Author Victoria Hislop on buying a holiday home in Greece | Home

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Victoria Hislop

The novelist Victoria Hislop bought a home in Greece after years of lacklustre holiday rentalsALEXANDROS KAKOLYRIS

During 30 years of holidaying in Greece, I have stayed in more rented villas and apartments than I care to remember. Pre-internet, all you had to go on was a photo the size of a postage stamp, usually of the view from the villa rather than the villa itself. Inside was fairly uniform: a badly equipped kitchenette, a bathroom (requiring you to stand in the shower in order to close the door) and wooden-framed beds with hard mattresses. My favourite ever place had a pool shaped like Crete. It was impossible to swim either lengths or widths.

The compensation for the failings of a Greek property always lay outside the confines of the villa: the charm of local tavernas, the beaches and the culture. The…

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