The rubbish situation on Corfu escalated over the weekend after riot police were deployed to control protests against an illegal landfill site on the south of the Greek island, not far from the party resort of Kavos.

Whitewashed houses offset with primary blue hues and flashes of fuchsia bougainvillea, narrow, winding streets festooned with laundry and centuries-old coastal windmills make it an ideal spot to whip out the old watercolours. 

On a Thursday night, galleries overflow with young, well-dressed Athenians who spill out into the street sipping cans of Fix and smoking roll-ups.

With a distinctly different vibe to any other part of town, Exarcheia has retained its old-world Greek charm while welcoming in a new artistic crowd. 

Bathed in spring sunlight, sipping on iced coffee and surrounded by young people playing backgammon, this hardly feels like anarchist central. Yet many Greeks still steer clear of Exarcheia, widely known for its politicised riots and molotov cocktail-throwing far left gangs.

“Everyone, from the pot washer to the chefs and waiters is all on the same salary here,” explains Marko Marmatakis – one of three chefs cooking up haute cuisine for us tonight.

If you’ve visited Paris more than once, impatient queuing outside the Louvre or Pompidou probably isn’t your bag. Walk past the snaking centipedes of tourists with your head held high and dive into Paris’ creative underbelly – no queueing necessary.

Look beyond that tiny fluorescent strip far south of the island and you’ll find a Corfu that’s unspoiled, relatively tourist-free (even in high season) and rustic in all its white-washed glory.

Corfu might be one of Greece’s best-known islands, but abandoned by its people in the 1960s, Old Perithia is without a doubt this holiday hotspot’s best kept secret.

79 rooms and suites, all designed to represent Greek culture. Our room is airy and spacious. We have a beautiful view across Athens and onto the Acropolis through full-length glass windows and onto our balcony. The windows’ button-operated blinds are a luxurious novelty on a hungover morning.

An air of glamorous insouciance pervades the whole place. Luxury is balanced out with unique quirks - think Stan Smith clad staff. Old-school stained glass windows juxtapose contemporary sculptures composed of matted hay and clay. This is Paris for a young, discerning crowd.

It’s not that the people of Corfu are oblivious to the precipice of economic collapse that they’re currently facing. ‘Crisis’ or ‘Kρίση’ is the word on everyone’s lips. It’s a conversation that is played on repeat, overheard on the beach, in kafeneions and gas stations. Still, the precipice doesn’t appear to be a threat. On an island, there’s a safety net to soften the blow.

Located in East Amsterdam, right next to the up-and-coming De Pijp neighborhood, which is not unlike London’s Shoreditch, with its quirky cafés, teeming bars, and trendy residents, Volkshotel claims to be "a place for everyone."

In the grand scheme of our history on the planet, we’re just starting to get used to living in urban settings.

Rest (quite literally) ­assured, I have tried every single method out there – from the commonsensical to the slightly zany – to cure myself of insomnia. The answer came to me after trying every trick in the book. 

New Year’s resolutions are a little like your first teenage love affair. They start with so much promise, hope and expectation, but after a short while – months if you have staying power, weeks if you’re like the rest of us – they lose their appeal and you become distracted and move on to new things.