'The Greek islands are held with great affection
'in the hearts of us Brits.
'Every year, three million of us head there for our holidays.
'And it's easy to see why.'
This is Greece. And look at that.
'I have a strong affinity with the islands. My mum is Greek.
'Although she despairs that I still can't speak the lingo.
SPEAKS GREEK
CORRECTS HER
I'm proud of my Greek heritage, my Greekness.
Look at my nose.
'But I've only holidayed here.
'And I've never really explored beyond the tourist trail...'
Here we go.
'..Until now.
'I'm going to see the hidden side.'
Wow. It's so beautiful.
Hello, everybody!
Look at it. It's so lush.
'From the historical and rugged terrain of Crete...'
Oh! I think I've pulled!
'..To the glamour of a sunset in Santorini.'
Isn't it gorgeous? Thank you. Oh, look!
'But I'll also be taking in the lesser-known islands.
'From the architectural splendour of Symi,
'to the natural wonder of Skopelos...'
Oh! It makes me proud to be just that little bit Greek.
'..Before ending my journey on the island
'where my family story first began.'
This is a voyage of discovery.
And I'm taking you with me.
So, as you arrive towards Corfu...
it's very impressive.
Beautiful buildings. Very structurally imposing.
And very Italian-looking.
'They say Corfu is the least Greek of all the Greek islands.'
I was talking to my dad before I left for this trip,
and when I mentioned Corfu, he said,
"Oh, yes. I think you'll find they have their own cricket club."
But I'm expecting the British influence
to be quite strong, I think, here in Corfu
because Brits have been coming here on holiday since the '50s.
So I'm sure they've left their mark, good and bad.
'And so have many other countries.
'Corfu has spent seven centuries under foreign rule,
'making this island a cultural melting pot.
'Located off the west coast of northern Greece,
'Corfu has only been a Greek island since 1864.
'Its capital is Corfu Town.
'And it really doesn't look Greek at all.'
Oh, come on. Seriously.
It's as if I'm in Venice.
Honestly, if you hypnotised me
and then plopped me down here and said, "Where are you?"
I would bet good money... that it was Venice.
It's like San Marco Square.
'That's because Corfu was ruled by the Venetians for four centuries.
'And my dad Michael was right.
'They really do play cricket here.'
MAN SINGS IN GREEK
'Just as surprising as cricket
'is the abundance of kumquats everywhere.
'A fruit that's more at home in South Asia.'
And in case you don't know what a kumquat is, it's this little thing.
It's a tiny...
It's, like, this big. It's a tiny little citrus fruit.
I do know what it is
cos I happened to taste one when I was 20, and I love them,
so I'm quite excited that it's such a big deal over here.
'They make everything out of it.
'Sweets, marmalades, liqueurs.'
Definitely a good little gift idea. Look at that.
Who wouldn't like that gathering dust
in their drinks cabinet at home?
'And not forgetting the kumquat ice cream.'
Efharisto poli. Parakalo.
Happy face.
MAN SINGS IN GREEK
Mmm! That is an exotic flavour.
It tastes...
...like an orange mixed with a lemon, with a bit of grapefruit.
And it was a Brit that brought kumquats to Corfu,
a British botanist.
Mmm! I really like them.
'It's Corfu's location on the major shipping route
'that's responsible for oddities like the kumquat.
'And another Corfiot obsession.
'Spices'!
Smoked sea salt, veggie mix, fish and seafood,
sweet and spicy potato.
Why? Why so many Spices?
'Now, the Greeks like their spices, but this is a whole new level.'
Hello, Katarina! Hi, hi, welcome.
My nostrils are tingling. What a lovely smell.
'This aromatic shop is owned by Katarina, and it's her passion.
'She's a real life spice girl.'
You've got spices from all over the world here.
Well, all of the blends that you see, I personally make them.
So, tell me a little bit about the history of Corfu
and why there are so many spice shops here.
Well, we were blessed to be part of the Venetian era,
over 400 years that the Venetians had Corfu...
They give you the lovely buildings. Yes, yes.
Corfu was probably the first island
or the area in Greece that had spices.
So, this was on the spice route, the Silk Road.
The Silk Road, exactly. The famous Silk Road. Yeah, yeah.
