the museum, the temple of Diana, the Tholos, the Castalian spring - into which the ever-impulsive Lord Byron is said to have leapt - or the coffee shop with the view. The day was ours as long as we were back for dinner. Perfect.

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Walks, beach stops for a swim and evening meals were group activities. However, once at a site or museum we went our own way. There were no organised, quick-talking guides for us - we'd done our homework and brought our guide books.

In Athens, too, the choice was ours: museums, ancient sites, art galleries, markets, sightseeing or shopping. All of us, though, went to the Parthenon and the magnificent new Acropolis museum, surely now among the world's top ten, taking in the fish market en route. Here, vast men in big yellow boots declared the quality of their catch in deep, booming voices. It was magnificently operatic.

Heavenly: A statue of the Greek god Apollo

Young lads nipped around adding more ice to the brimming boxes - white fish, brown fish, shell fish, octopus; fish from all over the world with, unaccountably, a large display of pigs' trotters in the midst of all.

At Olympia, a large, pleasant green site with far more than the famous stadium, the enthusiasts among us delightedly inspected the ruins that include temples, baths, workshops, houses, gymnasium and more.

Others saw as much as they wished to, then made for the gardens or the cafes and shops of this agreeable small town.

We were a group of 20, most aged between 50 and 70 - Baby Boomers Plus. It was a good mix of married couples, friends and, unusually, four men among the eight singles. We had all done independent travelling, tough endurance treks, family holidays, climbing and sailing.

It was time for a change, and this part-active part-relaxed holiday fitted the bill perfectly.

As a single 'BBP', I've taken a number of group holidays; walking through the vineyards and verdant countryside of Tuscany with enough time to enjoy captivating hill towns and the glories of Florence; picnicking in style in the green hills of Kyrenia in Northern Cyprus; and watching birds coming home at sunset to roost in the isolated classical temples of Selinunte in Sicily.

This break celebrating ancient Greece exercised mind and body and had a balance of culture and leisure time, pleasant hotels, agreeable companions and cloudless Greek blue skies every day.

Who could ask for more?

Getting there

Ramblers Worldwide Holidays (01707 331133, ramblersholidays.co.uk) offers a 12-day Classical Greek Journey with flights and half board from £1,225. Other tour operators offering group trips include HF Holidays (0845 470 7558, hfholidays.co.uk), Voyages Jules Verne (0845 166 7008, vjv.com) and Explore (0844 875 1892, explore.co.uk).


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