ON THE coach to the Zefiros Beach Hotel, on the Greek island of Samos, my 12-year-old is looking daggers at me. She’s anxious that there seem to be few teenagers on board. “Don’t judge too quickly,” I whisper.
We unpack, the children bagsy beds, and start to make happy noises, thankfully, at the azure sea view from our balcony. Then it’s a quick change into shorts and T-shirts before the welcome meeting on the hotel terrace at 6.30 p.m.
We sit ourselves next to Angela, who is also a Samos first-timer. It is a Greek buffet-style dinner with fabulous salad bar, hot main-course options, and chiller with choice of dessert follows. The dining room is set up to encourage people to dine and chat together. By day four, a “youth” table has developed. But tonight we dine as a family.
Afterwards, some guests head for first-night cocktails “on special” at the poolside bar. But I am busy reassuring my anxious pre-teen (again) not to write the holiday off yet. She opts for an early night; and, because of our 4 a.m. wake-up, we happily follow. But a word with one of Richmond Holiday’s youth workers, Katie, assures me that there are two other girls of similar age booked into the youth activities in the morning.
At breakfast, Katie is already making her introductions, so that Olivia, suitably armed with bikini, sunnies, and factor 50, happily rocks up at the pool shack for today’s photo challenge and pool mafia games (other days, there are a walk to a beach for games and ice cream; stand-up paddle-board games; a human “Among Us” activity linked to Bible verses; an escape-room challenge; and table tennis).
Similarly, Imogen, eight, makes an excited dash to the kids’ shack for today’s treasure hunt and pool games — which leaves my husband, Simon, and me, uncharacteristically without dependants. We slope off, slightly giddily, to join the handful of others on the beach who’ve also signed up to the RYA Sailing Level One.
We may live on the west coast of Wales, but learning to tack and jibe (with the odd capsize) in the warm waters of Mykali Bay, with the south-west coast of Turkey in view across the Mycale Strait, proves an altogether more gorgeous experience than splashing about in the Irish Sea.
RICHMOND offers Samos as a destination for individuals, couples, and families, from May to October, with a programme of children’s and youth activities in the summer holidays.
The promise of on-site swimming pool; half-board buffets; pool-side bar lunches; watersports off a beach punctuated by sun loungers and palm-frond umbrellas; and God stuff — that’s why I wanted a Richmond Holiday. In particular, I’m keen for Olivia to experience teaching and worship more relevant to her age.
In addition to morning activities, there are a children’s tea, ministry time, then a movie for the under-11s (5.45 p.m. till 9 p.m., five days a week). For young people, there are a one-hour ministry get-together before dinner, and the invitation to join (optional; some paid for) evening excursions with the adults (outdoor cinema; go-karting; worship and prayer under the stars; open-mic night; and a farewell ceilidh).
istockGreek fishing boats in Pythagoreio at sunset, with harbourside cafés behind them
At Richmond’s beachfront sailing shack, RYA-qualified instructors offer free windsurfing and sailing lessons, joyrides, and taster sessions to all Richmond guests (charges only apply for certificated RYA courses), on a fleet including dinghies and catamarans, windsurfers and kayaks.
The Richmond week runs Thursday to Thursday, with a sailing regatta every Sunday, for which everyone is enthusiastically encouraged to join a crew.
There is friendly competition. Imogen hops into a kayak with another mother and her youngest; Olivia and 12-year-old Hannah, who become almost inseparable over the week, jump into a boat with a Richmond instructor to take part in the fun. But Tony, who has been to Samos multiple times with his wife, Trish (and often his now-grown-up children), looks hard to beat in one of the catamarans.
There are optional afternoon activities, too: a guided kayak trip; table tennis; pebble painting on the terrace; frappés by the pool. We opt for the excellent Abba aerobics and (what turns out to be the quite competitive) pool waterpolo.
But, most afternoons, we laze around the pool, dipping in and out for swims. Imogen enjoys putting ice lollies on our room tab. Olivia, Hannah, and sometimes Abbey, also 12, lunch, chat, swan around with the other teens, swim, and sunbathe. Imogen, finally, learns to swim. I even get out a book.
BY SPENDING our mornings learning to sail, Simon and I miss out on the morning trips: walks to beaches; a cycle ride to the village of Mytilini; lunch at the mountain village of Manolates, on the slopes of Mount Ambelos (£35 pp); exploring, swimming, and lunch in the picturesque fishing village of Kokkari (£20 pp), among them.
There are invitations to join early-morning cycle rides on the hotel’s fleet of bikes, arranged by some regulars, but our chance to rest is rare. For this reason, we also forgo a day-trip to Ephesus (£95 pp).
Instead, we order taxis, with Hannah and her mother, to Pythagoreio, on the last afternoon but one. The town is famous as the birthplace of Pythagoras, and features numerous important archaeological sites. (It has joint UNESCO World Heritage Site status with the Heraion of Samos near by, a temple dedicated to the goddess Hera.)
Christine Miles A competitive game of waterpolo
We trickle in and out of boutiques, the children buying souvenirs and drooling over flashy super-yachts moored alongside colourfully painted fishing boats. We stop at a harbourside café to order ice cream, beer, and coffee before we taxi back.
We holiday for only a week, but feel super rested. On the last day, I even make the early-morning prayer on the beach. It’s led by our week’s ministry leader, the Revd Lorraine Kingsley, whose evening talks I find honest, encouraging, and challenging. I’m a little tearful about going back home to face several pressured situations, and the group pray for me.
Later, as we walk to the coach to leave, Trish slips me a Mykali Bay pebble with a Bible verse on to take home. Olivia has one, too, from one of the youth sessions. It still sits on her windowsill at home.
Was it a good holiday? We’d booked to go back this year before we’d even left the hotel. . .
Travel details
Richmond Holidays offers holidays to Samos priced from £700 pp; (flights extra). Holidays with flights are ATOL-protected. Alternatively guests can book their own flights (Tui fly direct to Samos from Gatwick); other airlines fly non-direct. Some guests combine with weeks elsewhere, including Athens. Man in Seat 61 offers routes to Greece by train from London (seat61.com). Ferryhopper details ferry routes to the island’s three ports (ferryhopper.com/en/destinations/greece/samos#samos-ferries). Richmond also offer ski holidays in the French Alps. richmond-holidays.com
Christine Miles stayed as a guest of Richmond Holidays last year.