ATHENS — While Greece has barred visitors from the United Kingdom for now because of that country’s high rate of COVID-19 infections, the father of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was allowed in to go to his villa in Pelion.

Stanley Johnson, 79, star of the show The I'm a Celebrity …G et Me Out of Here! said he got around restrictions barring direct flights from the United Kingdom by flying to Bulgaria first, a loophole that could allow others to do the same.

He boasted he was able to break his own country’s rules for not traveling – the Prime Minister’s top advisor, Dominic Cummings did the same during a lockdown – and showed off on Instagram, proudly flouting the restrictions.

He shared photos from the airplane even showing flying over Greece and said he was welcomed into the country with no explanation why with the virus still ravaging the UK.

He said he wasn’t coming on a vacation. "I'm in Pelion on essential business trying to Covid-proof my property in view of the upcoming letting season. I need to set up distancing measures at the property because they're taking it very seriously here.

"The Greeks are trying to stop bulk arrivals from the UK but they were quite happy to have me coming in. All they wanted to know where I was coming from and what I was doing. Then I had my temperature taken and was swabbed twice,” he said.

"We must get these air bridges set up as soon as possible. From what I've seen the arrival of the British will not be a danger to the Greeks because they're so careful here,” while the UK has not. He said he won’t obey lockdowns.

The four-bed villa in Pelion has a pool and terraces with views of the mountains and the sea. The beach is only a five-minute walk through an olive grove, said the British newspaper The Daily Mail.

The paper said the trip of the former lawmaker showed it’s possible to travel via a third country to get around rules designed to stop the spread of coronavirus with Greece also barring for now visitors from the United States, Russia, Brazil and Sweden who could ostensibly use the same method to come into the country.