The charter team at IYC has just welcomed not one, but two Custom Line yachts into the fleet for bookings this summer in the East Mediterranean.

First up is the 93-foot Custom Line At One. This is a brand-new build that was just delivered to its owners for 2024. The yacht has a bunch of modern bells and whistles—including high-speed Internet connectivity via Starlink, and dual stabilizers with a gyro and fins for added guest comfort at anchor and underway.  

Accommodations aboard At One are for 10 guests in five staterooms. Those guests will have access to a bevy of tenders and toys, including a nearly 12-foot Highfield tender, a pair of Seabobs, standup paddleboards, a Hobie Eclipse, water skis, wakeboards and snorkeling gear.

Inquiries for bookings aboard At One are being accepted this summer in Greece, where the yacht is expected to remain at least through the end of September. Bookings are also being taken now for the 2025 summer season in Greece.

Also new to the IYC fleet is the 108-foot Custom Line Daloli. This is a 2011 build that most recently was refitted in 2022, and that is also accepting inquiries for Greece yacht charter this summer.

Daloli accommodates as many as nine guests in five staterooms, including a master on the main deck. 

Onboard amenities include an outdoor hot tub and barbecue. The yacht has stabilizers for added guest comfort, and it charters with a crew of seven that has spent many years together as a team. 

Tenders and toys for guests to use during a charter aboard Daloli include a 26-foot ZAR tender, a 13-foot Grand tender, a Sea-Doo, a trio of Seabobs, water skis for adults and children, wakeboards, a water slide, standup paddleboards and fishing gear. An unusual offering from the yacht’s toybox is a pair of canoes for guests who want to paddle around quiet anchorages.

Greece Yacht Charter Options: The Greek Isles are some of the world’s most popular cruising grounds during the summer season. There are numerous archipelagos to explore, whether a charter booking is for a week or a month. Many of the islands have ancient ruins along with local tavernas and beaches. Land-and-sea itineraries can also be fun in this part of the world, with Athens on the mainland filled with landmarks from ancient Greek civilization.

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IYC has welcomed the 109-foot Baglietto Islander II to the charter fleet, based year-round in Greece and Turkey with off-season dates available for bookings this autumn.

Islander II is a 2002 build that most recently was refitted in 2021. The yacht has accommodations for as many as 11 guests in five staterooms, including a full-beam master on the main deck. Islander II charters with six crew.

The flybridge is a focal point of the design, with alfresco dining, a bar, a grill, sunning areas and umbrellas for shade. At water level, there’s a beach club filled with water toys for fun in the sun.

What’s the lowest weekly base rate to charter Islander II? It’s about $71,000.

Take the next step: Contact a charter broker at iyc.com

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Ever since her inaugural cookbook, The Foods of Greece, won the Julia Child First Book Award in 1993, Aglaia Kremezi has been the international voice of authority on Greek cooking. She has taught at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in California and has written for Bon Appetit and Gourmet. She has befriended such culinary luminaries as Chez Panisse owner Alice Waters (who praised Kremezi’s most recent cookbook, Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts) and José Andrés, whom she advises on Zaytinya, his lauded Mediterranean restaurant in Washington, D.C. (and soon to open in New York City).

Originally an editor for Greek lifestyle magazines, Kremezi pivoted to a full-time food focus after realizing she found greater joy from the weekly dinner parties she hosted after work. She finds inspiration from what’s fresh at the market and from all the yia-yias (“grandmothers”) whose kitchens she has visited on research trips across the Greek islands.

She describes her recipes as simple, so everyone can follow. But her books are far more than instruction manuals. “I tell stories,” Kremezi says. “Cooking is not just about recipes; it’s about culture and traditions.”

She shares those stories with visitors to Kea through her Kea Artisanal weeklong cooking vacations as well as one-day outings, perfectly suited for cruisers.

Read More: Island Icon

“My favorite part of Kea is the smells,” she says. “As the ferry approaches the island, you have this pure air, this lightness of air, scented with savory and wild thyme. It’s incredible.”

Which ingredients are essential to Greek cooking? Fresh produce, especially onions, garlic and herbs; olives; feta cheese; and you cannot do without lemons.

What is your comfort dish? I bring home old-fashioned bread from the bakery. I fry an egg in olive oil and eat it with the bread and feta cheese. It is the best.

Aglaia’s A-List on Kea

Tsourtis Bakery (Ioulis and Hora): Many people love his orange cookies, but my favorites are the ones with grape molasses.  

