An alternative to flotillas for the more tentative sailor are club-based holidays where a variety of water sports and craft can be tried out on a daily basis. Courses include creative writing, sailing, singing, dance, reiki, massage and yoga. Further south, in Crete, you can take a holistic holiday at a renovated 17th-century olive mill. Based in the bay of Kissamos, the West Crete Holidays centre is run by an English couple who offer courses in everything from yoga and belly dancing, to bird watching and the Alexander technique. Her one- week cookery course in Santorini aims to teach guests about the wine, history and food lore of Greece, and to conjure up dishes from such seductive ingredients as the miniature tomatoes that take their concentrated flavour from Santorini's volcanic soil.
Classes generally take place in the morning with sightseeing excursions in the afternoon.
Further east on the quiet Dodecanese island of Symi, you can learn to make Greek treats with local chef Stavros Gogios. For one week this spring, Stavros will be turning his attentions to teaching British travellers, rather than serving them, with a new Greek cookery course. Long lunches at Stavros's Mythos restaurant, located on Symi's steep harbour, follow morning classes, which leaves the afternoons free for walking off the excess, climbing the island's endless, steep stone steps.