Love islands

Good evening. “There are people … who find islands somehow irresistible. The mere knowledge that they are on an island, a little world surrounded by the sea, fills them with an indescribable intoxication.” So wrote Lawrence Durrell in Reflections on a Marine Venus when describing the condition known as Islomania, an obsessional enthusiasm for islands.
It’s no surprise that so many of us are drawn to islands for a break from the endless thrum of daily life. They carry a hint of myth and magic, of peace and escape. And it is no accident that island-hopping in Greece has been a perennial favourite for so many of us.
Which is why this week we asked our writers to tell us about their favourite island retreats in Europe. Our Iberia expert, Oliver Balch plumped for Islas Ciés just off the coat of Galicia in northern Spain. In a world where overtourism is becoming a growing concern, a protective net has been thrown over these islands, meaning that “visitor numbers are capped, so there’s no scrum for space on the beach or long queues at the handful of eateries”.
A 15-minute boat-ride from the overheated beaches of Cannes, Sainte-Marguerite is a nature-filled island great for swimming and picnics, where bikes and cars are prohibited, says our resident France correspondent Jon Bryant. Meanwhile the volcanic island of Ustica, a short ferry ride from Palermo, “couldn’t feel further away from the messy, chaotic and colourful Sicilian capital”, says Colin O’Brien. And Rab, an island in Croatia’s Kvarner Gulf, “simply fizzes with joy and music and the scents of freshly grilled fish by the water’s edge”, according to Mary Novakovich.
But what of that perennial favourite, Greece? In 2008, Jennifer Barclay planned a week’s stay on the island of Tilos in the southern Aegean. She was so smitten with this “peaceful, welcoming and down to earth” island that in 2011 she boosted the local population of 500 by one, and has lived there ever since.