Piazza (Ioulis and Hora): Try paspalas, a local specialty with eggs and the island’s version of pork confit, as well as loza, a wine-macerated, smoke-cured pork tenderloin.

Tyrakeion (Ioulis): They make ice creams and cheeses from their own cow and goat milk.

Aristaios (Mylopotamos): Local specialties include spoon sweets (fruit preserves).

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Some artists study the masterpieces of their craft. Mykonos mosaic artist Irene Syrianou lived among the masterpieces in Greece.

Syrianou spent a decade as a resident guard on the island of Delos, renowned for its 350-plus exquisite mosaics dating back to the second and first centuries B.C. “The first year, I was so energized by the island that I would stay awake just to feel the beauty at all times,” she recalls. “Walking among the ruins, laying on that sacred ground, imagining being in that ancient civilization filled my days with joy.”

She now strives to share that joy with visitors to her studio in Mykonos Town (also known as Chora), the island’s port town and capital. There, she fashions works of her own imagination as well as re-creations of the most famous Delos mosaics. Her bestsellers are the Delos dolphins and Tanit, an ancient goddess of the heavens and fertility whose mosaic on Delos overlooked Syrianou’s family’s cottage.

Syrianou also offers classes in the ancient art form. “It’s important for me to give visitors an opportunity to experience a part of Mykonos that exists beyond the nightlife and beaches,” she says. “Mosaics are a journey back in time. I enjoy sharing this journey with my students and giving them an experience that might ignite such a passion in them.”

How has Mykonos inspired your creativity? I grew up in this place where light and stone have a topographical relationship that defines the landscape. Mosaic is stone and light.

What do you enjoy about creating mosaics? Each step excites me in a different way. Cutting the stone pieces, for me, is a form of meditation. The search for the exact stones is thrilling. There is also an aspect of being one with the earth. The mud and stones in my hands give me a feeling of wholeness.

Irene’s Must-Dos on Mykonos

Appaloosa Restaurant Bar (Mykonos Town): The ambience and music are joyful. The cocktails are excellent.

Cafe Yialos (Mykonos Town): It’s the last authentic tavern on the waterfront, with an iconic view and welcoming owners. Try the sausages and omelets.

Kiki’s Tavern (Agios Sostis Beach): It has a magnificent view of the sea. They serve great steaks, salads and cake.

Mykonos Farmers (Agios Lazaros): These cheesemakers offer a tasting menu and cooking workshops.

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Many westerners know little about Rhodes in the Greek isles, save for its Colossus, which once ranked among the seven wonders of the ancient world. (An earthquake toppled the 105-foot-tall statue about 2,240 years ago.) Archaeologist Portokalenia Vratsali is out to change that. “We have beautiful beaches, an amazing medieval city, very diverse nature, a long cultural heritage, great nightlife,” she says. “The list is too long to narrow down.”

Vratsali leads tours around this island that has been a magnet for the moneyed class of the Mediterranean for millennia. She knows its wonders well. Her father’s family is from Rhodes, where she gravitated when following her mother’s footsteps into archaeology. Two decades of fieldwork have attuned her to the fine details that bring Rhodes’ history and architecture to life, such as the pebbled mosaic paths at the popular Kallithea Springs.

She takes special pride in leading guests around the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes. It’s inside a 15th-century hospital built by the Crusader Knights of Rhodes in the medieval city, a UNESCO World Heritage site. She wrote many of the display descriptions and cataloged the collection for a digital database. “It was a great experience,” she says, “to hold discoveries from the past 50 years of excavations in my hands.”

Tell us the story behind your name. It means “orange essence.” I was named by my godfather, the Nobel Prize-winning poet Odysseus Elytis, after one of his poems.

Why do you think Rhodes is overlooked compared to other Greek islands? We don’t know how to promote what we have.

Where is your favorite spot on the island? From the Acropolis at Lindos, on a cliff 380 feet high, you have 360-degree views that take in the medieval village and the sea, which has the most amazing colors I’ve ever seen.

Portokalenia’s Prime Stops On Rhodes

Auvergne Cafe (medieval city of Rhodes): Its atmospheric setting, next to the Street of the Knights, is ideal for relaxing all day long. They serve a huge variety of high-quality dishes.

4 Rodies (modern city of Rhodes): This family-owned tavern uses local ingredients in its dishes. Its beautiful neoclassical building is surrounded by a courtyard brimming with flowers and wild herbs.

Kallithea Springs (Kallithea): This beautifully restored complex has wonderful bay views and a cafeteria that’s a lounge at night.

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