How do you choose a favourite from a host of beautiful summer holiday memories, created over the course of over 9 years?
I suppose condensing is the name of the game, but how do you bottle up and concentrate millions of happy moments and fragments made of evenings spent with friends chattering away; splashing in the sea way past sunset; tens of cones of delicious ice-cream and too much tiropita, the delicious yet so fattening Greek cheese pie ?
For Alex, who is originally from Greece and who suffers from severe SAD (seasonal affective disorder) during the winter months, a perfect holiday will always mean loads and loads of sunshine, getting tanned and looking like a berry by September. His ideal habitat would have two common elements, the blue sky and the even bluer sea.
Paradise in hubby’s eyes. Ithaka island, summer 2015.
Holidays are, for him, designated to recharging batteries, enjoying loads of yummy, fresh food and catching up with friends and relatives we hadn’t seen for a whole year.
Emma is her father’s daughter and LOVES the sun and the water so our summer holiday accommodation needs to be close to the sea, with safe, shallow and clean beaches and plenty of activities for little ones. Oh, and I almost forgot, essential detail, it MUST have a traditional Greek bakery close by, as this girl can eat her weight in filo pastry pies during the summer. She is not indifferent to the spinach and feta cheese variations but her absolute favourite is the sweet custard one, locally called bougatsa :-).
Enjoying some bougatsa, what else :-)? Halkidiki, July 2013.
And how about this mummy, what does she like about a summer holiday?
Ideally, I would love to be able to chill in the shade and read for the whole of the summer but this hasn’t been possible with a small child around in the past 6 years.
Our first baby free getaway. I am sure Alex had other plans for it, but I was quite content with a book, for the whole of those three days, haha! Zante, summer 2010.
I also love to discover new places and stay in lovely hotels and hubby has treated us to some amazing weekend stays over the years.
I love routine and well-planned in advance holidays but Alex has a wicked sense of adventure, which led last year to an impromptu Ramadan visit to Istanbul, which we all enjoyed tremendously:
My beautiful, multicultural girl. Istanbul, July 2015.
We are a unique mix of personalities, dreams and aspirations but we have in common one essential thing: our love for each other and the desire to spend all the wonderful moments we are given on this earth together.
A blurry one of the two of us. Halkidiki, 2011.
We plan many more holidays together, having fun and discovering new places and I do hope that one of them will be in Cyprus. We had talked about it many times, since it is only a short flight away from Thessaloniki, where we are usually based during the summer, but we never got the opportunity to go and explore that part of the world.
This is my entry to James Villas photography competition to win a week of holidays in one of their luxurious accommodation there. If we win, we will get a chance to enjoy an amazing holiday that ticks all the boxes for the three of us, with plenty of beautiful beaches, a pool to chill by and plenty of fresh bougatsa from the village’s bakery :-)!
Wish us luck!
Mama's Haven 
Fingers crossed!
Lovely photos. Cyprus is a beautiful place to visit, fingers crossed you are chosen xxx
All the very best of luck Oana, I loved reading this post and your love for each other and sunny place really shines through. Mich x
fingers crossed! great entry! we also haven’t been away properly since our honeymoon!
Fingers crossed! Cyprus is a beautiful place to go, it’s on my to visit list too! x
good luck with the competition. some lovely pictures!
Great post and a massive good luck with the competition! x
These pictures are stunning! Greece is my dream destination for the beautiful blue sea. My husband is from South America and he also struggles with winters in the UK. Good luck with the competition x
What blue skies and seas! I hope you do well and get the chance to travel some more this year.
Good luck, sounds like you’ve had some amazing holidays already and I hope you continue to have more too
I would love to visit Cyprus, my dad emigrated there for a while but never got to go and visit
Cyprus is wonderful place and there is so many lovely beaches but lots of cultural places to visit too.
Good luck with the competition – I love reading your travel posts x x
Good luck – such a lovely post and photos. Kaz x
Ooh the beautiful blue skies love itv
Beautiful photos. Good luck with the competition. Fingers crossed xx
Lovely photos, all the best for the competition Hun x
Good luck with your entry! What great memories.
Good luck – I like the sound of Cyprus too,