After two days exploring deep in the valleys of Naxos, where iridescent dragonflies rest by streams and pools, you take a local ferry to the ‘Erimonisia’ – the deserted islands.
The Minor Cyclades are like a child’s drawing of treasure islands, with improbable bites of bays scooped from every available bit of coastline. Today, some have small permanent populations, while others are uninhabited; 5,000 years ago, they were a living, vital part of the Cycladic Civilization, where some of the most important and finely crafted marble figures of that period have been found.

First stop is Ano Koufonissia (permanent population 350), where you are booked into a taverna with nothing between it and a sandy beach, and a view over the turquoise water to mountainous, uninhabited Keros. A coastal walk leads alongside a string of crystal coves cut from wind- and water-sculpted, golden cliffettes to an almost completely circular bay. You take a local fishing caique to the neighbouring and deserted island of Kato Koufonissia, which you explore from end to end. Swim from the empty beaches, investigating fantastically eroded cliff formations and headlands with dreamy views of island and sea… usually with the entire island to yourself.

The ferry to the next island, Iraklia takes less than an hour, leaving the day free to follow the pilgrim’s trail across the island’s high land, looking down over a Cycladic seascape. Your destination is St John’s Cave, its tiny entrance at the foot of a rugged limestone cliff leading to a vast interior like a fairyland castle, with tiered towers, pinnacles and columns of stalactites and stalagmites.

You take the ferry back to Naxos the next day, passing among the floating islands and the long lumpy outline of Naxos, on the lookout for passing dolphins and loggerhead turtles.