28/08/2013
I never take a guidebook on my travels: long lists of things to ‘cover’ or ‘do’ would only be a source of stress. But if I ever revisit the Greek Islands, I may well pack a copy of Gregory Papadoyiannis’s genre-busting ‘52 eyelands’. Far from stressing you out with detailed lists, Papadoyiannis offers only the lightest touch of “must sees”. In fact, among the book’s top tips for travel is the refreshing advice to set aside all guidebooks or maps as soon as you can, and trust your instincts instead.
Papadoyiannis is of course a Greek author. Although he has been visiting the Greek islands for decades, he still has a couple of dozen islands left to see. Here’s a couple of tiny snippets from the start of his ‘sentimental journey through the Greek islands’.
Kythnos
Kythnos is not the first hat (or car) that an ordinary salesperson would bring out for you to see. He would want to show you some flashier models first, because that’s how he learnt to do things. In the same way, no travel guide for the Greek islands starts off with Kythnos – no one would even think of beginning with this island.
Milos
Milos is rather known because of a wonderful statue, Aphrodite of Milo (Venus de Milo), which ironically, you will never see in the island. You will have to go to the Louvre. Let us return to the island now. There is no space to deal with thieveries of the past.
The tone of the book is relaxed and accepting of the traveller’s lot: things might go awry from time to time, but that is to be expected. Sometimes the ferry is late and the bus driver who is paid to meet it gives up waiting and goes home to bed, and so the disembarking passengers must reach their destinations on foot. But Papadoyiannis makes light of such challenges. However bad the situation, he remains an optimist. What you must do, he seems to be saying, is keep going, and the next day you will find the good stuff.
Sustained throughout is the voice of a travelling companion who is always careful not to tell you too much, always conscious that travel is about making choices, and that since each traveller is different they will each have discoveries of their own to make about the islands that he knows and loves so well.
At last: a no-spoilers guidebook. This could be a thing.
LANE ASHFELDT
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http://seamagic.org/coasting-along-in-the-greek-islands-with-gregory-papadoyiannis/
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Lane Ashfeldt is an Irish writer based in Wales. Lane7 is a sort of online notebook for things, events, books and people that grab her interest. She is also a published fiction writer and you can find out more about her writing at www.ashfeldt.wordpress.com
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INSIDE THE BOOK
A sentimental journey through the Greek islands
www.strangedaysbooks.gr
www.paraxenesmeres.gr
Publishing advisor: Costis Malousaris
Foreign books: Giannis Petrakis
Text and all photos of the book: Gregory Papadoyiannis
www.eyelands.gr
info@eyelands.gr
Editor: Christina Markanastasakis
Translators: Georgia Alexiou
Danae Roussou
First edition: summer 2013
Cover photo: Schinoussa
Back cover: Tilos
strangedaysbooks,
somewhere in the world
ISBN-13: 978-1480138810 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
Copyright: Strange days books & Gregory Papadoyiannis
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