My Favourite Holiday: Writer David Jester says beautiful, spectacular Berlin blew him away

DAVID JESTER started his writing career, like so many others, by self-publishing his first novel.

But when it sold a staggering 100,000 copies he was quickly snapped up by a traditional publisher.

An Idiot In Marriage (£9.99) is the sequel to his Amazon bestselling An Idiot In Love.

David, 32, was brought up in West Yorkshire and now lives in Northumberland with his partner, Yiota.

I THINK the place I have most affinity to is Greece, probably because Yiota is Greek.

She moved across here 12 years ago to be with me, and we go back a lot to see her family.

On her father’s side that’s to a place called Nafplio, which is on the mainland about an hour or so from Athens. It used to be the Greek capital and it’s a magnet for Greek tourists.

We go at Easter, which is obviously an important time for Greeks it can be shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets.

Although I’m not a religious person I love seeing the orthodox worship.

The other thing is love is their late night culture and socialising.

I’m really not a big drinker or one for pubs and clubs – I think I’m a bit of a hermit at home – but out there it’s different.

There’s something about sitting around outside after midnight, chatting and enjoying family life.

I also know that when I come back I’ll definitely have piled on the pounds.

Yiota’s family seem to feed me – and the food is incredible – from the moment I wake up in the morning.

And then we head to Cyprus to see the other half of the family, and eat some more.

I live near the town of Amble and wouldn’t class myself as a city person.

But if there is one city I’d happily live in it would be Berlin.

We went there when I was incredibly busy with work and I actually wrote half of an upcoming book in the hotel room!

I wasn’t expecting to be that impressed with the city.

We’d been to Paris just before and the Eiffel Tower didn’t make the impact I thought it would.

But I just loved Berlin. We queued for hours to see the Reichstag, which was wonderful.

Then I remember walking through a park late at night and emerging to see the Brandenburg Gate, all lit up, for the first time.

It’s a sight I’ll never forget. Honestly, the sheer size and spectacle and sense of history of it just blew me away.

I’d go back anytime.