text: Vassilis was born in a boat. His mother was trying to make it from her home on the island of Ammouliani, only a mile across the Aegean, to the mainland. But she was too late. And so a boy came into this world at sea, and there was only one life he was fated to live. A snooze in the sunshine: The Eagles Palace hotel is a fine escape zone for family holidays . Today, tall and bronzed, like a warrior from the legions of Alexander the Great, Vassilis is at the wheel of a speedboat thrumming across the sparkling seas off the Mount Athos peninsula in north-eastern Greece. As we fly along like a turbo-charged bronco, dolphins breach the surface and plunge below, and then a sea turtle, almost 5ft long, slides alongside. Vassilis's eyes instinctively scan the water — and then he shouts with delight. The man who has sailed these waters all his life hasn't seen a turtle here in 25 years. Vassilis is the boatman at the Eagles Palace, a long-established family hotel designed to look a little like one of the many monasteries further along the coast. It is 90 minutes' drive from the airport at Thessaloniki, along a road that meanders through olive groves and low-lying wooded valleys, into a corner of Greece that is a world away from the fleshpots of the party islands far to the south. We are afforded the warmest of welcomes. Out of the blue: The Eagles Palace hotel occupies a pristine location 90 minutes' drive from Thessaloniki . Set on tumbling levels down to its own beach, the hotel is a labyrinth of terrace restaurants (serving food and wine from local farms, vineyards and its very own olive grove), cooling courtyards, beach bars and a large saltwater pool. The beach itself shelves gently into water, which is astonishingly clear because the Aegean sweeps into the bay and then out again every 20 minutes. There is a kids' club, though it seems more suited to children younger than our son, Mike, 11, and daughter Alice, seven. Pavlos is the man if you want to take out a sea kayak or do some light paddle-boarding or more strenuous mountain-biking. Taken for a ride: Guests can head out on jetskis - although watersports at the hotel are not entirely cheap . Unlike most dudes you meet at a watersports hut, he has an MBA from New York - oh, and he runs ultra-marathons, too. He does a brilliant job of shepherding Mike on his first sea kayak outing, helping him to steer his boat nimbly around rocks jutting from the sea bed. Pavlos has just introduced a specialist course for children, which will see them developing their skills on the water as the week goes on. If Pavlos is the urbane young face of adventure sports, Mr Dinos, the watersports supremo, is the salty sea dog who looks as though he might have sailed in his youth with Odysseus. Crucial credentials: Eagles Palace is an awarded member of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group . Crinkly blue eyes smile out from under his weather-beaten cap as he waves his walnut arm and asks: 'What will it be today?' Mind you, the watersports don't come cheap - €70 for two people for ten minutes' parasailing, and €50 for quarter of an hour on a jet ski. But, hey, you're on holiday. While Alice yells to go faster on the jet ski, Mike chooses the more sedate but vertiginous thrills of parasailing. As he is winched up into the piercing blue sky attached to a harness in front of his nervous mum, his face cracks into a huge grin and, despite his legs jiggling around like a demented frog, he calls it the 'best fun ever'. A place to let a week slide by: The hotel has a gently shelving beach lapped by the Aegean Sea . This area of Greece is known for its astonishing panoply of monasteries. Prince Charles is a regular visitor, spending time in the company of the monks in the Simonos Petras monastery, which crouches on top of a rock high above the sea. Such is said to be Charles's fascination with the Greek Orthodox religion that he has installed Byzantine art in his Highgrove garden. Far above the twinkling domes, on the peak of Mount Athos itself, sits a stone building. Who would build a chapel on top of a mountain 6,000ft high, I wonder out loud? 'They have faith,' Vassilis tells me later. Then, he recounts the story of the monk who tumbled over a cliff face and plunged 150 metres straight down. Surely, his fellows thought, he is dead. But he dusted himself off and trundled back up the hill. Miraculous, you might say. A view like few others: The Simonos Petras monastery towers some 800 feet above the Aegean Sea . One morning, Pavlos takes us boys on bikes into the town of Ouranoupoli - where an ancient watchtower stands sentinel above seafront tavernas. Then we head out along a gravel track. Here, trees heavy with wild figs strain over the roadside and olive trees offer dappled corners of shade. And at the end of the path? A monastery which is probably 10th century, and the first of all those built along this peninsula. It is a reminder of the history which seeps through the earth in this land - and courses through the veins of Vassilis and the other descendants of the ancients who shaped this Greek marvel. Seven nights at Eagles Palace Hotel (0030 23770 311014, www.eaglespalace.gr) for a family of four costs from £1,628 on a half-board basis, including flights and transfers.
target: The Eagles Palace  is fringed by soft beaches on the Mount Athos peninsula .
  The Greek resort boasts 164 rooms, which all have a balcony or terrace .
  Relax in the award-winning spa or order drinks via a button on your sunbed .