So, they really are spices from all over the world. Absolutely.
And now... the Corfiots?
The Corfiots, yeah. The Corfiots have adopted... Absolutely.
Most of the names of the dishes that they have here in Corfu
are Italian names because of the Venetian era.
So, what are some of the spices that are particular to Corfu
that you won't find anywhere else in Greece?
There's a blend that we have, the most famous one,
which is the pastitsada blend.
Pastitsada? Pastitsada.
That's the tricky bit cos it's a sound...
It's like a ♪-♪. Yeah. ♪-sada.
Pastitsada. Bravo, bravo.
You're good. Bravo, good.
And please tell me that that bubbling over there is pastitsada.
Oh, yes, it is. I cannot have you here and not taste pastitsada. Oh!
'Pastitsada is a 100% Corfiot dish,
'the signature dish of the island.
'They eat it at family gatherings on a Sunday,
'kind of like our Sunday roast.
'And it's heavy on the spice.'
Oh, good Lord. I know.
Inside, there is cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, allspice,
bit of salt and pepper, some chilli pepper, paprika, OK?
And I also add a pinch of cumin inside.
In another nod to the Italians, they serve it on a bed of pasta.
It's kind of a hassle, this type of pasta,
but that's the whole fun part.
OK, this isn't gonna be pretty. I apologise now.
There you go.
How is it?
OK. I can tell by the look in your face you love it.
Mmm! Oh, my gosh.
I'm haPPY-
The flavours, Katarina, are incredible.
The aftertaste is incredible, yeah. You know what I can taste? Hmm?
I can taste the love.
KATARINA LAUGHS
Corfu on a plate.
'Well, now I need to work off that pastitsada,
'and a good job that Corfu is a great place for walkers.
'There's a 220km path called the Corfu Trail
'that zigzags through the heart of the island
'from the north to the south.
'It takes hikers into landscapes untouched by mass tourism.
'In the north of the island,
'it's brought me to one of Corfu's best-kept secrets.
'The abandoned village of Old Perithia.
'Hidden in the valley of Corfu's highest mountain,
'this Venetian wonder is a 14th century time capsule.'
Julia! Hello, Mark.
Hey. Great to see you. Good to see you as well.
'Mark is a Brit who runs a B&B in the village with his wife Saskia.
'They're the driving force behind the restoration of Old Perithia.'
Saskia and I kind of happened upon it about 12 years ago.
And we came up here, not really with any intention of doing anything.
We just read about a ghost village and wanted to have a look.
So, this, essentially, was an abandoned village.
Yeah. Why?
The tourist trade kind of started up in the '50s, '60s.
Until then, there wasn't tourism. People didn't want to be by the sea.
And at that time, the sort of old culture
was that you gave land by the sea to the daughters
because it was worthless.
It was salty or you couldn't grow anything there.
The villages would be for the sons.
And of course, that all flipped around when tourism started.
So they just walked away. So they just walked away.
And then nature pretty much took over the whole village.
'During the 14th century, Corfu was constantly being raided,
'so the Venetians built Perithia as a hidden village,
'where you could see but not be seen.'
Because of pirate attacks on the island...
Pirates? Like, real-life pirates. Real-life pirates.
Turks, Saracens, that type of thing. Yes.
...people who were in the houses would have chambers underneath
where they could hide like this,
and they would either put their possessions or themselves down here.
This was the hiding spot. It made it safe.
'In its heyday, this village was home to around 1,500 people.
'But that's hard to imagine, looking at the buildings today.'
I've got a bit of form, renovating old properties,
but I have to say, I haven't taken on anything quite...
quite as challenging as this.
'When Mark arrived, there were only two permanent residents.
'Now there are up to 20 people who call Perithia home.'
If you look back here, you start to see how big the village is. You do.
And actually, a lot of those buildings don't look derelict.
Don't look so bad.
'Of the original 130 houses,
'a third of them are now restored or in the process.
'Properties sell here anywhere from 100,000 euros to a million.
'But it's not just the houses
'that have been given a new lease of life.'
This church has only recently been restored and reopened,
and it had its first baptism after 60 years just last year.
How old is the church?
I think it dates from about 1300.
Because the village records go back to 1357,
and all of these frescoes were covered in lime,
so it was a painstaking process to pick everything off the walls here.
