Athens doesn't live in the past. Glamorous and forward-looking, it blends galleries, gelaterias, bijoux boutiques, and museums with the wonders of the Acropolis and Parthenon. Wander lively streets and markets, dance at bouzoukia, sing in tavernas, then head to the harbour for dimly lit bars and cold beer. With salty air and fishing boats setting out at dawn, Athens feels both ancient and progressive.

Discover picturesque Paros: ancient ruins, traditional tavernas, sweet villages, blue-domed churches, and blonde-sand beaches. Visit Parikia's AD326 Byzantine monastery, explore Antiparos's caves, browse the tiny archaeological museum, and wander the lanes of Náoussa's old Venetian port. Relax on sunloungers, feast on home-cooked mezze, or windsurf, kitesurf, dive, swim, and hike. Paros keeps the soft spirit of the Cyclades.

Rhodes rises from the sea like a jewel, a gift from Zeus to Helios. Sun-kissed and steeped in history, it echoes with Cicero and Caesar in the UNESCO-listed Old Town and stone lanes. Follow the Knights of St. John and Turkish conquerors past monuments, fountains, and squares. Visit Suleiman Mosque, Byzantine churches, hilltop white houses, and Mandraki Harbour, where bronze deer stand in place of the legendary Colossus.

Syros lies just across from Mykonos, but feels a world away from its hedonism. Far from sleepy, its capital Ermoupoli-once the Aegean's mercantile heart-is an elegant neo-classical city buzzing with Greek life. Explore marble boulevards to Vaporia, with preserved merchant palaces, waterfront cafes, and the Apollo Theatre. Also visit Ano Syros, a Venetian hilltop village crowned by San Giorgio, plus fishing villages, sandy shores, and quiet coves.

Welcome to carefree Hvar: a historic island of Venetian stone houses and monuments above a palm- and superyacht-lined harbour. Visit the Grand Piazza with its baroque cathedral and Venetian castle, plus the oceanback monastery and its legendary 'Last Supper' painting. Head to the pine-covered Pakleni islets for seclusion, enjoy Carpe Diem by the sea, and explore lavender-scented Humac and Stari Grad.

Sheltered by pine-covered hills, Split is a spellbinding Adriatic city of terracotta roofs and sea views. Explore Diocletian's seafront palace: its colonnaded courtyard, cathedral, busy streets, cafés, shops, and lived-in alleyways. Then linger over coffee on the Riva promenade, climb to the hilltop park past small churches for sunset, or head to sandy Bacvice beach to swim, watch picigin, and practice fjaka, the Dalmatian art of doing nothing.

Explore Venice's ancient palaces, galleries, and modern exhibits; walk among masterpieces, catch an opera, admire medieval buildings, and blow Murano glass. Drift the Grand Canal by gondola past churches, convents, and campi, cross hump-backed bridges, and reach Piazza San Marco, the Basilica, and the Doge's Palace. From palazzos to perfumeries and the Bridge of Sighs, beauty is always moments away in this liquid-gold city.