Aren't they beautiful? Quite special.
It is very special.
'The rejuvenation of the village has even begun to entice back
'some of the original residents.'
Kalispera. How are you?
I'm good. How are you? Julia, Vasilis. Nice to meet you.
'Vasilis is the local beekeeper.
'He's recently returned to his ancestral home,
'selling his honey to passing tourists.'
How are the bees today? Are they feeling happy and calm?
The bees?
You're happy, they're happy. Everybody's happy.
If you love your job, you make a lot of honey.
'Vasilis spends his clays tending to his seven million bees,
'who live in the 90-year-old pastel blue hives
'he inherited from his grandfather.'
Oh, look at this.
You see the queen?
Isn't that just magical? Astonishing, yeah.
That is the queen bee. Yes, this is the queen bee.
She likes us, the queen bee. She's hanging around.
'There was a one in 80,000 chance of seeing the queen bee. Amazing!'
I grew up here with my father in this place.
We have the bees from my grandfather,
my father, me, and we continue with my kids.
How old are your children? Eight and five.
Amazing. Yes.
So you're handing this through the generations. Yes, they work with me.
Yeah. We continue, I think.
What a life. What an existence.
It's beautiful.
'Perithia was built as the village that couldn't be seen.
'But now, thanks to the love of these guys,
'it's finally getting the audience it deserves.'
What a special...
...magical place.
And, ironically, it was tourism
that drove the original settlers away from this village,
made it a ghost town.
They were chasing the tourist dollar,
heading to the coast, heading to the sea.
And now it's tourism that brought everybody back.
And breathed new life into this place.
'With a heavy heart, I'm saying my goodbyes to Perithia.
'But the south of the island beckons,
'and another majestic Venetian import.'
'I'm in the Greek island of Corfu and it's not what I was expecting.'
If I told you that I was standing here,
looking out over the island of Corfu,
I wouldn't believe me.
Look at it. It's so lush and green, and as far as the eye can see,
those are olive trees.
'I followed the Corfu trail south
'to the wild west coast of the island.'
This is the tranquil side of Corfu, the peaceful side.
Still steeped in history and tradition...
...but not invaded by tourism.
'The landscape here feels like one endless olive grove.
'The Venetians brought them here in the 16th century
'and now there are as many as four million olive trees on the island.
'Not surprisingly, today,
'olive oil is the most important product of Corfu.
'Brothers Spiros and Giorgos Dafnis
'were born into the olive oil business
'and they're the architects of an olive oil revolution on the island.'
I didn't understand until now
how important the olive tree was to Corfu.
And there are so many olive trees here!
The olive tree, for the Corfiots, was and remains a living symbol.
The majority of the trees around us
are between 200 and 500 years old,
while the oldest olive trees are more than 1,500.
And you know, Julia,
the... incredible feeling,
even for us, is any time we go for harvesting,
to realise how many persons and how many generations before us
did exactly the same thing to the same tree
and how many times this tree gives back again and again and again
with generosity with its own fruits.
It's like a contract between human and nature.
So, Julia, let me show you, actually, our real mother.
Well, it's actually... This is your real mother?
Yes, yes. I like her already.
Oh, it's just like steps. Yes. Yes.
I can do that.
'This wonderful, ancient tree
'was where the boys would play as youngsters,
'and as adults, work together now on business ideas.'
If I say that we have a great duty today,
not only to continue this tradition but to develop it,
to deliver something better from what we receive.
'When the two brothers took control of their family business,
'they inherited a struggling product.
'Years of prioritising quantity over quality
'had left the reputation of Corfiot olive oil on its knees.
'They produced a lot of it, but it wasn't very good.'
It was like a bet for us, to make it something better, to change it.
So it's like we sail in unknown waters,
so we started with a great vision and a passion that we will succeed.
MOTOR WHIRRING
'Spiros and Giorgos turned the rulebook on its head
'and completely changed the way olive is harvested.'
What happens in the past is simply sitting under these trees,
these black plastic nets
and waiting until the olives fall alone on the ground.
We have to show everybody else that there is an alternative way
of collecting the fruits... And this...
...where they are healthy and fresh.
We are using the machine that my father right now is working with,
or... the, er... SHE LAUGHS
...old, er...
Old style. ..old but simple way
of collecting the fruit.
Julia, would you like to try? Of course.
Let me make you produce it for a minute. Yes.
There we go. We've got lots of young, lovely olives.
I mean, it's very rewarding, but it takes a long time.
I need to have a go with that machine.
Will you try, really? Yes, of course! You sure? I'm sure.
PETROL MOTOR STARTING
MOTOR RUNNING
'This clever bit of kit gently tickles the olives from the trees.'
I'm getting a lot of leaves, I'm not sure about the olives.
'The brothers' philosophy is all about freshness,
'harvesting the olives when they're alive,
'when they're young and full of flavour.'
Oh.
I'll tell you what, that is hard work.
I couldn't do that for 12 hours.
Respect. Thank you very much.
'Once they're collected,
'the olives are brought here to the processing area.
'They're washed, squeezed
'and the olive oil is extracted.'
It's a really nice process to watch.
And it smells...
...just very earthy.
'Within a few years,
'Spiros and Giorgos have turned Corfu olive oil
'from a product with a dreadful reputation
'to one of the very best award-winning oils in Greece.'
What I want you to do, Julia,
is I want you to take one last deep breath from the olive oil,
just like this... Yeah.
...and then I want you to take an olive oil drop in your mouth,
close your lips, keep it closed,
and then for two... That's hard for me.
...two or three seconds, I want you to turn it around
and feel it everywhere in your mouth.
And between your teeth, take a fast and deep breath like...
INHALES SHARPLY "like that.
I've been to yoga classes that are less complicated.
THEY LAUGH
OK.
Take on olive oil drop.
Close your lips.
Perfect. Let it slowly go down.
INHALES SHARPLY TWICE Take a deep breath.
INHALES SHARPLY
LAUGHS
0h!
Ah, you must feel, er, a bitterness...
I do, I'm feeling the bitterness!
...and a spicy sense in your throat. Yeah. All of that.
Something... Very spicy, very bitter.
...something I forgot to tell... Thought you were my friend,
I thought we'd bonded today. 'It certainly packs a peppery punch,
'but olive oil is also thought to have health benefits.
'In fact, the legendary Greek physician Hippocrates
'described it as the perfect medicine.'
Ya mas. Cheers. Ya mas.
'I'm not ready to leave this corner of Corfu just yet.
'I came here to discover secrets of the Greek islands,
'and one particular local secret
'has definitely caught my attention.
'Eva, who works at the olive farm, has offered to tell me more.'
It's beautiful. The sunset is just lovely here.
Ah, OK.
This isn't quite what I was expecting.
Eva, what are we gonna do with that?
It's mud, it's clay.
Clay.
OK, so what do we do? Where do we put it?
Ah, OK. And it's good for you?
'This clay comes from the cliffs around us,
'and the locals swear it's the best thing
'to draw toxins from the skin.'
That's a good noise. Am I going to look ten years younger after this?
I love you.
I'm gonna go for the face.
I'm gonna try a bit on the face.
Let's get the blood running.
I didn't really picture doing anything like this
on my visit to Corfu.
You've got to. Do what the locals do. Embrace it!
'I've seen a lot on this island that's been left by other cultures,
'but this is undeniably Corfiot.'
The water is just...
so lovely, so warm
and, obviously, after the old clay, look at me.
I'm, like, 30 years younger at least!
LAUGHS
'I'm really sad that my time's come to a close here on Corfu.
'It may be the least Greek of the Greek islands,
'but it's no less special for that.'
Getting off the beaten track here in Corfu has been a real surprise.
I wasn't expecting it to be so lush and so green,
and the Corfiots aren't embarrassed by all the other cultures
that have left their mark on the island.
'In fact, they've embraced those influences
'and made them their own.
'And that's what makes Corfu so unique.
'Next time, my journey takes my journey to Santorini,
'the supermodel of the Greek islands.'
impossibly scenic, gorgeous views.
'I'll be on the hunt for the locals' tip
'for the top spot to see its famous sunset.'
Oh! In the memory bank.
'And escaping the crowds for a walk on its wild side.'
This is definitely unspoiled, this island, isn't it?
It's quite mad, really.
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